OSCE Mission to Montenegro trains police officers across country on how to conduct interviews with trafficked victims

From 26 to 30 September, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized three training courses for police officers in Bar, Kolašin and Podgorica on how to conduct interviews with victims of human trafficking, using a Guidance with standardized set of questions to ensure their rights are respected.

In close co-operation with Ministry of Interior’s Department for fight against Trafficking in Human Beings, the Mission gathered around 60 police officers from central, southern and northern regions of the country, who discussed how to identity and treat trafficked victims. They learned how to prepare for interviews, establish a safe environment and assess the general medical condition of the victim while being interviewed.

Opening the training session in Podgorica, Stephen Harmon, Mission’s Programme Manager for Security Co-operation and Governance, said that less than one percent of trafficking victims are identified.  “The early and accurate identification of individuals as victims should be treated as a priority, to ensure that victims are removed from exploitation and placed in safe care, receive protection, assistance and support.  Identification and a thorough interview of victims can lead to rescue of additional victims, identification and dismantling of trafficking networks, and arrest and prosecution of offenders,” said Harmon.

Tijana Šuković, Head of the Department for Combating Human Trafficking in the Ministry of Interior, said that in the first six months of 2022, the Ministry’s Team for formal identification of victims of human trafficking identified 16 persons, of which 13 were assigned the status of trafficked victims. “There were 10 minors and three adults. Ten persons were female and three were male. When it comes to the form of exploitation, three persons were victims of forced begging, three were victims of sexual exploitation, while seven persons were victims of illegal marriage,” said Šuković.

The first training session focusing on human trafficking was organized in October 2021, including heads of security centres and police officers from all police stations throughout Montenegro.

These activities were in line with one of the key measures from the national Strategy to combat human trafficking 2019-2024, which refers to improving the knowledge of law enforcement professionals who are in contact or may come into contact with trafficked victims.