Virdzinija Ljubojevic
Trafficking of Women and Children in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Analysis of the Recent Trends
Thesis submitted for a Master’s Degree
in
International Social Welfare and Health Policy
Summer term 2009
Faculty of Social Science
Oslo University College
1. Summary
The purpose of this research is to make a review of the existing literature related to trafficking in
persons, especially trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sex work/prostitution in
order to answer the research question: What are the most recent trends concerning human
trafficking in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Trafficking of humans for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a complex issue and is a global
social phenomenon. However, this study will be mainly restricted to the region of the South-Eastern
Europe/West Balkans, with a focus on human trafficking of women and children in, to and from
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The aim of the research is to obtain and increase understanding of human trafficking for the purpose
of sexual exploitation, and to investigate the causes and social implications of human trafficking in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will also examine the causes of the most recent trends and pattern
changes in human-trafficking activities in the region. This study can shed more light on the most
recent trends in human trafficking in the regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and South-Eastern
Europe.
The subject of this research is the phenomenon of human trafficking interlinked with Bosnia and
Herzegovina specific geographical, political, economic and cultural determinants, and the
consequence of the aforementioned interlink on the societal fabric of Bosnia and Herzegovina in
general. The applied methodological approach in the study is qualitative, using literature review.
The relevant textual sources are woven together in order to generate a comparative literature
review.
Discussion is drawn primarily from the existing literature on human trafficking in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the South-Eastern Europe/West Balkans region. According to the analyses of the
current situation within the sphere of human trafficking, globally as well as regionally, we can
expect that human trafficking will not decrease in future years, but will rather, change in pattern and
become less visible. These changes suggest the usefulness of continuing research in this area.
1
Acknowledgement
The work on this thesis started a year ago and it appeared to me to be a logical progression from my
engagement as an International Nongovernmental Organizations worker (International Committee
of the Red Cross and United Methodist Committee on Relief), during the war and in the post-war
period in former Yugoslavia. During the several years of my employment, when I was helping the
people of my country to re-build a war-torn civil society, I had a chance to acquire firsthand
knowledge of the origin and extent of various social problems including the phenomenon of human
trafficking.
The insight which this Master Programme in International Social Welfare and Health Policy has
imparted serves as an academic/theoretical frame for my previous practical knowledge.
I am thankful to all the professors from the SAM department at HIO for taking us students on the
challenging journey into the intriguing world of International Social Welfare and Health Policy.
I want to express my special gratitude to Professor Bente Puntervold Bø and Professor Frank Mayer
who “infected” me with a desire to spend more time studying refugee issues and immigration policy
in Europe. It was a particularly enlightening experience to be able to attend the lectures of Professor
Ivar Lødemel with whom, moreover, I enjoyed a fruitful working discussion. I am very thankful to
my Master Thesis supervisor Sindre Bangstad for giving me illuminating insights and supervision
throughout the working process.
I also want to express my gratitude to Professor Michael Seltzer for sharing the valuable sources of
information relevant to my work and for his comprehensive feedback during the Master Thesis draft
presentation. I cordially thank my son and my two dear friends Sherry Holtermann and Maja LukacMarjanovic for investing time and effort in proofreading this thesis.
I honour the memory of my mother whom I lost two years ago and who would have been very
proud to see me accomplishing this Master Thesis.
Virdzinija Ljubojevic
2
Table of contents
1. Introduction
1.1. The area of research and personal motivation
4
1.2. Research problem and hypothesis
6
1.3. The objective of the thesis and a target group
7
2. Method and data
2.1. Research method
7
3. Data
8
4. Main Part
4.1. The Phenomenon and definition of human trafficking
10
4.1.1. Human trafficking: Slavery of the 21th Century
12
4.2. Fall of Communism, transition, Global Capitalism and Human Trafficking
14
4.2.1. Organized crime in the post-communist countries and the role of organized
crime in the trafficking of women and children
4.2.2. Law legislation, human rights and human trafficking
17
19
4.3. Bosnia and Herzegovina country profiles: Poverty as an enabling factor for the
development and spread of trafficking in women and children
20
4.3.1. Complexity of governing and political structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the response of law enforcement to human trafficking
4.3.2. Feminization of poverty: What is wrong with “voluntary prostitution?”
22
24
4.3.3. Trafficking of women and children in, out and within Bosnia and Herzegovina 26
4.3.4. War, ethnic cleansing and trafficking
29
4.3.5. NGOs role and best practices in fighting trafficking in BiH
32
4.4. Trafficking of Women and Children in BiH: Analysis of the most recent trends
4.4.1. Reason for statistical decline in figures
34
36
5. Concluding discussion
5.1. Why most anti-trafficking programmes to date have failed, or, is the changed pattern of
trafficking the only reason for this failure?
6. Reference list
3
44
1. Introduction
1.1The area of research and personal motivation
There were several reasons why I decided to focus my study on the topic of human trafficking for
the purpose of sexual exploitation, and to direct my research to the West Balkans region, primarily
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The idea for this project was gradually developed during the course of this Master programme, but
primarily originated from the information disseminated via Bosnia and Herzegovina’s media
regarding the tragic death of Olena, a young woman from Ukraine, a victim of trafficking who lived
for years in the most miserable conditions until her death in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until
this point in time, I had a vague knowledge of the concept of human trafficking and, probably like
most of the average population, I could not clearly distinguish between smuggling, trafficking for
the purpose of sexual exploitation, and sex work/prostitution.
Velibor Lalic,a Bosnian scholar, in the introductory part of his work concerning human trafficking
1
in BiH , noted that: ” Until recently, in the perception of the Balkans’ population, the human
trafficking was only related to other parts of the world or related to some earlier stage in human
history. Various reports prove that human trafficking has become a reality which we should
research, understand and fight against.” (Lalic 2007, xx-xxi)
2
I have come across Olena’s tragic life story once again during the master thesis literature research
process. This time her terrible destiny was described in the introductory sentences of the Gaon and
Forbord, 2005, book: “For sale women and children”:
“In November 2004, Olena, a young woman from Ukraine, died of AIDS in hospital in Mostar,
Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was 21 years old and a victim of trafficking. Olena also suffered from
chronic syphilis, tuberculosis and hepatitis C. When she was a teenager, she was kidnapped by
pimps and forced into prostitution. She never chose this profession.” (Gaon and Forbord, op.cit, 3)
This introduction and Olena’s photograph, which I remembered seeing in the BiH newspapers, were
1
Bosnia and Herzegovina will be abbreviated in this text to BiH
2
Since Lalic’s book is written in the Serbian language, the text was translated by the author of this Master’s Thesis
4
powerful enough to awake my social conscience regarding the issue and consequently direct my
focus to the human trafficking problem.
Generally speaking, trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation can be
seen:
1. Through the prism of the organized crime problem
2. As a reflection of global inequalities, globalisation, and poverty
3. As a moral conundrum (in relation to the definition of “voluntarily prostitution”)
4. As a human rights issue
All of the afore-mentioned problems in relation to human trafficking will be discussed in this study.
My interest in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s role and place in today’s world, including the problems
and challenges that the BiH society faces on its way to post-war recovery (including trafficking of
women and children), is mostly conditioned by the fact that I was born and raised in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
The Bosnian and Herzegovinian war ordeal and the consequences of the war having destroyed the
infrastructure of civil society, have contributed to the fact that BiH, in contrast to other SouthEastern European countries, has its very own specific socio-economic problems, which are at the
same time also the enabling factors in relation to human trafficking. These specific enabling factors
need to be discussed and explained in order to understand the complexity of the trafficking problem
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I will now briefly identify the four main specific/enabling factors on which I will elaborate later in
the text:
1. The specific Bosnia and Herzegovina geo-political position
2. The consequence of the war activity/militarization of the region
3. Ethnic cleansing as the one of the causal factors in relation to human trafficking
4. Very complex governmental and political structures
5
1.2 Research problem and hypothesis
During the process of selecting literature relevant to the trafficking of women and children for the
purpose of sexual exploitation, I have come across some “open questions”. In other words, with
gathered information came an awareness of a certain gap in the knowledge that was presented in the
literature. The analysis of the most recent trends in human trafficking leaves a blank space instead
of a conclusion regarding the causes which might influence a decline in the number of women and
children trafficked in, to and out of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I propose in this study an analysis based on a hypothesis that the trafficking of women and children
is an enduring phenomenon. It is challenging process to gauge the extent of this phenomenon and to
ascertain the true number of the trafficking victims.
According to International Organization for Migration report (IOM 2004, 69)3, apart from the
sporadic discovery of trafficking cases at the border checkpoints, referrals of the victims to the
police or to the NGOs are practically the only basis for the data relating to the number of trafficked
women and children in BiH.
Some official reports, according to Lalic (Lalic 2007, 78), such as annual reports from the Ministry
of Interior of Repuiblika Srpska, occasionally point to a statistical decline in the numbers of
trafficked victims. On the other hand the International Organization for Migration in its report
(IOM, op.cit, xx-xxi), suggest that the number of has rather increased, only the victims have
become less visible to the public eye.
The discrepancy between the decrease in public visibility and the actual number of trafficked
victims in the Balkan countries and BiH can be seen as the unwanted response to various law
enforcement actions and anti-corruption efforts in relation to fighting trafficking.
This could indicate that: “The international criminal organizations operating in trafficking of
persons have modified their strategies to adapt their methods to measures taken by governments and
institutions.” (IOM 2004 , xx-xxi)
3
International Organization for Migration (IOM) is an intergovernmental body which acts with its partner in the
international community to assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration (IOM 2004,xx-xxi)
6
1.3 The objective of the thesis and the target group
This research will hopefully serve as a tool to enable other Master students to gain a broader
understanding of this worrying topic.
2. Research method and data
2.1 Research method
The aim of my thesis is to explore and elaborate on the most recent trends in the trafficking of
women and children in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The research method used in order to uncover the most relevant findings in the chosen area of
interest is the literature review/literature survey method. Therefore the study is based on existing
research and analyses of previously-presented data in the area of interest. According to Harth (Harth
1998:186-197; Chambliss & Schutt, 2006, 263) The goal of literature review is to integrate the
result of your separate article reviews and develop an overall assessment of the implication of prior
research. The integrated literature reviews should accomplish three goals:
•
Summarize prior research
•
Critique prior research
•
Present pertinent conclusion.
When it comes to the literature review method, the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses and
the research critique of the prior researches becomes a challenge.
In that line of thought, Chambliss and Schutt emphasize, in particular, the authors’ reputations and
conclude that: “Reports by an author or team of authors who have published other work on the
research question should be given somewhat greater credibility at the outset.” (Chambliss and
Schutt, 2006, 264) Another helpful report validation tool is to try to answer the question: ”How was
the report reviewed prior to its publication or release?” Chambliss and Schutt’s (Chambliss and
Schutt, op.cit, 264), recommendation highly validates articles published in academic journals as
well as reports which are released directly from research organizations.
7
The benefits of the literature survey as the research method reflects in the possibility of enabling a
researcher to develop a critical review approach to the chosen literature which should support the
developing skills of analysis, synthesis and reflection of the text. I hope that I will be able to
achieve the critical thinking and ability to analyse gathered literature in this study.
The design method of the study is qualitative, with comparative elements which reflect in the crosscultural comparison between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the neighbouring countries in the region.
Although cross-cultural country comparison has been used more within quantitative design method
studies, it appears to be almost impossible to write about human trafficking in Bosnia and
Herzegovina without including some overview and comparison of human trafficking in this region
and in other countries in Europe. That is largely because trafficking in humans is a global
phenomenon feeding on the faults of a globalized economy, and therefore Bosnia and Herzegovina
(BiH) cannot be seen in isolation from the rest of Europe.
Another comparative element in my research is visible in the part which discusses the situation in
regard to changes in trends and patterns in human trafficking for the period previous to the year
2000 and for the period after the year 2000. The comparative element in the study implies the
introduction of various types of data, such as the secondary analysis of the other researchers’ works.
Various types of data are used in order to contribute to wider and better understanding of the topic.
2.2 Data
The information that I relied upon included data gathered from books, academic journal reports and
reports from a variety of local, national and international governmental and nongovernmental
organizations. The reference list from two books: Gaon and Forbord, 2005, and Lalic, 2007, was
used for the purpose of widening the list of possible sources. Additionally, I browsed through
several conference papers and newspaper articles.
I used the following keywords in my source literature search queries: human trafficking, trafficking
of women and children, organized crime, prostitution, modern slavery, Bosnia and Herzegovina in
post-conflict period, countries in transition, poverty and social exclusion in Bosnia and
8
Herzegovina, trafficking in humans in southeast Europe and the West Balkans and the most recent
trafficking trends.
The valuable “acquisition” for the study was the discovery of literature related to human trafficking
written in the Bosnian and/or Serbian and Croatian language. I tried some search words in Serbian,
Croatian, and/or Bosnian such as: trgovina ljudima (human trafficking), medunarodna trgovina
ljudima (human trafficking at the global level), organizovani criminal te organizovani criminal u
Bosni I Hercegovini (organized crime and organized crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina),ekonomska
situacija u Bosni i Hercegovini u posljeratnom periodu (economic situation in Bosnia and
Herzegovina after the civil war,) siromastvo te posljedice osiromasenja gradjana u Bosni i
Hercegovini (poverty and its consequences for the Bosnia and Herzegovina population), tgovina
ljudima jugoistocne Evrope (human trafficking in
Southeast Europe) and
zapadni Balkan i
najnoviji trend u trgovini ljudima (the West Balkans and the most recent trafficking trends).4
Selecting data from the chosen literature was a rather complicated process because there has been a
dearth of on-the-ground research conducted on the issue of human trafficking in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Although there are a significant number of reports on the topic, produced by
international organizations (International Organization for Migration, Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, United Nations Development Program, UN Global Initiative to Fight
Human Trafficking, Anti-slavery International and Free the Slave Organization), most provide a
statistical overview whereas some of them, e.g. International Organization for Migration, provide
active, causal, or outcome research.
During the process of literature analysis, I relied to a great extent on the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) 2004 assessment/report which includes information received from the victims
themselves, regional intelligence services, law enforcement entities and various local NGOs/
international organizations; all of them joined in an effort to combat trafficking in persons in the
Balkans. I also conducted several searches using the names of authors recommended to me by other
colleagues who had worked on a similar topic.
Particularly illuminating for my research was the study: “Sex Trafficking - The Impact of War,
Militarism and Globalization in Eastern Europe” by Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic, Ph.D., Faculty for
4
Search words in Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian are translated into English by the author of this Master’s Thesis
9
Social Education and Rehabilitation, Belgrade University, Victimology Society of Serbia, and
Montenegro. This study elaborates a wide range of causes of trafficking of women and children in
the Balkans region, and among other causative factors, emphasizes the structural responsibility of
leaders of global capitalism and militarism. Dr.Nikolic-Ristanovic’s work is important because it
offers an “insider’s” evaluation of South-Eastern Europe/ Balkans post-communist society viewed
from a feminist perspective.
Another very valuable source of information was the work of six feminist scholars, who were
writing about and against violence in the context of the trafficking of women and children and
prostitution. These very educative articles were published in “Women’s Studies Quarterly” 1&2 in
1999 under the common title: “Teaching About Violence Against Women”.
Last, but not least, a valuable source of information was the book “Mc Mafia Seriously Organized
Crime” written by Misha Glenny, a former reporter for ”The Guardian” and the “British
Broadcasting Corporation” and an expert on Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
3. Main Part
3.1 The phenomenon and definition of human trafficking
Human trafficking is not a recent social phenomenon. It has a long history and appeared in the
world almost simultaneously with other forms of trade.
“During the history of mankind, human trafficking, as a societal problem has varied in form and
intensity, depending on the historical context and the overall situation in the particular region,
where the problem has been noticed and/or followed.” (Gaon and Forbord 2005, 4)
“Human trafficking, especially trafficking of women and children, is present in all contemporary
societies regardless of political system, religious beliefs and economic development.” (Gaon and
Forbord 2005, 37)
The refusal by most people, including government officials, to accept the existence of human
trafficking or to understand and recognize the seriousness of the issue, presents a problem in itself.
According to Gaon and Forbord (Gaon and Forbord,op.cit), another problem within the scope of the
10
international fight against trafficking in human beings is that the public and officialdom confuse the
issue with smuggling, illegal migration or with “voluntary prostitution”.
I marked the expression: “voluntarily prostitution” with quotation marks, because later on in the
study I will argue that the social and economic circumstances enabling sex work to be seen as
“choice of career” mean that the concept of autonomous or free will for women themselves often
makes little sense.
According to Chew (Chew 1999, 13) a clear description of Trafficking in women and Forced
Labour and Slavery Like Practices was already in place in 1926, formulated by the Global Alliance.
The Global Alliance later, in its definition of human trafficking, referred to two international
agreements: the League of Nations Slavery Convention of 1926 and also the Supplementary
Convention of 1956. In spite of the afore-mentioned international agreements, the international
documents were not, and still are not, precise enough when it comes to a definition of human
trafficking.
“The traditional concept of human trafficking focuses only on prostitution and the “procurement”
aspect, based on concern for “innocent” girls who should be protected against being lured into
brothels, but largely ignores the abuses and the slavery-like conditions inside the brothels.” (Chew
1999, 13)
In order to address the problem, writes Chew (Chew, op.cit, 14), the international community was
moreover urged to develop a more precise definition because the traditional description of
trafficking in women and children did not apply to contemporary forms of trafficking, such as the
traffic in women through commercial marriage bureaus and the trade in domestic workers. The
following definition, as the result of the substantive report compiled by UN officials, covers abusive
working and living conditions and abusive brokerage practices occurring in both public and
domestic spheres.
UN Special Report on Violence Against women by the Global Alliance and Foundation Against
Trafficking in Women:
Trafficking in women: All acts involved in the recruitment and/or transportation of a woman
within and across national borders for work or services by means of violence or threat of
11
violence, abuse of authority or dominant position, debt-bondage, deception, or other forms of
coercion.
Forced Labour and Slavery-like Practices: The extraction of work or services from any woman
or the appropriation of the legal identity and/or physical person of any woman by means of
violence or threat of violence, abuse of authority or dominant position, debt-bondage,
deception, or other forms of coercion.” (Chew 1999, 14)
However, differences between human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution/ sex work
5
and
forced labour on the one hand, and smuggling/illegal migration on the other hand should be obvious
and clear. The key word that helps to distinguish the former from the latter is coercion.
Selling/trading people as sexual commodities or any other kinds of forcible exploitation of people,
deprivation of basic human rights by detaining people, imposing restrictions on people’s free will to
move and to decide for themselves are all components of human trafficking or other forms of
slavery-like practices.
3.1.1 Human trafficking: Slavery of the 21th Century
There remains a certain prejudice among people and the wide-spread belief that slavery as a
phenomenon ended with Abraham Lincoln.
“When the legal ownership of humans ended, as it did in the United States in1865, many people
thought that slavery had ended as well...Still, no matter how many laws were passed against it, de
facto slavery never stopped.”(Bales 2007, 10)
Through the History of Abolishing Slavery Movement, UCLAN
6
University databases, we learn
that Brazil only abolished slavery in 1891 and that Mauritania did the same, but 90 years later, in
1981. This example shows us that the formal abolition of slavery in the USA (once known as the
country with a very strong pro-slavery culture) did not necessarily mean that slavery had
disappeared.
5
Although academic literature on this topic has increasingly started to refer to prostitution as sex work, in this report I
will be using term prostitution for the reasons which I will explain in the chapter3.3.2: Feminization of poverty;“What
is wrong with voluntary prostitution?”
6
UCLAN stands for: University of Central Lancashire, England
12
A tragic chapter in human history and also a prime example of modern slavery happened in Nazi
Germany. During the World War II, Nazis used millions of people (Jews, Slavs and other ethnic,
social groups which stay on the Nazis’ black list) as slave labour in labour camps. Many of these
died or were later executed
Kevin Bales, the world’s leading expert on modern slavery and the president of “Free the Slaves
Organization”, in one of his books gives the definition of slavery: “Through history, slavery has
meant taking total control of a persons and exploiting the person’s labour.” (Bales 2007, 10)
In his book Disposable People, Bales surveys the disturbing extent of slavery in the modern world
where there may be more slaves than at any previous time in history - around 25 million by his
estimate.
As was already discussed in the previous chapter of this text: to understand the concept of human
trafficking, and even more to define it, is not an easy task. Bales elaborates one of the possible roles
that slavery definition could play in the process of understanding the concept of trafficking in
humans. He says that the: “Definition of slavery can be used as the helping tool in the process of
understanding the concept of trafficking in humans.”(Bales, op.cit)
Gaon and Forbord (2005,59), concludes that trafficking in humans is really no less than 21st century
slavery, while emphasizing some statistical data where eighty to ninety percent of those trafficked
become victims of sexual exploitation, the rest victims of forced labour. ”Nearly half of the victims
of trafficking were children, and 96 percent were females.” (Gaon, Forbord, op.cit, 59)
In order to clearly define the term “child trafficking” which will be used further on in this text, the
definition of child trafficking from Elzbieta M. Gozdziak’s 7 (Gozdziak 2008, 1) essay will be cited
here.
According to the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
especially Women and Children (2000), child trafficking is defined as “the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of any person under the age of eighteen for the
purposes of sexual or labor exploitation, forced labor, or slavery.” The US law mirrors this
definition and concurs with the general agreement in the international community that, in the
case of minors, the trafficking term applies whether a child was taken forcibly or voluntarily
7
Dr. Elzbieta M. Gozdziak is the Director of Research at the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) at
the Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA
13
(Miko, 2004), simply because children do not have volition and cannot consent to being
smuggled.
The UN Protocol and the US law on child trafficking use the definition of a child promulgated
by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRS), which states that “every human being
below the age of 18, unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier” is
considered a child. (Gozdziak, op.cit, 1)
3.2 Fall of communism, transition, global capitalism and human trafficking
As the expert-writer on the Balkans issue, distinguished journalist and historian Misha Glenny was
invited to a number of international meetings to discuss the political power and other working
mechanisms behind the disastrous wars in the region. He came to conclusion (Glenny 2009, 6) that
if he wanted to understand crime there, he had to extend his research to other parts of the world: to
the regions that produce illicit goods, like Russia, South America, Africa, India and China as well as
the regions that consume them, like the European Union, North America, Japan and the Middle
East.
In his book, Glenny (Glenny 2009) tries to describe the globalization processes and their impact on
labour-smuggling/human trafficking and consequently on the economic/social deviation of the
international order. He emphasizes the following:
The illegality of labour-smuggling lies in the illogicality of globalization. The EU (the United
Kingdom, Ireland, Spain and Italy in particular) are desperately short of labour. By 2050,
Europe’s median age will have risen to fifty – only Japan is ageing faster. As Europeans get
older, they place an ever greater strain on the generous welfare state systems that became the
continent’s hallmark after the Second World War. But because they are also having ever fewer
children, the workforce able to sustain the welfare system through taxes is shrinking. And so
Europe is faced with a choice: either its citizens rediscover the joy of reproductive sex, or they
allow more people from outside into the licit labour market. Few Europeans objected to the
opening of markets in far-flung places to enable the export of their goods, services and capital
as globalisation took hold. But they have proved stubbornly reluctant to accept the quid pro
quo of labour movement into Europe. (Glenny 2009, 370)
The incapability of the European countries to produce a much-needed, unified and manageable
migration policy has exacerbated the existing immigration mess. Since nothing has yet been done in
that direction, human trafficking opportunities continue to grow.
14
Further on in this text the consequences induced by the collapse of communism and the acceleration
of globalization are elaborated:
The deepening links in a globalizing world magnified the impact of immense disruption to the
international order, like the collapse of the Soviet Union. Among the many consequences of the
Soviet collapse was the emergence of a thick belt of instability that began in the Balkans and
stretched all the way across the Caucasus, the so-called stans of Soviet Central Asia, and on to
the western edge of China and the north-west frontier of Pakistan. This was the New Silk
Route, a multi-lane criminal highway that linked the belt with the other troubled regions such
Afghanistan, and which permitted the swift and easy transfer of people, narcotics, cash,
endangered species and precious hardwood from Asia to Europe and further to United States.
(Glenny, op. cit, 6-7)
The first sign of the collapse of communism was the permitting, literally overnight and under
Gorbachov’s pressure, of private enterprises and joint-venture companies all over the former Soviet
Union and “Eastern block”.
According to Glenny, (Glenny, op. cit,18) in Bulgaria, for example, members of the secret security
service became, in 90% of the cases and during the first year of privatization, founders of such
enterprises.“Having spent forty-five years expounding theoretical evils of capitalism to ordinary
Bulgarians, the secret police were now keen to demonstrate those evils in practice.” (Glenny, op.cit,
18)
When a country goes into free-fall, the law is the first thing that is crushed “under the rumble of
transformation”, writes Glenny in his book (Glenny,op. cit, 25) and explains that capitalism had not
existed until 1989, and so the weak states that emerged throughout the former Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe had simply no capacity to define what was “legal” and what was “illegal.” “They
had neither the money nor the experience to police the novelty of commercial exchange.”(Glenny
2009, 25)
What happened in the 1990’s, as is described by Glenny (Glenny, op.cit,8), was that the controlling
mechanism somehow happened to be blocked due to liberalization of international financial and
commodity markets on the one hand and the fall of communism on the other hand. The result was
that the fall of communism fused with the process of globalization accelerated an overwhelming
shadow economy.
15
“According to figures culled from IMF8, from the World Bank and from the research institutes in
Europe and North America, it now accounts for between 15 and 20 per cent of global turnover.”
(Glenny, op. cit, 8)
The link between the afore-mentioned “shadow world economy” and its partner in the “daylight” is,
according to Glenny (Glenny, op, cit), much closer and less transparent than anyone might imagine.
He wrote: “In both banking and commodity trading, the criminal operates much closer to home than
we think.” (Glenny, op. cit, 8)
While many national economies started to enjoy an improvement in trade, investment and wealth
creation, those at the other end of scale found themselves cast into, as Glenny describes it: “The
purgatory that became known as “transition”, a territory with ever-shifting borders. In these
badlands, economic survival frequently involved grabbing a gun and snatching what you could to
survive.” (Glenny, op.cit, 4)
Ordinary citizens all over Eastern Europe soon discovered that the “new oligarchy”, in conjunction
with all kinds of businessmen from the West, worked tirelessly to acquire the most attractive
national assets which had been privatized overnight. Countries were hit hard with heavy
consequences, when they shifted from socialist economics into the “blinding sun of free-market
capitalism”, as Misha Glenny (Glenny, op.cit.) noted.
“Those who positioned themselves well in the first three years after the end of communism were
often in position to make up the rules of their brave new world as they went along.” (Glenny 2009,
25)
While one smaller part of the East-European/Balkans population was busy making a fortune for
itself, the rest of the population suddenly found itself trapped in poverty and despair. The social
security system collapsed as if it had never existed for many millions who had enjoyed it for almost
50 years.
“Socio-economic changes in the everyday lives of both women and men in post-communist
countries (e.g. unemployment and/or loss of previous social positions and privileges) play an
8
International Monetary Fond
16
important role in precipitating their involvement in prostitution as pimps, and in trafficking as
recruiters or traffickers.” (Ristanovic-Nikolic, 2002)
3.2.1 Organized crime in the post-communist countries and the role of organized
crime in the trafficking of women and children
The fall of communism and the consequent transition from a regulated economy to a market
economy has contributed to human trafficking to, through, and from South-Eastern Europe and the
Balkans.
While on one hand the number of women seeking employment opportunities abroad has
grown, on the other hand many destination countries, and especially the EU, have put in place
more restrictive immigration policies, thereby further decreasing the opportunities for legal
migration even when there is a demand for labor in the informal sector. The result is a growing
gap between official policies in destination countries and day-to-day practices. This is where
organized crime comes in, filling the gap that official policies leave. (Ristanovic-Nikolic,
2002)
The lucrative business in the cross-border trade and the visa-free regime ensured that the emerging
criminal groups or “syndicate groups” (as Glenny, op.cit, called them in his book) established links
with similar groups in other Balkan, former Soviet Union and Eastern-European countries. Each
“syndicate group” in the afore-mentioned regions takes pride in specializing in the trading of
particular goods and “commodities”.
“In the former Yugoslavia for example it was arms and cigarettes, in Bulgaria it was cars, in
Ukraine it was trafficking of migrant labor as well as women. Everyone shifted narcotics.” (Glenny
2009, 26)
The possibility of substantial financial reward because of high demand and a minimal chance of
being prosecuted, due to lack of any effective policing, are the two most important reasons why the
“trafficking business” attracted (and still does) all kind of criminals. Almost simultaneously in other
countries of the East-Europe/Balkans, criminal groups were expanding their network of criminal
activities in order to increase the income opportunities from trafficking in women and children.
Organized crime proved to be very adjustable to the “new world order”.
17
“The south of Greece, for example, represents the quickest entry to the EU or the Middle East. This
route is controlled by traffickers from Macedonia and Albania, and later, Kosovo where the demand
grew exponentially as soon as the first peacekeepers were deployed in 1994 as part of the UN
Preventive Deployment.” (Glenny,op.cit, 30)
All published documents indicate that in almost all cases the trafficking of human beings bears the
“signature” of organized crime. Forcing people to live in conditions of slavery generates enormous
income to traffickers...“Allegedly, it is a multi-billion dollar industry”. (Glenny, op. cit, 30) After
the end of the war thousands of unemployed ex-paramilitary and military joined on a “full-time”
basis organized-crime syndicates, shifting for them heroin, cigarettes, labour migrants and women
and children to the European Union. The Albanian-Kosovo mafia proved to be specially efficient in
trafficking and smuggling. Over the years, they built it up a reputation for being the most powerful
drug mafia worldwide and, at the same time, the most brutal.
To support the afore-mentioned, I will cite Glenny who wrote: ” The Keystone Cops’ regime of the
UN and Nato in Kosovo had no resources to combat the Albanian fighters from the Kosovo
Liberation Army, who had consolidated Kosovo as a new centre for distribution of heroin from
Turkey to the European Union.” (Glenny,op.cit , 55)
The phenomenon of Albanian-controlled trafficking in Western countries, according the IOM report
(IOM 2004), has evolved over recent years. The Balkans conflict in 1992-95 and US and NATO air
strikes on Serbia territory in 1999 resulted in an immense refugee exodus. During the former the
number reached over one million, whereas during the latter thousands of Kosovo refugees were
forced to leave the country. The majority of them went to Western Europe. It could be expected that
amongst such huge numbers of displaced peoples were also those with previously-developed
connections in organized crime. They provided an excellent base for establishing efficient
distribution networks of illicit goods in Western Europe.
The attractiveness of possible high income through enslaving another human being lies in the fact
that for the criminals and thugs trafficking women and children it is actually “easy money”. The
explanation for why this is so is given by Glenny (Glenny 2009, 30) where he describes why
criminals find women and children attractive as an entry level commodity: “They can cross borders
18
legally and they do not attract the attention of sniffer dogs. The initial outlay is a fraction of the sum
required to engage in car theft. Costs are minimal and as a service provider, the commodity (a
trafficked woman) generates income again and again. Just one women can make £3000-6000 per
month for her trafficker.” (Glenny, op. cit, 30)
3.2.2 Law legislation, human rights and human trafficking
Although the victims of trafficking are both men and women, boys and girls and toddlers of both
sexes, the trafficking in human beings is not gender-neutral. It is widely recognized that women and
girls are those who happen to be the most affected.
Scholar Sandi E. Cooper has offered a definition of human rights where the central place belongs to
women’s human rights. She wrote: “Human rights include the absolute right of women to safe
environment, access to civic space, educational opportunities, and environment that will not kill or
sicken the children they choose to bear; and their control over the use of their bodies.” (Cooper
1999, 99)
In every day practice, reports concerned with human trafficking include the victims’ testimonies
from which it is clear that all over the world today people are abducted, captured, enslaved, raped,
tortured, drugged, exposed to illness, molested and in some cases murdered by traffickers. Yet, it
seems that in many countries the problem has not been seen as one of priority, or it has been given
only declarative attention.
“In most countries, “trafficking”, “forced labour,” and slavery are recognized as crimes punishable
by law. Trafficking in women is acknowledged internationally as a violation of women’s human
rights, and numerous organizations and networks are beginning to address this issue.”(Chew 1999,
15)
Still, the prejudices, lack of knowledge/ignorance, and weak monitoring mechanisms when it comes
to the application of the available international legal instruments have contributed to the flourishing
of the human trafficking problem.
19
At present the most relevant international legal human rights instruments are articles 6 and 19 of the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) the International
Convent on Civil and Political rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and certain
International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions (those concerning migrant workers’ rights,
forced labour and freedom of association).
“The problem with most of these international instruments, however, is that they do not have strong
monitoring mechanisms or the ability to act on individual or group complaints of
violations.”(Chew, op.cit, 13)
The ignorance and resulting “liberal” policy toward trafficking which is evident in a number of
countries may be the result of multiple factors. According to Gaon and Forbord (Gaon and Forbord
2005), many countries link this problem to the illegal migration and undocumented/illegal migrants.
By placing victims in the same category as criminals, officials fail to recognize and to address the
problem. In this sense, trafficking victims thus become double victims, victimized first by
traffickers, and then victimized by countries that criminalize them.
3.3 Bosnia And Herzegovina country profiles: Poverty as an enabling factor for
the development and spread of trafficking of women and children
For a longer period in recent history (after the WWII) Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of the six
relatively economically advanced republics in the former state of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavian
state collapsed as the direct result of the bloody civil war, which started in 1991 and finished with
the Dayton Peace Accord in the autumn of 1995. Today, poverty, social exclusion and inequality
are issues of growing concern in BiH.
“The current situation is a consequence of the conflict in 1992-1995, which resulted in the death of
250.000 people. Additionally, 200.000 people were wounded and 1, 6 million of BiH citizens left
the area.” (Relief Web, 1995).
According to the Centre for Balanced Development database (Centre for Balanced Development,
2000) the destruction of BiH society was so complete that today, 14 years after the signing of the
peace agreement that ended the conflict, BiH produces only 20% of its pre-conflict national income
and the social safety net does not even compare with that of the pre-war in quality and extent.
20
A major World Bank study of the Bosnian post-conflict situation found that the region’s
populace considered itself “have-nots,” a sharp change from the 1970s and 80s, when most
viewed themselves as middle-class (or the “haves”). Industry was blown up or shut down;
black market (underground) income was desperately needed by many simply to subsist;
uncertainty and insecurity were rampant; hunger and poor health became commonplace, along
with psychological concerns and stress. While those at the top of the economic pyramid
enjoyed all the fruits of war-profiteering, the masses in the middle declined rapidly. They
suffered from housing insecurity, including many who were forced to reside in collective
centers or refugee camps. There was very little upward mobility, but instead, mass mobility
downward for the majority. People did not trust their new government, outside donors, or other
ethnic groups. They seemed to have positive feelings only for family and friends (Djipa,
undated).
However, some population groups such as single parents, people with disabilities, the elderly, and
young unemployed people, are more affected than others and the redistribution of social security
funds is far from being equal in all Bosnia and Herzegovina regions. These findings are the result of
the research conducted by International Displacement Monitoring Centre during the year 2008.
It seems that the consequences of the civil war, the political/economic incompetence of BiH
politicians, together with the lack of employment and lack of a better life outlook create the perfect
“market niche” for national and international human trafficking.
3.3.1. Complexity of governing and political structures in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the response of law enforcement to human trafficking
BiH is officially under EU administration, (Office of High Representative or OHR) and the
governance in the countryis featured according ethno-religious politics. Governance is
currently shared among thirteen political units possessing constitutional and legislative
authority: the state, the two entities (Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina), and the ten cantons into which the Federation is further divided. In fact there is a
fourteenth and unique unit – Brcko-District. Brcko is currently governed by an OHR-appointed
international supervisor. This means there are five levels of government-state entity, canton,
city and municipality. Each of the thirteen political units has between six and twelve ministries,
effectively amounting to at least 181 ministers for 3,7 million people. If this ratio were applied
for Germany, that country would have 4,240 ministers. As long as BiH continues to be so
fragmented and over-governed, no reforms designed merely to strengthen existing structures
can do more than make marginal improvements, for they will fail to address the fundamental
problem. (ICG Balkans Report 2001, 2)
21
Since 2001, when this International Crisis Group report was published, until the present not many
changes in order to increase the effectiveness of BiH’s complex governing and political
arrangements have been evident. This is especially noticeable on the economic level.
“Each of these two entities (plus district Brcko) has a Ministry of Interior responsible for the police
forces. As it was already mentioned, the Federation is further sub-divided into ten cantons, each
with its own Ministry of Interior. In total, there are 13 ministries of interior in BiH.” (IOM 2004)
With each political unit governed by separate administrative and police bodies, it is not so
surprising that the intervention by law-enforcement agencies and the administration is extremely
fragmented. For example: Police forces working in one political unit may use different investigative
systems from those in other units. The consequence is a relatively low level of cooperation between
different units including difficulties in the sharing of information.
As a consequence, organized crime involved in trafficking of persons in BiH has responded by
restructuring and adapting their criminal management systems and modus operandi to the
(relatively) new political and legislative structure with the ultimate aim of enhancing their criminal
operations. Thus, the organized crime network has managed to develop an extremely high level of
specialization in criminal methods and management.
The issue which further weakened the fragile anti-trafficking and anti-corruption results undertaken
by BiH officials was the manner of the transfer of responsibility between IPTF9 to the national
police. “At the end of 2002, the missions of IPTF and stop teams in BiH ended and the BiH police
was left to act alone. IPTF did not transfer their database to the BiH police and information relating
to trafficking in BiH, including details of approximately 1,500 potential victims and hundreds of
potential traffickers, location etc, which had been gathered over several years, was not made
available to the national police.” (IOM 2004, 37)
In spite of all obstacles the BiH government took measures to establish state institutions and
mechanisms to combat trafficking. “In November 2000, under the leadership of the Ministry for
European integration, the National Working Group on Trafficking was established. This working
9
IPTF stands for International Police Task Force under organized under UN auspice
22
group is designed to indentify anti-trafficking priorities, and coordinate action on the part of the
government, NGOs, and international organizations.” (Gaon and Forbord 2005, 134)
In the year 2000, the State Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina started to work on improving its
law enforcement response and anti-corruption efforts in relation to trafficking.
A very important step (Gaon and Forbord, op. cit, 129) was the creation of the Central Investigative
Service under the auspices of the State Border Service. This creation represented the first concrete
step toward the process of centralization of the intelligence service connected to cross borderrelated crimes
According the IOM (IOM 2004) reports, as a reflection of the positive result in combating
trafficking, the US State Department responded by changing the ranking of BiH from a “Tier 3” to
“Tier 2”10.
While in most countries in the region the legal status of international victims awaiting repatriation is
not regulated, according to the IOM (IOM 2004), BiH is the only country (in the region) which
offers an alternative to repatriation in the form of temporary residence visas for victims of
trafficking and the granting of refugee status in BiH.
Although a significant improvement in the sphere of law-enforcement response and anti-corruption
efforts is noticeable, the actual situation when it comes to prosecution for trafficking as a criminal
offence leaves more room for additional improvement.
Even though Bosnia and Herzegovina’s criminal code provides for up to 10 years imprisonment
(Gaon and Forbord 2005) for trafficking-related crimes, much depends on individual judges and on
both their comprehension of the problem of human trafficking and their interpretation of the law.
10
The State Department released the 177-page report today to comply with the Victims of
Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. The report evaluates the performance of 116
countries, putting each country in one of three categories, depending on how its domestic efforts
meet the legislation's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Tier 3 countries are
deemed to be not in compliance with the minimum standards and not making significant efforts;
Tier 2 countries are not in compliance, but making significant efforts; and Tier 1 countries are in
compliance. The report covers countries worldwide with a "significant number" of trafficking
victims. (Human Rights Watch, 2003)
23
3.3.2 Feminization of poverty; “What is wrong with voluntary prostitution?”
The BiH region has a high unemployment rate (ca. 35 per cent) and women in female-headed
households have an even lower employment rate and lower wages than the average (Center for
Balanced Development, 2000).
Women in particular have been negatively affected by these difficult times, both at home and in the
job market. At home there has been an increase in the amount of domestic violence. In the job
market, women lose jobs before men - the unemployment rate for women is more than twice as high
as for men.(Gaon and Forbord,op.cit)
According to the Youth Information Agency (2005) report, 77% of young people would like to
leave BiH if offered the chance to do so. More than 50% of those who want to leave the country are
young females.
“The probability of becoming a victim of trafficking is greater for younger women, since young
women are more often identified by themselves and by potential recruiters as sex objects.” (NikolicRistanovic 2002)
Caught between a dehumanizing life in poverty and the difficulties of finding a legitimate job (any
job) either at home or abroad, young women are sometimes coerced by their parents into looking
for any paid work so that they can support their families; the families understand that the young
women may end up as prostitutes abroad, but do not understand that they may end up victims of
trafficking in conditions of sexual slavery.
In a number of cases women and children, out of desperation, accept jobs as “escorts”, “models”,
and “actors”. They may know that those flashy job offers are only euphemisms for prostitution but
they need to survive and most of them become victims of the “Pretty Woman” syndrome.11
Equipped with quite naive and romantic expectations that out there, in the rich West, some nice,
cultivated men will recognize their value and rescue them from the misery of poverty and that they
will “live happily ever after”, the girls become easy prey for traffickers.
11
Pretty Woman” is the Hollywood-produced, Cinderella-type movie where a young prostitute marries a young,
handsome and rich businessman
24
Voluntary prostitution
Supporters of prostitution, according to Holsopple (Holsopple 1999), promote it as entertainment,
the oldest trade in the world, sex work, sex industry and commercial enterprise which celebrates
women’s sexuality and thus are largely set up to empower women.
“The Left and Right, as well as some feminists share the assumption that prostitution is a job of
work and a prostitute is a worker like any other wage labourer.” (Pateman 1999, 57)
This hypothesis is based on the premise that, although some women and many children are forced
into prostitution, many women choose prostitution as a career or maybe, to go even further, they
also enjoy it, in a similar way to other workers who happen to enjoy their chosen careers.
Proponents of such hypotheses are actually inadvertently supporting gender violence against
women.
Kelly Holsopple in her text: “Pimps, Tricks and Feminists” (Holsopple 1999, 47-48), explains why
prostitution is a survival response and not a choice. The concept of choice, she wrote, implies at
least two options. The difference between starvation, abuse, homelessness and death or prostitution
can hardly be called a choice. “Being used in prostitution is not an all-encompassing definition of
who a women was, is, or will be. The differences that set prostituted women apart are seldom of
choice or morality; they are simply differences of circumstances. (Holsopple, op.cit, 50)
When feminists promote prostitution, writes Holsopple (Holsopple 1999, 50), they are advocating
that women forfeit their rights. She uses the example of Holland – “the Mecca for so-called
prostitution-rights proponents” where the government has proposed for women in prostitution a
concept of full consent to exploit themselves. “In complying, women will forfeit their rights, not
gain their rights. When feminists promote prostitution, they are helping consolidate male power and
legalize violence against women for the profit and use of pimps and tricks, by legitimizing and
strengthening pimps’ and tricks’ unjustified control and access to women and children.” (Holsopple,
op. cit, 50)
Holsopple (Holsopple, op.cit), and other scholars who are sharing the view that: the “tricks” (nickname for a prostitute’s “client”) and pimps promote prostitution as a job like any other will
continue to fight the concept of “voluntary prostitution” including, but not restricted to, ambiguous
and possibly deceiving terms in describing prostitution as: sex work, sex trade or sexual rights.
“Call pimps pimps and perpetrators of prostitution, not third parties, intermediaries, managers,
25
owners, or boyfriends. Call tricks tricks or johns or sex offenders, not customers, clients, consumers
or purchasers.” (Holsopple, op. cit, 52)
Commentator Kathleen Barry’s moral imperative gives us a very clear definition which explains the
phenomenon of “voluntary prostitution”: “When the human being is reduced to a body, objectified
to sexually service another, whether or not there is consent, violation of the human being has
occurred.” (Bishop and Robinson 1999, 42)
3.3.3 Trafficking of women and children in, out and within Bosnia and
Herzegovina
The coffee bars springing up in Bosnia bear a chilling resemblance to these wartime rape
houses, but the war is now a silent one...Those who cause trouble are easily disposed of. Last
year, the naked bodies of two women were found in a river near “Arizona Market”. Both bore
the marks of mafia-style killings - hands tied behind their backs, feet bound to concrete. Tape
over their mouth was marked "Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.” The
symbols of protection had been used to stifle their screams. Their identities are impossible to
trace. (Holt 2001, 51; Ristanovic-Nikolic 2002)
The official reports (IOM 2004, among others) show that Bosnia and Herzegovina served/serves as
the transit country, destination country and, recently, country of origin for many of the trafficked
women and children. According to IOM (IOM 2004) Bosnia and Herzegovina is recognized as a
major transit point for illegal immigration in the Balkans. International police sources estimate that
many thousands of illegal migrants enter BiH each year.
“International organizations have been officially concerned with the problem of human trafficking
in BiH since their first conference on the matter in 1998 which laid the foundation for projects to
combat human trafficking in Southeast Europe.” (Gaon and Forbord 2005, 129)
After being for some time a country of transit and destination, especially for internationally
trafficked women and children, Bosnia and Herzegovina has evolved to country of origin as well.
IOM’s report from the year 2004 warned of the new development where BiH, which was primarily
a country of destination and transit for foreign victims, is now also emerging as a country of origin
for Bosnian victims trafficked both within and outside BiH borders.
26
“The realities of the region’s post-conflict period and its economic situations have led to the mass
migration of women and girls seeking for a better life. Under the guise of voluntary migration,
women and girls/children are more easily tricked into becoming victims of trafficking.” (Gaon and
Forbord 2005, 7)
According to information gathered from the IOM report (IOM 2004, 10) and NGOs assisting
victims of trafficking, it can be stated that international victims are still mainly recruited by means
of false job promises. Some victims are recruited by newspaper advertisements or through travel or
job agencies. However, false marriage proposals or false travel arrangements are also used.
A number of statistical reports have indicated that, out of all the Balkan and South-East European
states BiH has become the prime destination for human traffickers since 1995. Bosnia and
Herzegovina’s geographical position between East and the West, “in the heart” of the Balkan
Peninsula, throughout history has proven to be ideal for shifting illicit goods and services all over
the region and toward the West as well.
According to various sources the Dayton treaty, which should have brought peace and stability to
the country, brought also approximately 60,000 foreign soldiers assigned to ensure the peace.
“For organized crime, which had established itself during the war, and for that element of the
political elite linked to organized crime, the deployment of the foreign soldiers presented a perfect
opportunity to maintain their established criminal business and to develop a new one, namely,
trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation.” (Gaon and Forbord 2005, 128)
Within a short period of time BiH was literally overflowing with night clubs and brothels. There are
no reliable estimates of the number of night-clubs which are offering “additional service”. In fact,
all the information regarding the “trafficking business” (number of trafficking victims, victims’
backgrounds, location where traffickers hold victims, who the traffickers are, modes and routes of
trafficking) is very difficult to obtain. Given the nature of the criminal milieu involved in
trafficking, it is not so surprising that the process of obtaining information is generally very difficult
and dangerous.
“The United Nations Mission in BiH (UNMIBH) claimed that they numbered 260, while local
NGOs claimed that the number of bars was more like 900, with between 4 and 25 women in each
27
bar and night club. However there are no consistent figures available.” (Gaon and Forbord 2005,
131)
In September 2002, an intensive European operation was organized, with American assistance,
to crack down on trafficking in women for sex trade. National and international police officers
made 71 raids on nightclubs, hotels and other locations during the September operations, but
arrested only seven trafficking suspects. Following the end of the actions American officials
suggested that in fact little was done in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In June 2003, a report by the
U.S State Department indentified Bosnia and Herzegovina as a “Tier 3 country”, that is a
country that does not meet the minimum standards for fighting trafficking in human beings.
(Gaon and Forbord, op. cit. 129)
It is important to emphasize that at the time of signing the Dayton treaty, Bosnia and Herzegovina
did not have a state police force, state border control or unified customs control. International
organizations were assigned the task of rebuilding the civil society including, but not restricted to,
supervising the implementation of laws and ensuring human rights standards.
The shocking death of Olena in 2004 provoked many debates and discussions in Bosnia and
Herzegovina about the extent of trafficking of women and children and its implication for BiH
society as a whole. Prior to Olena’s death, trafficking had been viewed as a problem that happens to
“others... not to us”.
The interview conducted by the Bosnian scholar Lalic (Lalic 2007, 107), for the purpose of
collecting research data in the city of Banja Luka (Republika Srpska) revealed that approximately
73% of the interviewed population confuse trafficking with “voluntary” prostitutions and generally
see the trafficking as the activity where poor women (mostly foreigners from Eastern-Europe) offer
their own bodies to those who can pay for it. This atmosphere of ignorance was maintained by the
authorities who claimed that: “trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation no longer existed in
the country.” (Gaon and Forbord 2005, 4)
This may well be correct, to some extent, in regard to international trafficking, but as to the
trafficking of women and children within BiH, the local sex market is apparently growing as is the
number of victims who are from BiH.
28
According to OHCHR12 (IOM 2004, 45 report), approximately 30% of local prostitutes are minors.
There are reports of Bosnian women and girls being trafficked to the Croatian coast during the
summer season, where they are used for sexual exploitation. In spite of similar reports/warnings, the
political establishment points to a favourable statistical report which shows some positive trends in
regard to the control of an organized crime activity.
“The Ministry of the Interior of the Republika Srpska (RS) gave an optimistic overview of the
situation in RS in connection to human trafficking. According to them the numbers of the trafficked
victims are declining.” (Lalic 2007, 78)
3.3.4 War, ethnic cleansing and trafficking
Further on in the text I will discuss the militarization of Bosnia and Herzegovina being recognized
as one of the factors which enabled the flourishing of trafficking of women and children on the
territory of BiH. Gaon and Forbord, Ristanovic-Nikolic and Watanabe are some of the scholars who
have focussed in their work on the militarization or the institutional legalization of sexual violence.
Numerous examples from around the globe could have been cited to illustrate that women are
attacked in conflicts by men of all religions, nationalities, ideologies and colours. For the purpose of
this study I will introduce three examples of the militarization and the institutional legalization of
sexual violence against women. First is the case of so-called “comfort women” who served as sex
slaves to the Japanese military during the Second World War but only recently received deserved
attention. Another example of militarization happened not long ago, and this time took the form of
the mass rape organized to achieve ethnic cleansing during the war in BiH. The third example is
focussing on the consequence of the presence of large numbers of foreign soldiers/peace-keepers in
the BiH in the post-war period.
Kazuko Watanabe, in her article (Watanabe 1999, 19), argued that the practice of military sexual
abuse and trafficking of women did not end with the “comfort women” sex slaves of the Imperial
Japanese Army in World War II but, rather, has been expanded. In the opening part of her article,
12
OHCHR stands for Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights
29
she points to how war has accelerated the violation of women, such as the trafficking in women
near battlefields and military bases. Trafficking in women is a form of sexual slavery in which
women are transported across national borders and sold for prostitution, sex tourism, or false
marriages or as “catalogue brides”, forced domestic labour, or migrant workers.
It is safe to say that the courage of the former “comfort women” (who found the strength to reveal
what had happened during World War II) indirectly helped the victims of the massive rape in
former Yugoslavia, and particularly in BiH during the period 1992-95, to be recognized as the
victims of a crime against humanity.
Thousands of raped and molested Bosnian women found the courage to pursue acceptance of the
first international law, brought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in
The Hague, which recognized sex-violation against women, in the form of an organized military
act, as a crime against humanity. The organized mass rape was a form of an organized military act
which served as an instrument of war in former Yugoslavia.
“In the former Yugoslavia rape has been massive, organized and systematic. It was perceived by the
Special Report appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights not only as an
instrument of war but as a method of ethnic cleansing intended to humiliate, shame, degrade and
terrify the entire ethnic group .” (Kunarac et al. 2002)
The militarization of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which happened in the post-war period, is perceived
by some scholars as one of the factors which enabled the flourishing of trafficking of women and
children in BiH and in the region.
As was mentioned previously in this paper and according to Gaon and Forbord as well (Gaon and
Forbord 2005, 128), after the war in BiH international organizations were assigned the task of
supervising the implementation of laws and ensuring the human rights standard. Approximately
60,000 foreign soldiers were assigned to ensure the peace.
Unfortunately, the deployment of such large numbers of men without families and with relatively
high incomes, created a situation already seen many times in the history of armed conflicts.
“The dramatic increase in the number of women trafficked to and from BiH can be traced directly
to the arrival of peacekeepers in BiH. Many reports have indicated that the UN covered up the
30
involvement of UN police task forces in human trafficking. The UN did, however, dismiss an
American officer for procuring a Moldovan woman for prostitution in a brothel in Sarajevo for the
sum of $2,900.” (Gaon and Forbord 2005, 132)
This particular situation is clearly described in the two following articles:
War and militarism particularly influence sex trafficking in women. Their impact is mostly
connected to specific war and post-war situations, but sex trafficking may also be the
consequence of the very presence of military in the region, regardless of whether there is war
going on or not. Thus, the impact of militarism on sex trafficking is not necessarily connected
to war, although war may produce militarist cultural ideals about gender which increase the
vulnerability of women to socio-economic factors that lead to sex trafficking. Moreover,
examples from recent history show that the expansion of prostitution due to the extended
presence of military forces has long-term consequences on the development of sex trafficking
on both local and global levels. (Ristanovic-Nikolic 2002)
Women are raped in all forms of armed conflict, international and internal, whether the conflict
is fought primarily on religious, ethnic, political or nationalist grounds, or a combination of all
these. They are raped by men from all sides - both enemy and `friendly' forces. There have
been reports of rapes and other forms of sexual abuse committed by members of United
Nations peacekeeping forces; women are not free from interference even from those who are in
the territory with an international mandate to restore international peace and security.
International media attention has been directed towards the widespread rapes, torture and
forced pregnancies in the former Yugoslavia…Nevertheless, the international response in itself
carries the risk that violent offences against women will be perceived as something
exceptional, peculiar to this particular conflict. (Chinkin 2003)
“This criticism of international policy toward sex trafficking is not intended to absolve Balkan
countries or local men of responsibility. It is rather an attempt to look at the problem of sex
trafficking in the contemporary world in a holistic way.” (Ristanovic-Nikolic, 2002).
3.3.5 NGOs’ role and best practices in fighting trafficking in BiH
Through the last decades nongovernmental organizations have an played important role in the BiH
civil society. “The decentralization of government and scaling-back of social spending advocated
by the international financial institutions and large aid-donor organizations through the last decades
have created considerable space for NGOs, and made them key figures in a wide range of social
sectors.” (Michael 2002)
31
When it comes to the human trafficking, the NGO engagement in BiH is of the utmost importance
in regard to countering and suppressing the human trafficking crime in coordination with the
specialized Ministry of Interior counter-trafficking units. As has already been mentioned in this
text, the specific problem that trafficked victims encounter (no matter where in the world trafficking
has taken place) is being victimized first by traffickers and then by governmental policy in the
country of destination.
Korean scholar Lin Chew in her article has written that: “The problem that governments usually
target is in fact not acts committed against women, but acts committed by women and/or acts
committed by third parties who facilitate the migrations and employment of women... As a result
women and their labour become the object of state control.” (Chew 1999, 15)
In the same article Chew (Chew,op.cit,15) writes that: “Whether or not the law formally
criminalizes or regulates third parties, the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that arrest, fines,
detention, expulsion, and other punishment are levied against women workers and/or migrants far
more than against their exploiters or violators.”
According to Chew (Chew 1999, 15) “The only states that have shown some concern for the
victims of trafficking are those that use the women as witnesses to combat (organized) crime.
Unfortunately, the women are usually expelled, without protection against reprisals, after the
criminal proceeding are completed.”
According to information from local NGOs and the IOM report (IOM 2004), the legislative
implementation of Deportation in BiH was finally stopped in 1999. After years of misguided
prosecution (which only helped traffickers move victims from place to place, re-trafficking them)
victims are now referred to a victim assistance service organized by international and local NGOs.
The credit for the legislative changes goes to the NGOs who worked tirelessly to raise awareness in
regard to the negative implications that deportation and other BiH government policies have had for
trafficked women and children.
32
Many NGOs are working actively on proposing and implementing strategies that reflect the actual
needs of trafficked victims. “Perhaps the only strategies with concrete and unqualified benefits for
the women have been nongovernmental.” (Chew, op.cit, 16)
The successful cooperation between the local and international NGOs and law enforcement
agencies resulted in establishing the unified referral mechanism which is an important element in
combating human trafficking and assisting the victims in the most appropriate way.
From the moment of referral, as the IOM report (IOM 2004, 12) explains, when the victim is
approached by trained officials in an anti-trafficking police unit, until eventual repatriation to the
country of origin and/or reintegration, NGO workers are directly involved in all the segments of the
process. Current law enforcement agencies refer victims or potential victims to IOM and/or NGOs
who operate temporary shelters around BiH. The first shelters were operated exclusively by IOM
but in the course of time IOM has delegated responsibilities to local NGOs.
“It was decided, through a tender and selection process, to delegate shelter management and
ownership to an NGO as the BiH authorities were not yet ready to take on this responsibility.
According to local NGOs, they would be happy to hand over the shelters to the government once it
is in position to accept responsibility.” (IOM, op. cit, 44)
The range of service offered differs from shelter to shelter, as was explained in the IOM report
(IOM 2004), but all victims have access to medical care (HIV testing) and counselling. Victims
assisted by IOM receive information from IOM’s legal advisor regarding their status in BiH, their
possibilities for seeking asylum (which is a possibility given by BiH law) and their rights and
obligations with regard to criminal investigations and court proceedings against their traffickers.
(IOM, op. cit, 44)
The present referral process has resulted from the experiences of all the agencies involved in
developing the best practice in countering trafficking. Thus, the OHCHR (IOM op.cit, 43), as part
of the new referral procedures, indicates that each potential victim will be met and advised by a
lawyer prior to questioning by the police.
33
“Since August 2002, La Strada (international NGO) and Lara (the local NGO) have maintained a
trafficking hotline, operating 24 hours a day, which may be used by victims of trafficking. The
NGO Lara is regularly participating in the police raids.” (IOM, op.cit, 43)
According to NGO workers (IOM, op. cit, 43), direct contact with the victims has proved to be one
of the most useful tools and the method of choice when it comes to dealing with trafficking issues.
Most of the above-mentioned measures are developed in order to assist the international victims of
human trafficking. In the light of the recent trend in the trafficking of women and children, Bosnia
and Herzegovina urgently needs to work on developing legislation and a plan of action in order to
assist the domestic victims of trafficking as well.
3.4 Trafficking of women and children in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Analysis of
the most recent trends
A number of actions taken by government and organizations and their efforts to fight human
trafficking, according to an RS (BiH) Ministry of Interior official report, appear to have provided
some positive results: allegedly human trafficking has declined, though the causes for this decline
vary from one country to another, writes Lalic (Lalic 2007, 57), and emphasizes that such analysis
is based on the number of victims referred to IOM and other NGOs.
On the other hand, some journalists, the NGOs, to whom Lalic referred in his book (Lalic op.cit,
57), who worked closely with victims of trafficking, and other informed insiders all share the
opinion that levels of human trafficking mostly have not changed.
As in other countries in the region, as well as in the BiH, NGOs and international organizations
have observed an increase in internal trafficking within the country. According to the information
available through the IOM report (IOM 2004,36), no comprehensive research or plan has yet been
presented to combat a specific aspect of the problem of trafficking: a change in the working pattern
of the criminal structures involved in trafficking after the drastic shift in policing responsibilities
from international to national entities.
34
Various information sources (IOM, NGOs, and the specialized counter-trafficking law enforcement
units), according the IOM report (IOM op.cit), started in 2003 to gather and exchange more detailed
information with regard to human trafficking. They have closely examined the victims’ profiles and
background, whether the victims have been trafficked internationally or nationally, the extent of
irregular migration, methods of victim recruitment, trafficking modes (e.g. through travel or
employment agencies) and trafficking routes including transit and destination. Further, the focus
was on the organized crime structure and methods and on law enforcement response as well.
Gathered information suggests that patterns and trends in the trafficking of women and children are
changing, both externally in the Balkan countries and internally in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The IOM (IOM, op.cit) report expressed concern when it comes to an evaluation of an exact
number of trafficked women and children: “According to analysis of organized crime, criminal
activities linked to trafficking in persons are in continuous expansion, evolution and specialization.
It seems that criminal groups are able to adapt rapidly and effectively to changing conditions in the
various countries, making the collection of data difficult.
“Nevertheless, there is a lack of precise figures for evaluating the scale of the phenomenon, with
specific reference to low numbers of victims referred in recent years by law enforcement agencies
to aid organizations, including IOM.”(IOM, op.cit, 12)
The recommendation given by the IOM (IOM 2004) to regional law enforcement entities is to
reassess the situation in order to adapt to the new circumstances: the new, more hidden methods of
human trafficking.
Some independent researchers and writers such as Gaon and Forbord came to the same conclusion:
“Moreover, in 2003, modern slave owners in Bosnia and Herzegovina started to promote a new
“technology” using private apartments, a change which allowed traffickers to go even more
underground and be shielded from the public eye” (Gaon and Forbord 2005,132).
3.4.1 Reason for statistical decline in figures
Gathered information (reported in IOM 2004 report) has shown that there were four main reasons
for a statistical decline in the numbers of trafficked victims: Police activity, corruption, “shrinkage”
35
of the potential market and, last but not least, the hidden and more sophisticated method of
operation.
Police Activity - the drastic shift in police responsibilities
According to the IOM report (IOM,op.cit,34), on 31 December 2002 the United Nations Mission in
BiH (UNMIBIH) closed down their operations and United Nations International Police Task Force
(IPTF) and its STOP team, which was the primary law enforcement body responsible for organizing
and conducting counter-trafficking activities, ceased to exist. On January 1st 2003, the IPTF
operational responsibilities were transferred to the national police.
“The European Union Police Mission (EUPM) took over responsibility for police monitoring and
training and providing technical expertise and support to help national law enforcement authorities
develop their capacity for dealing with all aspects of law enforcement, including counter trafficking
operations”. (IOM, op.cit 34)
Unfortunately the transfer of information and intelligence about organized crime and human
trafficking between the departing IPTF and the newly appointed national police and EUPM could
be described as sadly lacking.
One of the biggest problems encountered in the change of responsibility was that no
intelligence information collected by IPTF was transferred to the national police. Database
containing thousand of details acquired over several years of work and relating to criminals and
victims of trafficking was never handed to the national police or to EUPM, thus creating a
major handicap in the present combat of the specific crime. In addition to the afore-mentioned
problem there was a change in the EUPM mandate in comparison with the IPTF mandate when
it comes to methods of providing support to the local police. Namely, EUPM, although
assigned to provide technical support and advice to the local authorities regarding all countertrafficking activities, is not directly involved in raids.
This change in the kind of support that local authorities receive, together with the new
approach taken, has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of raids carried out by the
national police and consequently in a significant decrease in the number of victims rescued.
(IOM 2004, 50)
According to the IOM report (IOM, op. cit, 37), IPTF actions, mostly undertaken in the year 2002,
were massive and repeatedly targeted the “hottest” trafficking location at that time. Although
successfully rescuing a number of victims, raids have failed in attempts to shut down brothels and
to prosecute the owners. It has been suggested that the massive drive by IPTF in 2002 was a factor
in driving prostitution underground. According to one police advisor, the legal arrangements in
36
various parts of BiH make it more difficult to operate brothel in RS and Brcko district than in the
cantons, and that therefore there may be more hidden trafficking in those regions.
Corruption
The situation in BiH worsened because of active corruption at various levels. An environment like
this proved to be a “promised land” for organized criminal activities.
Law enforcement in Bosnia and Herzegovina is “spotty”, and police have often turned a blind
eye to trafficking, for example, when they issue work permits to bar owners for “dancers” and
“waitresses,” even though it is clear that these woman are actually working as
prostitutes...People in law enforcement are themselves sometimes involved in trafficking military forces and police can be clients of trafficked women forced to work as prostitutes, and
some local police have been implicated as themselves being traffickers. In October 2004, a
police officer was arrested for trying to traffic to victims at the border with Serbia and
Montenegro and was suspended from duty, indicted, and now is awaiting trial.” (Gaon and
Forbord 2005, 135) 13
However victims are generally not willing to cooperate with police. They also avoid NGO
assistance because they believe that this assistance also includes obligatory police assessment.
“Victims are reluctant to trust the police. NGOs and temporary shelter operators report receiving
calls from victims seeking assistance but refusing to involve police in many cases.” (IOM 2004, 38)
In recent years the media in BiH reported a number of cases in which police failed to protect
victims of trafficking who tried to witness against pimps.
The “shrinkage” of potential market
One of the reasons for a shrinkage in the potential market can be found in Gaon and Forbord’s
explanation (Gaon and Forbord 2005, 130) regarding the situation in BiH following the end of the
war in 1995. The country is described as flooded with thousands of peacekeepers, consequently
establishing BiH as the prime destination for traffickers of women and girls from Moldova,
Romania, Ukraine, and elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia. “Many of them were trafficked into
Bosnia and Herzegovina via Serbia. As the peacekeepers have left the country, however, Bosnia
13
Some of these claims can be found in the Human Rights Watch report: Trafficking of Women and Girls to PostConflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution (Gaon and Forbrod 2005,132)
37
and Herzegovina has become a less attractive destination for traffickers.” (Gaon and Forbord,
op.cit, 130)
Gaon and Forbord’s data on client origin was based on various NGO reports (Gaon and Forbord,
op.cit, 137) estimating that 40% of the clients in BiH were foreigners, mainly soldiers from SFOR.
“However, the situation is changing because the number of foreign soldiers has decreased from
more than 60,000 in 1996 to some 12,000 in 2003. But the NGO community does not see a decline
in the sex markets and anticipates that local demands will simply replace the demand of
international clients.” (Gaon and Forbord, op. cit, 137)
“The Bosnia Daily reported on July 26, 2005, that NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina dealing with
the sex trade say they have recently detected an increasing number of local women and girls falling
into the trap of human trafficking.” (Gaon and Forbord, op.cit, 138)
Here it is important to mention how difficult it is to distinguish between local prostitution, for
example in and around military bases, and trafficking across international borders. Especially
bearing in mind that procurement for both categories could be organized by the same
actors/traffickers who are simultaneously active both locally and internationally. Local BiH victims
are often first “trained” locally and then offered to the international market.
The case explained by Mendelson (Mendelson 2004) of the involvement of the Russian army
contingent in international trafficking and the holding by force of victims in close proximity to its
UN military base in BiH, did not actually shed more light on the distinction between local and
trans-frontier trafficking.
“The State coordinator and other sources connected to law enforcement agencies suggest that
market demand has decreased with the departure of large sections of the international community.
However, already three or four years ago, interviews with victims revealed that over 70% of clients
were locals.” (IOM 2004, 39)
Therefore, the conclusion which can be drawn from the stated facts is that anticipated changes in
the market demand are related to the origin of victims; more local victims are involved and are
38
expected to be in the future. The clients’ origin has changed as well; there is more demand from the
local clientele and this trend will probably be seen in the future as well.
New trend - legal appearance
One of the main reasons for lack of precise figures in order to evaluate the scale of human
trafficking could be result of the changes in the mode of transfer.
Namely, a new trend in border crossing is appearing. This new trend in the trafficking of women
and children could be called “legal crossing” or “apparently legal crossing”. Such a conclusion is
based on the IOM report findings (IOM, 2004 op.cit, 67) where it is stated that the “legal” method
is very costly, considering the high cost of obtaining valid documents, and it appears therefore that
it is only used by organized crime groups for high-level trafficking for sexual exploitation. “High
level trafficking” is undertaken by high-level groups in organized crime who control international
trafficking. Such high-level groups of organized criminals have access to an inexhaustible quantity
of false documents, as well as to a variety of locations/bases, large numbers of vehicles and large
sums of money.
According to the IOM report, (IOM, op.cit.), high-level organizations have established a dense
network of corrupt officials at all levels in the region, facilitating the issue of visas for travel to the
Schengen area and other countries. Corrupt officials in the Balkans; BiH and particularly Kosovo,
facilitate the production of the forged documents. This allows criminals to move victims both by
land and air. Allegedly, more and more victims are entering BiH on flights into Sarajevo
International Airport.
“Given their entrepreneurial coloration and the availability of large sums of money, high-level
criminal groups may develop relationships with personalities in political, diplomatic, administrative
and financial circles, especially through use of corruption, where necessary.” (IOM, op. cit, 13)
Travelling with regular documents through legal borders is the method of achieving so-called
“invisibility” of the victims in many Balkan countries and helps traffickers to avoid being stopped
or controlled by law enforcement agencies. “It was therefore only possible to discover this bleak
situation from the testimony of victims and criminal sources, and not from police files.” (IOM
2004, 14)
39
New trend: higher numbers of internally trafficked/more minors involved
According to NGOs and some intergovernmental organizations, an increasing number of sex
services in BiH are provided by local prostitutes and local victims of trafficking.
“The OHCHR estimates that approximately 30% of local sex workers are minors. It is believed that
actual figures may be considerably higher as no systematic attention is paid to this group of victims
by law enforcement agencies.” (IOM, op. cit, 39)
It is believed that using national victims is safer for criminals: no unnecessary border crossing
which usually attracts the attention of border controls. It is also cheaper for the traffickers: no need
for visas and passports.
Female involvement in the business of trafficking
Another new trend from the world of trafficking is the increasing involvement of female
traffickers/pimps. The IOM report (2004, op. cit, 11) describes this phenomenon as a more subtle
way of controlling the victims. “They are usually of the same nationality as the victims and were
often ex-victims themselves. They control the victim and guarantee their cooperation, as they
knows their hometowns addresses and can make more realistic threats of locating them and their
families, should they escape.” (IOM, op.cit, 11)
Working on involving women in organized trafficking is a “win-win” situation for the mafia bosses.
The first reason is that subtle methods have proved to be an even more efficient method of victim
control than the “old” violent methods. The second reason includes the shifting of responsibility for
trafficking from males to females. Such a tactical manoeuvre usually produces high media attention
and sensationalistic articles with titles such as: “Women trafficking women” or “More women in
trafficking business than men” and so on. It is not difficult to imagine the harmful effect of such a
campaign on public opinion on the basis of those articles. After being exposed to such media “brain
washing” society is liable to become blind to the real crime- structural violence against women and real offenders - the men who are the main figures in organized crime and who are responsible
for extreme suffering of women and children.
The American scholar and feminist Kelly Holsopple wrote: “Historically, women have been used to
implement custom of social and sexual control over other women. Prostitution is not a bold form of
40
liberation and disobedience. It is the systematic control and violation of women and children
imposed by the authority of men and the male power structure.” (Holsoplle 1999, 51)
The rank of the female trafficker, in the chain of organized crime, is very low and usually
subordinate to men who are the real bosses. Female recruiters, as Glenny has explained in his book
(Glenny 2009) are in some cases former prostitutes who have succeeded in buying themselves out
of the trade by agreeing to work as recruiters back home. Sometimes the mothers of trafficked
women act as recruiters as well. Those desperate mothers are forced to find suitable replacements
for own daughters if they want to see them again.
The important message is that neither the women pimps nor the women victims freely make such
“career choices”. Or, as Carole Pateman (Pateman 1999, 63), feminist and professor of political
science at the University of California, wrote about “women career choices in the sex-industry”, in
conclusion, in her article:
They make that choice today in a context where the institution of prostitution is part of the
global sex industry and part of the capitalist market. The market requires a supply of women
and girls - but it also needs demand to operate. The crucial question too rarely asked is why
there is such enormous global demand from men that women’s bodies be available for
purchase, just like any other commodity in the market.
More “pragmatic approach” or “less violent approach”
The most visible, recent change according to IOM report (IOM 2004), is that the management of the
victims has altered. Namely, for years criminal groups engaged in the trafficking of persons,
particularly in Kosovo but also in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the other countries in the region,
were well-known for their cruelty and violence towards victims.
“Victims have been often treated like slaves; bought and sold several times, and often subjected to
torture which was supposed to render them obedient, train their bodies, destroy their identities and
break their personalities.” (IOM 2004, 57)
Recently, as can be gleaned from reports from the various investigative offices and from the
intelligence sources, the modus operandi of those criminal organizations has changed, at least in the
larger cities in the region.
41
However, IOM findings (IOM, op.cit, 56) demonstrate that traffickers have understood that they
can manage their victims better by improving living conditions and that paying them a salary may
reduce the possibility of complaints to the police. As a result, some victims have been moved from
bars to apartments and are allowed to call their families and occasionally return home. However,
these victims are still unable to make their own decisions, are intimidated and may be subjected to
punishment if they do not behave “appropriately”.
Forced Sexual Services via Internet
A new, singular method for controlling and exploiting victims has been further evolved. Namely,
victims are recruited in a traditional way but are then specially trained to provide sexual services via
the Internet. According to the IOM (IOM, op.cit, 56) report, the method consists of setting up a
computerized system with a video connection via Internet between the client and the victim.
The victim works practically 24 hours non-stop, trapped in an apartment and therefore under
Complete control. Using this system, traffickers manage to make a profit even during pauses
between one client and the next.
Modest remuneration
Since the end of 2002, as can be seen from the IOM report (IOM, op.cit, 58) it appears that more
victims receive “salaries”. They receive approximately 5-7 euro per day worked. Nevertheless, the
system of payment is entirely at the discretion of the “employer” according to the “contract”. In any
event, considering that the “client” pays 100 to 150 euro per hour, “salaries” of 5-7 euro per day are
just a fraction of the profit made by traffickers out of the victim’s “labour”.
Change in living conditions
According to various NGOs, some international victims no longer live in small “pits” behind the
bars. Lately, some of the women have been placed in apartments with the possibility of having their
“own” rooms, separate from the other women.
Victims are allowed to have a “boyfriend”
Another new development (based on the IOM 2004 report, 58) is permission from traffickers or barowners for the victims to have “boyfriends”. However, the boyfriend must be a client of the bar. In
42
many cases, the boyfriend has a stake in the organized crime group. As a result, the victim often
fears him but is reluctant to expose him or provide information to the police or help agency.
Victims are held privately
One of the newest trends is that trafficking takes place in private flats/houses, far away from the
public eye, which further complicates assistance to trafficking victims. The cases where the victim
is held by one man as a private sex slave can only be compared to two recent high–profile cases
which have received enormous media attention: The Natascha Kampusch case and the Fritzl family
horror story. Unfortunately as the direct consequence of war and of years of exposure to moral
decay of all kinds, the whole region displays a high level of indifference when it comes to other
people’s suffering, especially, when those who suffer are women.
“Since 2000, only approximately 5% of victims escaped from “private” sexual slavery by
individuals. “(IOM, op.cit, 42)
This data indicates the level of control over the victim. This system of exploitation involves one
man, usually local, who buys the victim directly from the traffickers or from a bar for his own
personal use. Such cases usually involve an exceptionally high level of physical and sexual abuse.
In one case, according to the IOM (IOM, op. cit, 57), a victim was kept tied to a chair. The abuser
may keep the victim in his family home where he lives with his wife and children. These cases are
especially hard to detect and there is no estimate of how many women and girls may be currently
held in this situation in Balkans.
Abuse and intimidation continues
Better living conditions and modest pay combined with intimidation, abuse and strict control and
the “legal” appearance of the trafficker-victim relationship through the use of contracts, registration
and legal travel arrangements, leave the victim bewildered. The “old” form of control used by the
traffickers such as narcotics is, according IOM report (IOM 2004, 11), on the rise. An increasing
number of victims are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Victims addicted to hard drugs usually lose all
motivation to change their situation.
43
Many insiders believe that police raids are no longer effective and have actually succeeded in
driving the phenomenon underground. It is obvious from the afore-mentioned that the traffickers
have realized that, for a modest investment, they can count on the obedience and cooperation of
their victims. This also helps to diminish the chances of prosecution for trafficking and forced
prostitution. However, victims will continue to be exploited and will continue to endure great
psychological and physical injuries even if methods tend to be more subtle.
The new “management”, therefore, has had major repercussions on methods used to counter
trafficking activities and has called into question the validity of the official statistics.
4. Concluding discussion
4.1. Why most anti-trafficking programmes to date have failed, or, is the
changed pattern of trafficking the only reason for this failure?
In order to achieve an overview and deeper understanding of human trafficking as an increasing
problem in BiH and beyond, it is presumably valuable to first acknowledge its apparent persistence.
Changing trends and patterns in the trafficking of women and children add a new dimension to a
complex phenomenon.
This paper argued that despite increased efforts and greater exchange of information between
governmental, nongovernmental organizations and international organizations, the South-Eastern
European/Balkans and BiH region continues to meet great obstructions in resolving the problem of
human trafficking. Various studies, which are produced directly in the field, rather report an
increase in the number of trafficking victims in the South-Eastern European/Balkans and BiH
region in spite of the positive political changes and enormous efforts undertaken by the civil
society.
The conclusion which could be drawn from the facts presented here is that, unfortunately, antitrafficking programs have generally failed to improve the situation in relation to trafficking in
women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The paper has also accentuated the
44
reasons enabling the flourishing of trafficking in women and children. According to data presented
in this report, reasons can be viewed as twofold: Firstly, on a visible and relatively more obvious
level, organized crime is a viable and adaptable “enterprise”, and the new trends in human
trafficking are the undesirably notable sign of such adaptability. Secondly, at a deeper level,
violence - especially violence against women and therefore also trafficking - is firmly rooted in the
structures of modern society.
Thus, the reason for the failure of anti-trafficking programs to date can be seen, on the micro level,
as the result of the changing pattern of victim management and also, on the macro level, as the
consequence of tolerance of violence against women viewed as a structural problem in
contemporary society. In order to try to combat trafficking, all those concerned subjects and the
relevant authorities should try to avoid denial and downplaying of the problem. Rather, they need to
increase awareness of the new circumstances. Certainly without adequate budgetary support
established in order to prevent and combat organized crime and human trafficking, no-one can
expect any improvement in this matter. Lack of trained staff, outdated technical systems and lack of
national and international co-operation in the collection and dissemination of information relevant
to the trafficking issue are mostly results of inadequate financial means. This further jeopardizes the
monitoring of new developments within the criminal network. In spite of many reports and field
assessments with regard to the trafficking of women and children in BiH, there is a need for a
comprehensive analysis of the role of organized-crime, focusing on its viability and adaptability to
the current situation in BiH and in the region. Following, monitoring and in-depth analysis of new
developments in the world of organized crime are of utmost importance for all anti-trafficking
activities.
And finally, the questions that should be asked are: Why are most cultures apparently indifferent to
male violence towards women, and why are women the most liable to fall victim to structural
violence such as poverty, sexism and political dominance?
“According to Karl Marx, not as an ideologist but as a humanist scholar, a person is a being of
possibilities.” (Kesetovic and Lalic 2009, 12) 14
14
Kesetovic’s and Lalic’s 2009 paper is translated from Serbian by the author of this Master’s Thesis
45
Having the view that human trafficking is one of the dominant forms of sexual exploitation, we
could interpret Marx’s words to mean it is a fact that there are millions of persons sold yearly,
but that there is also a possibility of preventing this. It is also a fact that there are regions of the
world where most of the population lives below the poverty line, and those areas are usually
the origin of victims of human trafficking. It is also a fact that 780 billion dollars a year is spent
on military budgets worldwide, and that the UN estimates 40 billion dollars annually spent on
the global problem of poverty would help significantly decrease it. (Kesetovic and Lalic 2009,
12)
It is possible to alleviate the problem of poverty, and consequently the problem of trafficking of
women and children, just as it is possible to redirect military spending toward more humane
purposes. It is possible to influence a decrease in the sex-market demand as it is/was possible to
stimulate the opposite processes.
Kesetovic and Lalic (Kesetovic and Lalic 2009, 12) explain the afore-mentioned “choices” as the
direct consequence of the practiced values in a given social system. They believe that different
types of social systems develop different mechanisms in their institutions which either stimulate or
hinder certain qualities in human beings. This depends on which qualities are stimulated within the
social structural dynamics and how important they are to the values of a given social system.
The afore-mentioned opinion may explain the causes of failure of most of the anti-trafficking
programs so far, and especially of those in the Balkans and other post-conflict societies.
I will leave the last word in this report to Ristanovic-Nikolic (Ristanovic-Nikolic 2002), Serbian
scholar, who first quotes US sociologist Susan Cunningham who says: “If the society's structural
dynamics continue to produce violence, anti-violence policies and programs are bound to fail.”
Ristanovic-Nikolic (Ristanovic-Nikolic,op.cit), then concludes that only by specifically addressing
and eradicating structural violence can we address the critical problem of sex trafficking in the
Balkans and other post-conflict societies.
46
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