All Balkan countries except Macedonia do not meet minimum standards in combatting human trafficking and some fail to punish the perpetrators adequately, the US State Department said.
Most Balkan countries do not meet the “minimal required standards” in fighting human trafficking but are demonstrating substantial efforts to achieve them, said the annual report published by the US State Department on Monday.
Macedonia is the exception – due to the large number of convictions for human trafficking, it is considered a country that fully meets the required standards, the report said.
Bulgaria however has been put on a ‘watch list’ due to the deteriorating situation there.
Albania is highlighted in the report due to the fact that despite making “significant efforts” in fighting human trafficking during the last year, one of its MPs, Arben Ndoka, has prior convictions for trafficking-related crimes.
In a separate press release issued by the US embassy in Tirana, the presence of a convicted human trafficker among the country’s lawmakers was described as “disgraceful”.
The State Department report noted that number of convictions for charges related to human trafficking during 2014 was relatively low and in several countries, sentences were either suspended or relatively lenient. In other countries, sentences were harsh, but there were not many convictions.
Kosovo kept up anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, the report said, adding that the government “obtained an increased number of convictions, but convicted traffickers were given inappropriately lenient sentences”.
Kosovo’s courts convicted 41 traffickers last year, an increase from 25 in 2013. But the majority of punishments were less than two years in prison or just modest fines.
In Macedonia, the authorities initiated prosecutions against five alleged traffickers, compared with seven in 2013.
In 2014, courts convicted only two traffickers, the lowest number of convictions since 2009. One trafficker was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for labour trafficking. The other trafficker was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment for organising a criminal group to commit smuggling or trafficking crimes and for child trafficking for forced marriages.
In Albania, “the government increased anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts”, the report said.
Albania’s courts convicted nine traffickers, as opposed to two in 2013. All convicted traffickers received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years. Concerns were raised however that the authorities sometimes prosecuted traffickers for the lesser crime of “exploitation of prostitution” rather than trafficking because the two laws overlap in some areas.
In Serbia, the government demonstrated mixed law enforcement efforts, the report said. The courts convicted 26 traffickers in 2014, a decrease from 37 in 2013. Sentences ranged from between three and 12 years’ imprisonment.
In Bulgaria, the government did not make progress in law enforcement efforts, as the government prosecuted and convicted considerably fewer traffickers and issued suspended sentences to the majority of those convicted.
In Montenegro, the government continued to make inadequate efforts to address human trafficking, the report said. The authorities did not secure any new convictions in 2014.
In one case, a court dismissed sexual exploitation and forced labour charges against a defendant due in part to the victim being married to the defendant; however, neither Montenegrin nor international law on human trafficking provides for such an exception.
In Croatia, the authorities displayed mixed progress, the report said. Five traffickers were convicted, compared to one in 2013; one trafficker was convicted of labour trafficking and four were convicted of sex trafficking. Prison sentences ranged between one and six years.
The report underlines that Balkan countries have poor systems for compiling and reporting statistics on this issue which makes difficult to analyse the situation and to find adequate solutions.
