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Human trafficking continues in Kosovo (K 2.0)

New report suggests some progress from previous years.

The U.S. State Department released its 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report this week, which indicates that Kosovo has a long way to go to tackle the phenomenon. As with last year, Kosovo has been categorized as a Tier 2 country, meaning it has “not fully met Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards” but is “making significant efforts” to do so.

US State Department: Kosovo, source and destination for human trafficking (Koha)

The most recent report of the US State Department on human trafficking across the world categorized Kosovo as a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor, including in the restaurant industry. It stated that most sex trafficking victims in Kosovo are girls and that they are subjected to sex trafficking in private homes and apartments, night clubs, and massage parlors. “During the reporting period, authorities identified children exploited as dancers and escorts, who are also vulnerable to sex trafficking.

Another blow to the government from the U.S. Department of State (Kosova Sot)

The paper’s front-page editorial notes that the government of the Republic of Kosovo received another blow on Thursday, this time from the U.S. Department of State’s report on human trafficking. According to the report, the Kosovo government fails to entirely meet the minimal standards for eliminating human trafficking and that corruption in the government creates an environment that enables some of the trafficking crimes. The editorial further notes that even the annual European Commission’s Progress Report on Kosovo includes the same findings.