Forced begging is one of the most visible forms of human trafficking, along with other forms of human trafficking in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to official dana, last year, 38 victims of various forms of human trafficking were identified.

What is concerning is that the fact that a large number of them are minors, and they account for as many as 29 out of 38 cases – said Abida Pehlic from the ‘Novi put’ association in Mostar on Wednesday on the occasion of the European Day against Human Trafficking.

As she said, out of those 29 cases, 23 are girls and six are boys.

Pehlic said that the aforementioned association is working to encourage victims of human trafficking to get involved in policy-making processes, which would serve to improve the response to the problem of human trafficking.

“We are doing this with the support of the USAID Aspire programme for the improvement of human rights and through our daily work we are trying to raise the awareness of as many citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina as possible, especially young people, in order to protect themselves from any form of exploitation in a timely manner,” she said.

She said that, as far as prevention is concerned, the most active are the non-governmental organisations that primarily deal with human trafficking and that have been continuously working for many years to prevent all forms of human trafficking, by marking such dates, but also through preventive and educational work on daily basis.

The association also recalled that the fight against human trafficking is not the responsibility of competent institutions only but an obligation of each individual.