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Addressing Human Trafficking in Serbia

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YFC Serbia volunteers and staff: Denis, Nenad, Toni, Melani, Estera, Bojana, Kerstin

by Estera, YFC Staff in Serbia

Serbia is a source, transit, and destination country for women and girls trafficked trans-nationally and internally for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.

Foreign victims are trafficked to Serbia from Macedonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Albania, and the People’s Republic of China. Serbia is a transit country for victims trafficked from Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia and destined for Italy and other countries in Western Europe. Children, mostly Roma, continued to be trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced marriage or forced street begging.

Serbia is a pretty poor country, and some girls sell themselves for a pair of jeans. They have nowhere to be employed, so a lot of girls stay on the street. These girls are the most susceptible to sexual exploitation. These are the girls Youth for Christ is trying to help.

serbia2At the moment Youth for Christ in Serbia is focused on two areas. One is to educating young people about the dangers of pornography, and the other is to create a way to help victims of sex trafficking and violence.

The  team of staff an volunteers desires to make young people aware of how humans are pulled into modern day slavery and to help them recognize circumstances that can lead to slavery.

In December, the team recorded a CD with songs about girls who were victims of sex trafficking. Bringing this CD into public, on the streets, will raise awareness of the problem of sex trafficking. Taking those CDs to slave houses will hopefully encourage victims of sex trafficking – showing them that there is hope for them.