Special focus on children in Kosovo anti-trafficking actions

15 Apr 2011

Prishtina, Kosovo, 12-13 April 2011: For the first time, a separated chapter of the National Strategy and Plan of Action against Trafficking with Human Beings, is dedicated exclusively to Children in Kosovo. This is the result of a two-day seminar organised in the frame of the project Mario and another one organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs earlier. The main objective of both was was to finalize the draft of the child focussed chapter which represents one of the main priorities of the Government of Kosovo in the fight against trafficking in Human Beings.

The drafted National Strategy consists of three main Strategic Goals in the fields of prevention, protection and prosecution:

• The development of an early identification system for children who are at risk and victims of trafficking and the development of the referral system by the responsible institutions;
• The development of a protection system for children victims of trafficking in a coordinated way among responsible institutions taking in consideration the best interest of children; and,
• The promotion of proactive and reactive techniques of prosecution in order to increase the efficiency against child trafficking in the context of the organized crime.

The working group established to design and develop it was composed of experts working in the child protection field from both governmental institutions and civil society. Representatives from the Anti-trafficking Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the Public Prosecution Office, as well as OSCE, UNDP, EULEX, UNICEF, Tdh, Save the Children, IOM, COMF, PVPT and SDSF were all present.

The draft of the Children Chapter under the National Strategy and Plan of Action against Trafficking with Human Beings 2011-2014 has been finalized by this working group for an official endorsement scheduled in the upcoming weeks. (KV)