Minister of Justice Snezana Malovic and Minister of Labour and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic signed a contract  under which the Directorate for Management of Seized Property cedes seized property for use to shelters to trafficking victims.

Malovic stated that the Ministry of Justice decided to give this 400 square metre facility for accommodation needs of the victims of human trafficking since human trafficking is a major problem.

This is the first such facility in Belgrade, which will be used for emergency housing of victims of trafficking, she said.

She said that this year 78 trafficking victims have been identified in Serbia, while the annual average is approximately 100 people, and added that it is of particular concern that in approximately 90% of cases victims are from Serbia.

Malovic explained that human trafficking is qualified as one of the most serious crimes for which penalties were drastically tightened in September 2009 by stipulating that no mitigation of sentence is possible for this offence and allowing for confiscation of property from the offender.

Ljajic said that such facilities already exist in Novi Sad and Nis, but that this is the first of this kind in Belgrade, which has a problem of providing accommodation to victims of trafficking.

He underlined that human trafficking is a global phenomenon which is why it is necessary that countries of the region get involved in addressing it, apart from the international community.