Smuggling or trafficking indicators

Trafficking in human beings is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, handover, selling, purchase, sale mediation, selling or concealment of another person, using force or threat, causing misleading or keeping a person misled, abuse of authority, trust, dependence, difficult circumstances of another, by withholding personal documents or giving or receiving money or other benefits, for the purpose of exploiting his/her work, forced labor, committing criminal offenses, prostitution or another type of sexual exploitation, begging, use for pornographic purposes, establishing slavery or similar relationships, for confiscation of organs or other body parts, or for use in armed conflict. Recruitment, transportation, transfer, handover, selling, purchase, sale mediation, concealment or detention of a minor for the purpose of exploitation is a criminal offense of trafficking in human beings even when no force or threat has been used.[1] Trafficking in human beings applies to both men and women.

Smuggling of migrants is a crime against the state. The smuggled person is not a victim and is not subject to the punishment provisions under the laws of the Republic of Serbia.

A smuggled person can become a victim of human trafficking.

Below are indicators based on which you can understand the difference between the smuggling of migrants and human trafficking. If you can identify several indicators together, or if you think you are a victim or a potential victim of human trafficking, you can contact the nearest police station, which will refer you to the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia (KIRS) for the identification.

[1] Standard Operating Procedures for Treatment of Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings, Office for Coordination of Activities for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Police Directorate, Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia – LINK