Trafficking in women for prostitution became a serious problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the deployment of peace stabilization forces.
The trafficking of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina has gone through several phases in terms of the extent of the phenomenon as well as the reaction of the government and nongovernmental sectors to the problem.
1. The first phase started just after the war. Its main characteristics were the huge growth of the criminal groups and the wide expansion of the sex industry.
· This phase was also characterized by the lack of clear understanding of the government sector, civil society, and the public of what human trafficking involves.
2. The next phase in human trafficking in Bosnia and Herzegovina included the final months of 2000, when the involvement of International Police Force (Interpol) personnel in women trafficking caused a scandal.
· The scandal resulted in the repatriation of International Police Force members (Human Rights Watch, 2002). After this event, response to trafficking became more serious than ever before, and ethical codes for international missions personnel were established.
· In addition, for the first time, the culpability of the local police who were involved in trafficking was established. This phase was also characterized by the creation of a well-defined police strategy through the implementation of the Special Trafficking Operations Program, which resulted in the closure of the vast majority of the nightclubs.
· However, this program also forced prostitution out of public places and into private houses, hotels, motels, and so on—places to which police could not easily gain access.
3. The following phase was characterized by a lack of information and an overview of the trafficking situation, which led to changes being made in the modus operandi of traffickers.
· The traffickers’ change in tactics in turn brought about a change in the operational practices of the law enforcement agents, requiring more sophisticated methods of detection and data exchange at both the internal and regional levels.
· Moreover, this phase saw the increased victimization of local women and children brought from the neighboring countries of former Yugoslavia—primarily Serbia.
· In addition, this period was characterized by the breakdown of one of the biggest women trafficking chains in Bosnia and Herzegovina and by criminal proceedings being brought by the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against the main actors from this criminal group.
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