International Conference

Contemporary Psycho-Social Challenges in Combating Human Trafficking

 

On March 15, 2013, ASTRA organized the international conference “Contemporary Psycho-Social Challenges in Combating Human Trafficking” in Belgrade. The goal was to highlight contemporary challenges in combating human trafficking that are rarely discussed among experts and stakeholders despite their importance in terms of EU integration process. At the occasion over a hundred national and international experts discussed about two major issues in the field. They made recommendations and conclusions that should contribute to more effective suppression of human trafficking and easier recovery of its victims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conference was opened by Lucca Bianconi, Head of the Political Section at the EU Delegation to Serbia, national coordinator for combating trafficking in human beings, Mitar Đurašković, and co-coordinator of ASTRA, Tamara Vukasović. After that, participants of the conference adressed the issue of irregular migration and its connection to human trafficking and the topic of adequate approach to psychotheraputic work with victims on two separate pannels.

Actualized by the visa liberalization, high unemployment rate and the poverty, irregular migration is becoming a pressing issue in Serbia. Irregular migrants are identified as persons under a greater risk of falling victim to human trafficking, both because of their irregular status and work and great dependance on people organizing their tranzit to the destination country. All of the curently migrating persons, that is one billion people according to international assesments, can befall into that position. Representatives of organizations operating in countries that constitute migratory route Turkey – Greece – Macedonia – Serbia – Croatia presented their experiance with the interconnection between irregular migration and human trafficking on ASTRA’s conference. Speakers on the panel on migration and THB in terms of EU integration were Zaid Husain Hydari from Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly and Tuba Dundar from Human Resource Development Foundation from Turkey, Eleni Pasia ahead of the Greek Council for Refugees, Maja Varoshlija from Open Gate – La Strada Macedonia and Žarko Hadži Zafirov from Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, Munir Podumljak from Croatian NGO Partnership for local development, Catalina Neacsu ahead of Adpare from Romania, Pablo Rojas Coppari from Irish Migrant Rights Centre and national experts Ivana Radovic from ASTRA and Vladimir Petronijević ahead of Group 484.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The panel on psychotherapy of human trafficking victims included presentations of psychotherapeutic methods of work promoted by different theoretical approaches – psychoanalytical that was presented by dr Marija Vezmar, humanistic presented by transactional analyst dr Danijela Budiša and psychodrama therapist Biljana Slavković, behavioral and constructivists’ approach presented by Vukašin Čobelić. Apart from individual therapy methods presented, MA Jelena Radosavljev Kirćanski talked about group and family methods of work with ASTRA’s network of therapists and other participants of the panel. In interactive sessions, panelists exchanged their experience in working with trafficking survivors with world renounced specialists like dr Michael Korzinski, independent expert from Great Britain, dr Mary C. Burke from Carlow University, USA and Iana Matei, psychologist and director of a shelter for THB victims in Romania. In that way, capacities of national experts to provide psychological support to trafficking victims were strenghtened. This should lead to facilitation of the process of victims’ recovery and reintegration process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conference is implemented within the Not for Sale! – Building Towards Consensus on Combating Human Trafficking in Serbia project that is supported by European Union through European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) program.

Round table “Promotion of the Rights of Trafficked Persons in Serbia with Emphasis on Legal Support – A Human Rights Based Approach” and marking the International Day for Abolition of Slavery – 2012

 ASTRA and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee held roundtable “Promotion of the Rights of Trafficked Persons in Serbia with Emphasis on Legal Support – A Human Rights Based Approach” in Belgrade on November 28, 2012.

 

The participants of the roundtable were first greeted by the Dutch Ambassador H.E. Laurent Stokvis, Harry Hummel, director and Ian de Jong, president of the board of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee and Marija Anđelković, president of ASTRA. The discussion in the round table “Promotion of the Rights of Trafficked Persons in Serbia with Emphasis on Legal Support – A Human Rights Based Approach” took place in two panels.

The first panel focused on the treatment of Victims of trafficking and access to justice. The discussion built on the results of the analysis of judicial practice in regards to trafficking offences. The analysis was conducted for the needs of this project by lawyer Tanja Drobnjak. Besides the author of the analysis, experts who talked about this topic were Dejana Spasojević Ivančić, attorney, Gordana Jekić Bradajić, Deputy Prosecutor of the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, Zorana Trajković, judge of the Belgrade Higher Court, Biljana Slavković, psychodrama therapist and ASTRA’s associate and Olivera Otašević, coordinator of ASTRA SOS Hotline and Direct Victim Assistance programme.

The second panel discussed the issue of efficient compensation for trafficking victims, current practice and proposed solutions for improving access to compensation in Serbia. This panel was moderated by Marija Lukić, expert in the area of violence against women. Other panelists were Tijana Kostić, attorney, Slobodan Kostić, Deputy Prosecutor in the Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Zrenjanin, Biljana Sinanović, judge of the Supreme Court of Cassation and  Tamara Vukasović, ASTRA’s co-cordinator.

 This event brought together all lawyers from ASTRA’s network of lawyers formed as a result of this project, as well as representatives of the judiciary, prosecutor’s offices, police, international and nongovernmental organizations who, thanks to their knowledge and experience gave quality contribution to the discussion on access to justice for trafficking victims in Serbia and to formulating recommendations for its improvement. Round table “Promotion of the Rights of Trafficked Persons in Serbia with Emphasis on Legal Support – A Human Rights Based Approach” was a final activity of the project “Protection of Trafficking Victims’ Rights through the Provision of Legal Assistance” which ASTRA and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee were implementing for the last three years with support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through MATRA programme.

Conclusions and recommendation drawn by the participants in the round table, as well as the conclusions of three-year intensive work on promoting access to justice for trafficking victims were presented at a press conference in Belgrade on November 30, 2012 to mark December 2 – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. The results of the case law analysis conducted based on the results of monitoring trials in connection with human trafficking and the analysis of judgments rendered for this offence since 2005 were resented on this occasion, too.

Conclusions and recommendations

- Recommendations and Conclusions -

NGO ASTRA – Anti Trafficking Action organized the first international Conference on Labor Exploitation as a Form of Human Trafficking, in Belgrade on March 1 and 2, 2012. The Conference was the first event dedicated to this problem in Serbia.  Topics discussed at the conference include workers’ rights, labor exploitation as a form of trafficking in human beings and the improvement of relevant policies in the area of prevention and prosecution, with a special regard to the appropriate identification and treatment of victims of labor exploitation.

 

The reason for organizing such a conference lays in the fact that labor exploitation as a form of human trafficking has been on the rise in the last couple of years, shown both by ASTRA SOS Hotline data, and the data gathered by other relevant anti-trafficking actors in Serbia. However, this rise has not been accompanied by the appropriate state response. Namely, there are still numerous perplexities and general lack of knowledge of what labor exploitation is and how it should be treated and prosecuted, while assistance and protection programs are not adjusted to the needs of a new category of victims. An upward trend in the number of identified labor exploitation cases has been registered in the rest of Europe, too.

 

ASTRA’s Conference on Labor Exploitation as a Form of Human Trafficking is the first conference focused on the problem of human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation in Serbia. It gathered participants from Serbia, Europe and Eurasia – representatives from international organizations, relevant Serbian trade unions, the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the Labor Inspectorate and the National Employment Service, NGO activists from the country and abroad, lawyers, representatives of the police and prosecutor’s office. Participants were discussing and exchanging experiences about different problems pertaining to labor exploitation and trafficking in human beings and working on formulating recommendations that would contribute to the enhancement of policies in this area.

 

In October 2011, ASTRA conducted an opinion poll (representative sample comprising 2506 adult citizens of Serbia) and focus group/qualitative survey (five focus groups in which five different groups of stakeholders were questioned separately – the unemployed, students, the employed, trade unions and public servants and persons employed with the National Employment Service, employment agencies and youth cooperatives) examining citizens’ perception of labor exploitation. The surveys were conducted within EU supported project “Make it Work” and their results were presented at the beginning of the conference. According to the surveys, the citizens of Serbia understand labor exploitation as poor working conditions and violation of labor legislation in a transitional economy; when they observe labor exploitation in the context of human trafficking, the respondents mostly see it as something far away from their lives and their reality, although a large percentage of them report that they themselves have received suspicious job offers or that their friends or relatives have experienced labor exploitation. Finally, men are in no way perceived as potential/possible victims of trafficking.

 

 In the first session, Natalia Hofman from the ILO Moscow office talked about practical aspects of fight against human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation, while Jereon Beirnaert from the International Trade Union Confederation discussed the role of trade unions in combating trafficking in human beings. The session was concluded by Olivera Otašević who presented ASTRA’s experience and practice in providing assistance to victims of labor exploitation. In the session focusing on judicial practice in combating forced labor as a form of human trafficking, Joanna Dabrowska-Samsel and Ernest Samsel, lawyers from Poland talked about their practice of representing victims of labor exploitation, whilst Alovsat Aliev from the Azerbaijan Migration Center and Zoran Stojkov, lawyer from Belgrade, talked about the SerbAz case from the perspective of NGOs in Serbia and Azerbaijan that were involved in the case. Finally, Hoang Do Duy, activist from the Czech Republic presented the tree workers case in this country.  In the third session, Klara Skrivankova from Anti Slavery International talked about forced labor across borders and its links to major sporting events, Victoria Kyzym from La Strada Ukraine discussed the problem of labor exploitation from the point of view of a direct victim assistance provider, while Astrid Ganterer from OSCE/ODIHR talked about challenges in relation to human trafficking throughout the OSCE region. The moderators were Madis Vainomaa, independent expert, Munir Podumljak from the partnership for Social Development, Croatia and Tamara Vukasović from ASTRA.

 

 Some of the most important recommendations and conclusions made at the Conference are as follows:

 

•  Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation must be observed as the gravest violation of human rights and not in the context of (illegal) migrations, crime or violation of labor rights; in that respect, adequate state response is necessary in the area of prosecution, prevention and assistance and protection of victims of labor exploitation.

 

•  For successful fight against human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation, it is necessary to build a joint platform and involve the broadest possible circle of actors. Namely, besides relevant institutions and nongovernmental and international organizations as actors that are traditionally active on the anti-trafficking scene in Serbia, links should be made with companies, businesses and other employers. Also, trade unions, labor inspection and employment agencies should become actively involved.

 

•  Additional training is needed both for the existing actors and for those who are yet to be included in fight against human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation in order to ensure proper response to specific characteristics of this form of exploitation at all levels and in all stages.

 

•  The Labor Inspectorate as a state authority should contribute to combating human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation through intensified control of employment agencies and other job brokers – natural or legal persons regardless of them being registered to provide this kind of services or not.

 

•  Besides the Labor Inspectorate, successful fight against human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation requires the involvement of other competent inspections, especially in the industries which register the highest number of cases, in particular construction industry.

 

•  It is necessary to improve the identification of victims of human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation, which also implies persistent use of relevant indicators (ILO) and the definition of procedures that would enable primary identification to be done by a broad circle of actors who may come in contact with potential victims, alongside establishing and developing adequate assistance and support mechanisms.

 

•  Victims of human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation have to be provided with efficient and comprehensive system of support, including full respect of all those rights that are guaranteed to them as victims of human trafficking by international instruments (right to information, protection of privacy, access to legal, medical and psychological assistance, access to interpretation services etc.).

 

•  It is necessary to enhance the existing support programs for victims having in mind that current capacities are not sufficient to respond to the needs of a great number of victims which is typical for labor exploitation cases and that they do not provide adequate forms of assistance which these victims needs, especially with regard to the fact that these are mostly adult men.

 

•  For successful and efficient fight against human trafficking, it is necessary to involve the institutions responsible for combating corruption and money laundering, while investigation should also be directed at investors, contractors, job brokers, subcontractors and all the others in the supply chain.

 

•  For successful and efficient recognition and prosecution of cases of human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation, it is necessary to ensure high level of political will as a sign of real determination and commitment of society to put an end to this form of crime.

 

 

• In all cases of human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation, it is necessary to conduct financial investigations which would follow the money trail in order to prevent profits made through human trafficking from being put into legal flows through the process of privatization, investments, etc.

 

 

• In the area of prevention of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation, it is necessary to carry out numerous activities, both at the level of the labor market and at individual level, for the purpose of promotion of safe labor migrations and with active participation of relevant state authorities, NGOs, trade unions, various workers’ initiatives, etc.

 

•  Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation must be recognized as a problem which results from the situation on the labor market and which does not affect only one industry. In that respect, it is necessary to build and promote such labor market in which labor legislation will be persistently enforced with irrelevant share of unregistered labor.

 

•  In cases of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation with international elements, prompt and efficient cooperation between the authorities of the countries concerned is necessary, especially in view of their obligations deriving from the ratification of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Human Trafficking and other international instruments.

 

Conference on Labor Exploitation as a Form of Human Trafficking has been organized within the project “Make it work – fighting trafficking and exploitation of workers” which is supported by the European Union within Support to Civil Society Program.

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery – 2 December 2011 and ASTRA’s 10^th anniversary

  On the occasion of the International day for the Abolition of Slavery and ASTRA’s 10^th anniversary, a press conference was organized in Belgrade on 2 December 2011.  Aleksandra Malangone, member of GRETA (monitoring mechanism for Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings), Dušan Vojvodić, journalist and author of documentary movies on human trafficking and Ivana Radović, Coordinator of ASTRA Prevention and Education Program discussed human trafficking in Serbia today, significance of independent monitoring and reporting on the respect of victims’ rights and compliance with other obligations undertaken by ratifying international instruments, as well as the results of ASTRA’s ten years of work and plans for future.

It was stressed at the press conference that for the ten years of work, ASTRA received 14,594 calls through ASTRA SOS Hotline and identified and/or assisted 387 trafficking victims (37% of children). Over three forth of victims identified in this period were the citizens of Serbia, while nearly for half of them Serbia was also destination country. The most often cross-border destination was Italy, followed by countries on a transit route to Italy – Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, as well as Austria and Germany. Trafficking victims assisted by ASTRA were exposed to sexual exploitation (72%), labor exploitation (14%), forced begging (7%), forced marriage (6%), illegal adoption (1%) and coercion into criminal activity (0,3%). In this period, ASTRA provided to its clients psychological assistance 932 times, legal assistance 496 times, medical assistance 243 times, 804 actions in the field were carried out, alongside with various forms of assistance and support in the process of recovery and reintegration in accordance with the needs of every particular victim that were always available (return to school, alternative accommodation, rebuilding social and family networks, issued associated with the status etc.).

The Republic of Serbia ratified, on 14 April 2009, Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, which observes human trafficking above all as the violation of human rights and as an offence to the dignity and the integrity of the human being. The ratification means not only that Serbia has undertaken certain obligations, in particular in terms of the provision and enhancement of protection standards for trafficking victims and their rights – privacy, assistance to victims, recovery and reflection period, compensation, legal protection and the like, but also that it agrees to the monitoring and reporting on the compliance with this Convention on its territory by the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings – GRETA. The evaluation process in the third group of countries, including Serbia, will start in February 2012, while final report and recommendation are announced for the second part of 2013.

Independent and impartial monitoring of the fulfilment of obligations envisaged by international documents, including CoE Convention, represents an important prerequisite for the improvement of the quality of services provided to trafficking victims and protection of their rights. The first alternative report in that respect is ASTRA’s Human Trafficking in Serbia – Report on for the period 2000-2010 published in July 2011, which analyzes theoretical and practical implementation of the two most important international anti-trafficking documents. Victim assistance in Serbia depends primarily on support of foreign donors, while support from the Republic of Serbia is sporadic and non-systemic, for which reason assistance and programs are not designed in such a way so as to respond to changing trafficking trends and actual needs of persons receiving assistance; initiatives and innovations are accepted very hardly, and when they are accepted, it is not for the sake of better position of victims, but in order to fulfil some other political goals and ambitions.

Celebration of the 10^th anniversary of ASTRA’s work continued that evening at a party held in Belgrade, in the company of ASTRA’s friends and associates. Some of them received special awards for support they were giving us in the previous 10 years.

 

 

 

 

 Report on Human Trafficking in Serbia for the period 2000-2010

  On 14 July 2011 in Media Center Belgrade ASTRA presented its Report on Human Trafficking in Serbia for the period 2000-2010. The Report has been created by a group of authors and associates who have been involved in the monitoring and analysis of different aspects of this complex social problem. The Report has been created with the support of the European Union (EIDHR) and OAK Foundation. It is published in Serbian and in English in both printed and electronic form. Representative of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, representative of ASTRA and ASTRA’s lawyer addressed the audience. During the months of July, August and September, the Report has been cited in numerous Serbian and foreign media brining attention and initiating debate on human trafficking in the public and among relevant experts. The Report has the cataloguing in publication of National Library of Serbia.

Besides the analysis of modalities of incorporation of the two most relevant international documents – UN Palermo Protocol and Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in domestic legislation and solutions it envisages, a great portion of the report is dedicated to the analysis of the practice which ASTRA as a civil society organization has witnessed from the very beginning of its work. The Report contains six annexes: report on ASTRA SOS Hotline 2002-2010; maps of recruitment points in Serbia and human trafficking routes across Serbia and Europe; the results of a survey on citizens’ perception of human trafficking in Serbia; the report on the SerbAz labor exploitation case; the report of discovered trafficking cases and activities undertaken by the police and social welfare centers in 2010 in towns where ASTRA Network member organizations operate.

Compared with 2000, the situation regarding the anti-trafficking mechanism in Serbia is improved significantly. However, it is far from the level of effectiveness and efficiency which we have aspired and hoped for when we started in 2000. Changes that are the most visible and easiest to measure refer to the legal framework for criminalization and punishing for human trafficking. Until 2003, Serbian criminal legislation did not recognize human trafficking as a criminal offence. At that time trafficked women who were foreign nationals were mostly sentenced to jail for engaging in prostitution and/or were deported to the country from which they entered Serbia without any regard to their safety either during deportation or at the destination of return. Since the first criminalization of human trafficking, the definition of the offence changed several times, as well as punishments.

The Report contains both general and specific recommendations in the area of legislation, prevention and victim protection.

The majority of data have been gathered through ASTRA SOS Hotline, which has been operational since March 2002 as the only hotline service specialized for assistance for victims of human trafficking. More than 13,000 calls have been received in this period and 360 trafficking victims were identified and/or assisted, mostly girls and young women exposed to sexual exploitation; children account for 38% of all victims assisted by ASTRA.

 Anti Trafficking Mechanism and Cross Border Cooperation – Practice of the Netherlands and Republic of Serbia

  International roundtable organized by NGO ASTRA with support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Serbia, in Belgrade on March 24, 2011, gathered the representatives of the most relevant anti-trafficking actors from the Netherlands and Republic of Serbia for the purpose of exchanging experiences and strengthening international cooperation in this area. Special emphasis was put on the institute of National Rapporteur on human trafficking which has been present in the Netherlands for more than ten years.

Human trafficking is the gravest violation of human rights and one of the most profitable activities of organized crime which does not recognize national borders. For this reason, numerous international initiatives have been launched and documents signed which attempt to formulate uniform and persistent national responses and encourage international cooperation.

Henk Werson, police expert on trafficking in human beings and people smuggling, KLPD, and Mitar Đurašković, National Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the Republic of Serbia, discussed human trafficking situation and challenges they face in their work, while Gert Veurnik, Dutch Public Prosecutor on Trafficking in Human Beings and People Smuggling and Gordana Jekić-Bradajić, Serbian Deputy Prosecutor for Organized Crime shared their experiences in prosecuting traffickers and protecting trafficking victims in criminal proceedings.

Bearing in mind UN’s, Council of Europe’s and EU’s recommendations relating to the introduction of an independent body of National Rapporteur on human trafficking, the Dutch National Rapporteur Corinne Dettmeijer – Vermeulen presented the work of her office and talked about the significance of objective monitoring of the effectiveness of national anti-trafficking policies and activities, putting special emphasis on independence as a prerequisite for objectivity. The task of National Rapporteur is to inform the government on all aspects of trafficking in human beings. This regards information on the nature, scale, perpetrators, on modus operandi, victims, but also more general topics as legislation, prevention, governmental policy and important developments in these fields on the national and international levels. These information are gathered from all relevant actors, both state and non governmental that deal with the trafficking issue. The Annual report of National Rapporteur is presented to the government. The report contains qualitative and quantitative information on criminal investigation and prosecution, information regarding prevention, victim support and assistance. The task of the National Rapporteur is also to formulate recommendations for the government in order to improve the policy and practice in the fight against trafficking in human beings.

The general conclusions of the Round table were that even if there is good cooperation in the region when it comes to police cooperation and police and prosecutor cooperation, there is a room for improvement of such cooperation beyond the region, that is, also at the European level. Regarding the establishing of the institute of the National Rapporteur in the Republic of Serbia, the conclusion was that it certainly should be an independent body, and that the principle of independence should be also applied when it comes to financing.

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery – 2 December 2010

  ASTRA organized a press conference to commemorate 2 December – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery where the special guest was Ms Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, especially Women and Children, who accepted the invitation of ASTRA and took part in commemorating the tenth anniversary of Palermo Protocol supplementing UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. Ms Ezeilo gave a speech about global trends in human trafficking, which confirm that in addition to the dominant form of sexual exploitation where the victims are women and girls, there is also a growing labor exploitation with men becoming victims more often, as well as a high percentage of identified children victims. Special Rapporteur also spoke about the measure that states ought to undertake in order to be more efficient in fighting this serious problem. Journalist and editor at B92, Misa Stojiljkovic, spoke about the role of the media and the quality of reporting on human trafficking and ASTRA representative spoke about the current situation in Serbia and elaborated the issue of human trafficking as a problem of the whole society.

For the 2010 International Day for Abolition of Slavery ASTRA decided to create the anti trafficking graffiti in the centre of Belgrade, with the intention to remind the citizens, especially young people of the problem of human trafficking and to inform them that they can obtain information and assistance by calling ASTRA SOS Hotline. Bearing in mind that there is a constantly high percentage of children who are identified as victims of human trafficking ASTRA wanted to send the message – STOP! Children are not goods! – in the form of graffiti in order to attract attention of young people. Graffiti has been created by the two artists TKV and Lortek, who wish to promote the cultivation of this form of street art and communicating socially engaged messages, instead of chauvinist and political ones.

Photo: Aleksandar Andjić (Vreme)

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery – 2 December 2009

  On the occasion of 2 December – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, ASTRA organized art competition for young people titled “Women are not meat. Children are not slaves. People are not for sale”. Since winter holidays had begun earlier because of the swine flu epidemic, it was decided to postpone the announcement of the results for the second semester. Hence, prizes were awarded to the most successful contestants at the event in Media Center in Belgrade on 5 February 2010.

We received a great number of works from young people all across Serbia and the jury had a difficult task to chose the best ones. Besides one multimedia work, all the others were either literary or visual arts. That is why we decided to award two groups of prizes according to the type of art and to have two types of jury (literary and visual) composed of ASTRA members and associates specialized for particular area.

The story by Milica Stanković, pupil of the Seventh Belgrade High School, was awarded as the best literary work, the second prize went to Milica Resimić from the Ivanjica High School and the third prize was shared by Isidora Alimpić the Seventh Belgrade High School and Aleksandra Mandić from Vocational Secondary School of Economics from Šabac.

As far as visual arts are concerned, Ana Vasov from the Sveti Kirilo i Metodije High School from Dimitrovgrad won the first prize, the second prize went to Filip Roksandić from the Vocational Secondary School of Medicine Zvezdara, Belgrade and the third prize went to Tamara Petrović from the Sveti Kirilo i Metodije High School from Dimitrovgrad.

Moreover, the juries decided to give two special awards – to Dejan Marković from the Ivanjica High School and Tafilj Dubova from the Vocational Secondary School for Crafts, Belgrade.

ASTRA is using this opportunity to once again thank all the contestants who thus contributed to the awareness raising of the problem of human trafficking in Serbia.