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Life in Kosovo discusses human trafficking

25 09 2008  This week’s Life in Kosovo show looked at the issue of human trafficking in Kosovo.

How bad is the problem? Has the number of women being trafficked increased? What are police and the Ministry of Interior Affairs saying about this phenomenon?

Panellists in the debate to answer these questions were:

Artan Duraku – political adviser in the Interior Ministry.
Fejzullah Hasani – Supreme Court Judge.
Ariana Cosaj – expert on gender issues and member of the OSCE’s anti-trafficking unit.
Ramadan Ahmeti – head of Kosovo Police department dealing with human trafficking.
Nita Luci – UNPD project Initiative for Security and Protection of Women.

According to statistics from NGOs and international organizations there has been an increase in the number of women being trafficked within Kosovo.

Ramadan Ahmeti reported that trafficking has been rife since the end of the war in 1999. Immediately after the war, victims were predominantly foreigners. However, new statistics show that most victims are from Kosovo.

In the first eight months of this year, Kosovo Police assisted in 22 cases of trafficked women: 14 were Kosovars, four were from Moldova, two were from Albania, one was from Bulgaria and one was from Serbia. Three of the victims were minors.

Asked what the police are doing to respond to the rising trend, Ahmeti said the Kosovo Police are cooperating with all relevant institutions against human trafficking, including the Interior Ministry, the OSCE, the courts, and NGOs.

Regional police units in cities throughout Kosovo are trying to tackle the problem, he said.

Luci noted that there is a clear correlation between trafficking and prostitution. Hasani pointed out that not all trafficking is for sexual exploitation. Trafficking also involves the sale of human organs and other kinds of exploitation.

Trafficking is dealt with under International Law, whereas prostitution comes under the category of sex crimes, Hasani explained.

Likewise, Cosaj pointed out, trafficking is invariably accompanied by false promises and fraud.

The Kosovo authorities issue work permits to employees of hotels and motels where large numbers of women work as waitresses.

In this respect, Duraku said the Interior Ministry is determined to fight trafficking wherever it occurs.

Cosaj complained that the authorities routinely declare that they are determined to fight the problem, but that little is done.

She noted that only about 50 percent of the plan to tackle trafficking between 2005 and 2007 had been implemented.

Duraku said organized crime and human trafficking cannot be tackled through conferences and seminars.

Cosaj asked why the Interior Ministry hadn’t taken steps to increase the budget to tackle people trafficking.

She pointed out that the police raid premises where trafficking goes on but there are few facilities to accommodate victims.

Cosaj said that some houses for victims had been closed. Duraku promised that this would not continue, particularly since under the new constitution the Interior Ministry has more discretion in the matter.

Duraku said the new government would adopt a long-term approach to human trafficking and he said this would involve offering assistance to victims.

On the other hand, Cosaj noted that two houses which had been financed by the OSCE had been closed.

Hasani said that Section 139 of Kosovo’s Penal Code provided for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for people trafficking but that most sentences are shorter.

Luci said that as long as trafficking isn’t considered part of organised crime traffickers will be able to get off lightly.

She called for a strategic plan that tackles the problem at various levels.

Asked about cooperation between the police in Kosovo and police in Moldova, Macedonia and other neighbouring countries, Ahemti said this has been largely a competence of the UNMIK Police. However, he said that the Kosovo Police cooperate with police in other countries through Interpol

He cited a case where the police in Moldova had reported suspicious activity to the Kosovo Police, resulting in the arrest of traffickers.

“Many times we have been discouraged by sentences handed down by the courts in trafficking cases, but we never stopped our work,” Ahemti said.

Hasani said court verdicts depended on proof, but he also noted that they are influenced by the way the problem is perceived in the country.

It was pointed out that many places where trafficked women are kept are close to police stations and that police officers are suspected of being clients.

Cosaj said the biggest challenge was victim rehabilitation.

She said most victims find it difficult to testify in court and to get on with their lives since Kosovo is a small country and the courts do not offer witness protection.

She also stressed that victims suffer a stigma in the community, especially in cases when the victim is a minor.

“Many school directors refuse to accept these girls at school because they tend to see them as a destabilizing factor,” she said.

Luci added that the patriarchal mentality in Kosovar society plays a big role in branding a female as a prostitute, with a bias towards concluding that the victim “brought it on herself”.

This, according to Luci “impedes her return to the community as she is believed to have destroyed her own morality.”

Cosaj said there should be a public debate about legalizing prostitution as it will continue to exist in the country, despite the efforts of the police.

She suggested that religious groups should be included in the discussion.

According to Duraku, a lack of cooperation among relevant institutions remains the biggest challenge in deterring human trafficking.

In the “Weeks Highlight” section, BIRN showed how Isuf Muhaxheri decided to take his driving test at the age of 65 because he is tired of asking other people to drive him around.

The report said he had successfully passed the oral and practical exam.


Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.