Meho Omerovic briefed the guests on the Committee’s scope and activities relating to the protection of human rights, as well as its close cooperation with independent state authorities such as the Ombudsman, Commissioner for Protection of Equality and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection.

He also informed them that he had read the US Government’s Annual Report on Trafficking in Persons for 2015, the part concerning the Republic of Serbia which is ranked among the states “whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards”.

He said that most of the noted flaws and criticisms would be neutralised after the new National Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings and the accompanying Action Plan are passed and implemented since these strategic documents are being prepared in a broad consultative process with the inclusion of civil society representatives and have undergone public debate and analysis by European Commission experts. He also mentioned that the Serbian Government had appointed the Minister of Interior to preside over the Council for the Fight against Human Trafficking, and five members of the Council.

The representative of the State Department emphasised the need for a more efficient witness protection, adequate sanctioning of the offenders, better protection for the victims of human trafficking, efficient training of the professionals and better victim identification system.

The participants of the meeting agreed that the issue should be viewed from the aspect of increased migrations toward EU member states which further exacerbate the problem that is human trafficking.

They concluded that the National Assembly and the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality should play an important role both as regards improving the legislative framework necessary to successfully combat human trafficking and by monitoring the implementation of the legislation in force and the actions of the competent state authorities.