As part of the project “Specialized Support for (Potential) Victims of Smuggling and Trafficking in Migrants and Legal Pathways for Vulnerable Groups in Serbia”, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights held a series of workshops in asylum and reception centres run by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia. The initiative is part of the regional programme EU4FAST.
Together with representatives of the Centre for the Protection of Trafficking Victims, we visited asylum centres and organized workshops on the topic “Prevention of Human Trafficking, Smuggling, and Labour Exploitation.”
During the first session, persons accommodated in the centres were introduced to basic concepts related to human trafficking, risks, and real-life examples encountered by the Centre for the Protection of Trafficking Victims in its work. The second session focused on the asylum procedure, as well as the rights and obligations of asylum seekers. Special attention was given to the issue of labour exploitation and risks that particularly affect refugees as a vulnerable group.
The workshops were organized as part of a project that provides free legal aid in asylum, reception, and transit centres of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration. The project aims to strengthen early identification of potential victims of human trafficking through access to information, legal aid, and referral to specialized state and non-state actors. It also aims to improve the provision of primary free legal aid, access to territory and the asylum procedure, as well as support for the integration and reintegration of potential victims of smuggling and human trafficking.
The workshops were held at the Sjenica Asylum Centre on 13 August 2025, Obrenovac Asylum Centre on 20 October 2025, Preševo Reception Centre on 4 November 2025, and Vranje Asylum Centre on 5 November 2025.
The project provides free legal aid and integration support to potential victims of smuggling and human trafficking. The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights implements the project as part of the consortium support within the regional initiative “EU Support to Strengthening the Fight Against Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Human Beings in the Western Balkans” (EU4FAST). The consortium partners include Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, and others¹.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
1 The German Federal Police (Bundespolizei), the Dutch Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC), the international technical cooperation operator of the French Ministry of the Interior CIVIPOL, the Croatian Ministry of the Interior, the Italian Ministry of the Interior and the Slovenian Ministry of the Interior.
