OSCE warns of child trafficking in Kosovo
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has warned that child trafficking has become a serious problem in the province.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, August 08, 2008
The mission has lauched an action with the NGO Terre des Hommes in order to campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of human trafficking, as well as the violations of children's rights in Kosovo, many of whom are forced to beg on the streets.
Artan Duraku, a political advisor in Kosovo's Interior Ministry, says there are many underlying causes to the problem.
"Poverty may be one of them. That's exactly why our ministry is conducting an action plan to stop human trafficking," Duraku says.
"Child trafficking has not been treated as a crime or a form of organized crime until now," he explains, adding that he hopes a different approach will be established with this new strategy.
Inadequate sentences for human trafficking are also a serious problem in Kosovo.
The number of unsolved cases of human trafficking in Kosovo is high, believed to be due to the increasing adeptness of Albanian criminal networks' activities.
