Members of the Roma population are particularly susceptible to becoming victims of human trafficking, it was pointed out from the Faros Association on the occasion of the European Day against Human Trafficking. According to the Faros Association, young women and mothers with several children are the most affected by human trafficking.
Among this socially marginalized category of society are citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of neighboring countries: Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Croatia, who live on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and who founded families with citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among them are those who do not have a residence status in BiH and who often need help and support in regulating their residence.
Lawyer and director of the non-governmental organization “Land of Children in BiH” in Tuzla, Mirsada Bajramović says that foreigners who do not have legal residence in BiH are always at high risk of becoming victims of human trafficking, that is, they are at risk of exploitative organized criminal groups.
Foreigners without permission to stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina are legally invisible, points out Ingrid Halbritter, project coordinator at the Faros Association.
“Foreigners who do not have an approved stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot establish a legal employment relationship, do not have health insurance and therefore have limited or no access to the health system and are not entitled to social services. The situation of those who do not have personal documents and cannot obtain them without support from their country of origin is particularly problematic. The children of these women cannot be registered in the registers. They are de facto stateless,” said Halbritter.
Association Faros has been supporting foreigners in a state of social need in obtaining legal status in Bosnia and Herzegovina for many years.
“Together with our users, we visit state institutions, obtain documents from the country of origin and from Bosnia and Herzegovina and pay the fees and in this way enable them to obtain approval for temporary residence, to extend their stay and finally obtain citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Halbritter points out.
Faros emphasizes that socially vulnerable foreigners without a residence permit must not be seen exclusively as lawbreakers, but primarily as potential victims of human trafficking who need special protection and support.
“These people need some form of positive discrimination and support from state institutions and the civil sector, so that they can exercise their human, social, economic and political rights and be more resistant to all forms of human trafficking. Close cooperation between state and non-governmental actors is necessary,0 emphasized Halbritter.
Faros offers free legal advice and instructions for starting the process of legalization of residence and invites affected foreigners in a state of social need who need help in obtaining personal documents and residence permits to contact via email at pravabih24@gmail.com.
The problem of illegal residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina was thematized by Faros and presented in the video “Invisible people”.
The activity is carried out as part of the project “Lighthouse of Freedom. Our way to protect the Roma population from human trafficking” with the support of USAID through the USAID/INSPIRE Human Rights Protection Support Program, announced the Faros Association.
