[ Human Trafficking, Country-by-Country ]

KOSOVO (Tier 2) – Extracted in part from the U.S. State Dept 2023 TIP Report

The Government of Kosovo does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.  The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Kosovo remained on Tier 2.  These efforts included prosecuting more defendants and convicting more traffickers.  The government developed indicators for health workers to identify potential victims and translated pamphlets into Ukrainian and Russian that informed victims of their rights and available services.  Anti-trafficking coordinating bodies consistently met, and the government drafted and adopted the Anti-trafficking National Strategy for 2022-2026 and a NAP for implementation between 2022 and 2024.  However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas.  Judges continued to issue lenient sentences for the majority of convicted traffickers, which were below the minimum penalty prescribed under the trafficking law.  The criminal code classified forced begging of children by their parents as parental neglect or abuse rather than trafficking and, because of inadequate identification procedures for forced begging, authorities likely inappropriately deported some unidentified trafficking victims without referring them to appropriate services.  The government decreased funds to NGO-run shelters, and hotline operators lacked the capacity to understand and respond to trafficking-related calls, particularly for potential child forced begging cases.

Prioritized Recommendations

Vigorously investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers, including complicit officials.

Seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.

Develop written guidance and enhance efforts to identify and assist children exploited in forced begging.

Increase resources for NGO-run shelters to provide victim assistance.

Continue providing advanced training to judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement on trafficking investigations and prosecutions.

Further reduce the judiciary’s backlog of cases, including trafficking cases.

Allocate sufficient resources to the Centers for Social Welfare (CSW) to enable them to fulfill their responsibilities.

Designate trained prosecutors and judges in every region to handle trafficking cases.

Strengthen victim confidentiality and privacy measures and ensure private information is not shared.

Increase government support for comprehensive vocational training and reintegration services for victims.

Standardize data collection and create a database that disaggregates statistics for trafficking and trafficking-related prosecutions and convictions.

Provide training on handling trafficking cases to hotline operators.