The Council of Europe's Group of experts on action against trafficking in human beings (GRETA) has welcomed steps taken by Bosnia and Herzegovina to strengthen its response to human trafficking, while highlighting the need for further progress in the areas of prevention, victim identification, assistance, legal aid and compensation. This assessment has come as part of GRETA's newly published fourth evaluation round report.
GRETA notes a number of positive developments since its previous evaluation, including the adoption of a new Anti-Trafficking Strategy for 2024-27, amendments to the Criminal Code of the Brčko district aimed at strengthening the anti-trafficking legal framework, the proactive work of mobile identification teams, specialised training for professionals and a significant increase in convictions for trafficking offences.
Forced begging still most common form of exploitation
The report highlights that Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a country of origin, transit and destination for victims of trafficking. Between 2022 and 2025, 177 victims were identified, around three quarters of them children. Forced begging remained the most common form of exploitation, followed by labour exploitation and sexual exploitation. GRETA also points to the growing use of information and communication technologies by traffickers to recruit, exploit and control victims, particularly children and young people.
The report stresses the vulnerability of Roma children, asylum seekers and migrant workers to human trafficking. GRETA calls for stronger measures to prevent child trafficking and child marriage, improve the detection of labour exploitation, reinforce screening procedures for migrants and asylum seekers, and provide unaccompanied migrant children with adequate support and protection.
State must fund trafficking victim support
GRETA also notes that victim assistance services remain heavily dependent on international donor funding and that the closure of the country's largest trafficking shelter in 2024 reduced accommodation capacity, particularly for child victims. The report calls on the authorities to ensure sustainable funding for victim support services and establish specialised safe houses for child victims.
While welcoming progress in the criminal-justice response to trafficking, GRETA reiterates its call for the establishment of a state compensation scheme for victims of trafficking and for stronger efforts to ensure that trafficking offences are prosecuted as such. The authorities are also encouraged to invest further in digital tools and specialised capacities to combat technology-facilitated trafficking and to strengthen investigations into online exploitation.
Read GRETA's report on Bosnia and Herzegovina in full
