2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

M O N T E N E G R O
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announced plans to open a consulate in Macau in
order to provide services to Mongolian nationals,
including those who have become victims of trafficking
in the Macau Special Administrative Region.
The government began cooperation with the IOM
on a program to assist with repatriation of victims
and to provide counseling and other services.
Prevention
The Mongolian government continued efforts to
raise public awareness of trafficking by conducting
an anti-trafficking campaign throughout the year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued its distribution
of information on trafficking to consular
officers serving overseas. Mongolia has not ratified
the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
MONTENEGRO (Tier 2)
Montenegro is a source, transit, and destination
country for women and girls trafficked within the
country and transnationally for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation. Women and girls
from Ukraine, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Russia, and Serbia were trafficked to Montenegro
for commercial sexual exploitation.
The Government of Montenegro does not
fully comply with the minimum standards
for the elimination of trafficking; however,
it is making significant efforts to do so.
Montenegro became independent in
2006, dissolving the former State Union
of Serbia and Montenegro. In past years,
Montenegro’s activities were reported
separately from that of Serbia, but the
State Union was ranked as a whole on the
aggregate level of its efforts to combat trafficking.
The government should make additional efforts to
identify, arrest, and prosecute traffickers and police
officers who protect trafficking operations. The
government should continue educating law enforcement
officers on recognizing trafficking cases, since
the special anti-trafficking team was eliminated in
early 2007 as part of an overall plan to reorganize
the police. The government plans to name a senior
police officer to assume responsibility for coordinating
anti-trafficking activities. The government should
make greater efforts to prosecute and convict police
officials who are involved in trafficking.
Prosecution
The Government of Montenegro demonstrated some
discernable progress in its anti-trafficking law enforcement
efforts over the last year. Montenegro prohibits
sex and labor trafficking through Article 444 of its
criminal code. Penalties for trafficking are sufficiently
stringent, and penalties for trafficking for commercial
sexual exploitation are commensurate with those for
rape. The government routinely provided data on
arrests, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences in
trafficking cases in 2006, both periodically (including
press releases) as monthly reports, and as an
annual summary. Eight persons, in two cases, were
convicted of trafficking in persons offenses in 2006.
Three persons were convicted of attempting to traffic
Bangladeshi nationals to Western Europe through
Montenegro for labor exploitation. Sentences
imposed on the three were: three years’ imprisonment;
two years and eight months’ imprisonment;
and two years and six months’ imprisonment. Law
enforcement officials currently are investigating other
suspected trafficking cases. The government provides
extensive training to police, prosecutors, judges, and
other officials on how to recognize, investigate, and
prosecute trafficking. In cooperation with the Italian
government, the Government of Montenegro drafted
a Manual for Training Judges and Prosecutors. The
government provided training on trafficking to police
of all ranks. In 2007, as part of a reorganization effort,
Montenegro eliminated the police special anti-trafficking
team and its officers were assigned other duties.
Low-level corruption among police and customs officials
who unofficially provide security to nightclubs
or bars that serve as trafficking outlets allows some
traffickers to evade law enforcement efforts.
Protection
The Government of Montenegro demonstrated
increased efforts to protect and assist victims of
trafficking. The Montenegrin government did not
demonstrate use of a systematic effort to identify
victims of trafficking among vulnerable populations,
such as foreigners found in prostitution
or detained for immigration violations. It did,
however, encourage victims to assist in the investigation
and prosecution of trafficking crimes,
though few cases were actually developed in the last
year. Occasionally this encouragement may amount
to excessive pressure on victims. Victims may file
civil suits against traffickers, but this has not yet
occurred. Montenegro issues temporary residence
permits for foreign victims of trafficking for up to
one year at a time; if necessary, victims are resettled
to third countries. Victims are not detained,
prosecuted, fined, or otherwise penalized for
unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being
trafficked. The Government provides adequate
protection, shelter, and care for victims. There are
two shelters for victims of trafficking, one run by