Today, International Forum of Solidarity – Emmaus (IFS-EMMAUS) was honored to welcome the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick, the United States Ambassador in Bosnia and Herzegovina Eric Nelson and the USAID/BiH Mission Director Nancy Eslick, with a delegation from Washington, to discuss the seriousness of the situation in the area of trafficking in persons (TIP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the response of the BiH government and civil society organizations.
Mrs. Glick commended the work of IFS-EMMAUS as a civil society organization that has been active on the suppression of trafficking in persons for over 20 years now, not only in providing direct assistance and protection to TIP victims, but also implementing policy actions, capacity building and awareness raising activities on TIP in BiH.
Mrs. Glick also expressed her concerns with the positioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tier 2/Watch list of the Trafficking in Persons Report (#TIP Report) for the past two years, but also the hope that the BiH government and responsible institutions and organizations active in this field of work will find the much needed solutions to adequately counter TIP in BiH, especially victim identification and processing of perpetrators of this serious crime, and therewith show the commitment of BiH to the suppression of trafficking in persons in the country and the prevention of victim exploitation, especially children.
