On Monday, December 18, at 11 o’clock, in the small hall of the Media Center, there was a presentation of the results of a research “Opportunities and obstacles for the inclusion of refugees and migrants into the main streams of society in Serbia” (Protection of refugees and migrants in Serbia from 2015 to 2017). The research represents an overview of data on the position of migrants and refugees in Serbia, with a special focus on the rights of women among the migrant population.

Representative of NGO Atina, Jelena Hrnjak, was a panelist at the event organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) titled “Strengthening the capacities of actors to improve the level of protection of migrants in everyday practice”. Other speakers at the panel were representative of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, Svetlana Velimirovic, representative of UNHCR, John Andrew Young, Vesna Dejanovic from UNICEF, Emilija Joksic from the Asylum Office of the MoI of Serbia, and Miroslava Jelacic, representative of NGO Group 484.

Atina's representative gave a speech at the House of the National Assembly

An international workshop “Cooperation of European parliamentarians in the fight against human trafficking in the Western Balkans” was held on May 18, 2017, at the House of the National Assembly of Serbia in Belgrade. In addition to the members of the parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania, Great Britain, and Serbia, participants were also representatives of international and nongovernmental organizations,  among whom was a representative of NGO Atina.

Sharon Gesthuizen, a member of the Dutch Parliament and the Socialist Party, met with the representatives of NGO Atina during the SCI visit to Serbia. The meeting was held in a positive atmosphere and resulted in a fruitful discussion about the refugee crisis, as well as the situation in Netherlands regarding national policies and integration.

Today, on the occasion of the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, US Ambassador to Serbia, Kyle Scott, and Minister Zoran Djordjevic visited the social enterprise of Citizens’ Association Atina, Bagel Bejgl shop, whose profits are financing recovery programs this organization runs for the victims of human trafficking.

US Ambassador Scott has underlined that human trafficking is a global phenomenon, and that there is no country in the world that is not faced with the issue of modern slavery.

Interview with Jelena Hrnjak from NGO Atina for the monthly magazine "Business&Finance"

Social inclusion of the victims of human trafficking and violence

Work has protected women

The Committee on Labor, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction held its third sitting on October 12, 2016. The agenda of the sitting included discussion of the state-of-play concerning the asylum-seekers/migrants’ welfare, setting up Working Group for the Political Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, and proposals on how to process the civic petitions received.

As borders have tightened along the western Balkan route to Europe, more lone female refugees are arriving in Serbia having experienced violence and trafficking. Many who want to continue their journeys are using even riskier routes and never appear in official data.

A Transnational Anti-Trafficking Training Seminar for anti-THB stakeholders from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Moldova was held in Tirana, Albania on 6 – 7 December 2016.

Migrant women, Roma women, women with disabilities and the elderly are the most vulnerable social groups, and often suffer domestic violence as well. Although there are cultural and traditional inequalities between women who ran from war-torn African countries and women in Serbia, when it comes to violence - there is almost no difference at all. Because of fear, or because they have been taught from an early age that they are property of their families and husbands, they rarely dare to report the perpetrator.