Two British politicians and former MPs, Anthony Steen and John Randall, visited the countries of Western Balkans, including Serbia, at the end of June.

Representatives of London-based, non-profit organization Green Shoes Arts, Nikki Watson and Lauren Crowley, visited Belgrade and NGO Atina at the end of June aiming to exchange experiences in the field of provision of support and assistance to children and youth, especially members of socially marginalized groups.

Press release of NGO Atina - Citizens’ Association for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and All Forms of Violence Against Women

SCHOOLBOYS have been stripped naked, posed for pornography and threatened with the images being plastered across the internet as sick smuggling gangs find new ways to make millions from the migrant crisis.

Children have fled war only to be raped, used as mules and violently attacked

Marijana Savić is a directress of NGO Atina, who has been dedicated to fight against human trafficking and protection of human rights for more than 16 years now. In 2015, they received With and For Girls Award, which is awarded to the most prominent fighters for women’s rights across the globe, as well as the American Global Catalyst award. Through various actions and projects, Marijana provides assistance and support to girls and women, victims of violence and human trafficking.

City Center for Social Work in Belgrade and Association Atina signed a Protocol on cooperation within the project “Support to the City Center for Social Work in Belgrade with implementing measures of social protection in providing protection to families with small children and unaccompanied migrant minors”, which is implemented and coordinated by the City Center, and financially supported by UNICEF.

During 2016, with the support and partnership of NGO Atina, IRC (International Rescue Committee) conducted an assessment of the protection of women and children within the refugee population in four key locations with the highest concentration of refugees in Serbia - in Preševo, Dimitrovgrad, Belgrade and Šid/Adaševci. Two members of IRC, together with six members of Atina, conducted the orientation in the field, based on the principles of assessment and tools for collecting data, in all these locations.

“Rethink your policies and decisions: They force refugee women and girls into the criminal underground economy and into smugglers’ hands. The people we see are not economic migrants. Many are simply trying to save their lives. They have no alternatives except to flee. Think about this, and act.” —Jelena Hrnjk, Atina, an NGO which provides direct support to hundreds of refugee women and girls, particularly those who’ve suffered gender-based violence and human trafficking, in Belgrade, Serbia. 

There are 2,000 child marriages in Serbia each year, It is feared that the number is even higher, because the statistics do not include persons under the age of 16, as a marriage before that age is prohibited by law, nor under-age common law marriages. Such marriages are a vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, family and social violence.

Whenever any of my friends returns from abroad, especially from the US, they keep talking for days and days about the bagel they ate there, fantastic bagel, the best, which, as such, does not exist anywhere else in the world. All the TV series, in which groomed lawyers are chewing a delicious, creamy bagel with coffee for breakfast, while rushing to a meeting with a client, and my pathetic attempts to make them myself... All this has come to an end, because (for a year now) I have been smothering myself in bagels in the middle of Belgrade. Salty, sweet, wholemeal.