From October 26 to 28, 2016, the Anti-Trafficking Network organized training for institutions on the issues of human trafficking, victim communication skills and the importance of intersectoral cooperation. The training was held in Vrnjačka Banja.

It was attended by the representatives of the Social Work Centres and Police Administrations from the cities in which AT Network members operate SOS Helplines – Vranje, Vlasotince, Leskovac and Niš. Marija Anđelković and Jovana Krotić from ASTRA held the training involving 31 participants.

At the beginning, Tatjana Nikolić, an AT Network coordinator, presented the Network, its operation and goals, and announced the future activities and cooperation with institutions.

During the three-day training, it was discussed what human trafficking is, what the prevailing prejudices are, how domestic and international law define human trafficking, what problems arise in defining this problem in Serbian legislation, and what forms of human trafficking appear. The participants were informed about the causes and stages in the human trafficking process, as well as about the survival indicators and mechanisms.

Sharing experience and individual case studies was an inevitable part of the training, as well as discussions on the existing mechanisms against human trafficking and how to improve the identification and resolution of specific cases.

Simulating dialogs between a potential victim and a social worker or a police officer was another important part of the training.

After the training, individual meetings are to be kept in each institution whose representatives attended the training. The printed material from the training will be distributed on these occasions. The organization of round tables in each of the four cities is planned for the beginning of next year.

The training was supported by OAK and Trag Foundations within the project "Women's NGOs against Human Trafficking in Serbia".