Panel discussion titled ”Sexual abuse of children in context of preventing trafficking in border areas and tourist centres”

Podgorica, Montenegro (24 May 2012) -- The panel discussion titled ”Sexual abuse of children in the context of preventing trafficking in border areas and tourist centres” was organised within the Council of Europe “One in Five” campaign for Montenegro in Rožaje municipality on 23 May. The conference was sponsored by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism and the Association of Municipalities. The goal of the panel discussion was to improve knowledge in this field.

The panel discussion was attended by the representatives of the Parliament of Montenegro, Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Police Authority, Interpol Office in Montenegro, Office for Combating Human Trafficking, local self-governments, members of the National Team, as well as the representatives of educational institutions.

Member of the Parliament Valentina Radulovic-Šćepanović, National Coordinator for “One in Five” campaign in Montenegro and Head of Montenegro’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE, opened the conference and made reference to the goal of the campaign, recalled when the campaign began and presented the next steps in preventig sexual violence against children.

Nusret Kalač, head of the municipality Rožaje, has supported this project, especially important for Rožaje, due to the fact that Rožaje is a tourist town between the borders of Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo, where the risk of human trafficking is increased.

Ivan Brajovic, Minister of the Interior, addressed the issue from both an official's and parents' perspective. He said that the problem of child trafficking stands out as a particular problem in the activities undertaken to combat human trafficking, because of its uniqueness, and that the indicators in practice are often the opposite of the statistics. It is especially important, Minister Brajovic stressed, to identify cases of child abuse and to respond properly.

Nevenka Stankovic, Deputy Ombudsman for human rights and freedoms of children's rights, presented statistics on sexual violence against children in the context of preventing human trafficking in border areas and tourist centers.

Jakša Backović, Chief Inspector for combating cybercrime in the Police Directorate of Montenegro, spoke about ways to discover the perpetrators of these acts and held a lecture on computer crime and child pornography.

Slobodan Živković, UNICEF Economic and Social Policy Officer, put particular emphasis on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Montenegrin legislation.