Vigorously investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers and seek adequate penalties, involving, as appropriate, significant prison terms. * Increase funding for NGO-run shelters and victim service providers. * Train first responders on victim identification and referral and increase proactive identification efforts, particularly for migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and members of the Romani community. * Ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, particularly victims of sex trafficking, forced begging, and forced criminality. * Increase resources, personnel, and training for law enforcement to investigate complex trafficking cases. * Provide training and support for NGO-run shelters to meet minimum standards, particularly for children. * Establish and implement policies to formally disconnect identification procedures and official victim status from cooperation on investigations and prosecutions. * Establish procedures to ensure trafficking cases are handled by trained prosecutors. * Implement victim-centered approaches in prosecutions and strengthen access to justice, such as allocating sufficient funding for NGOs providing legal assistance. * Train judges on restitution in criminal cases, establish procedures to seize assets from traffickers, and create effective methods to allocate restitution in a timely manner. * Integrate Romani advocates into decision-making processes in anti-trafficking efforts. * Budget and disburse honorariums for all RMTs. * Implement recommendations from the independent evaluation of the 2020-2023 national strategy.

The government maintained law enforcement efforts. BiH consisted of two entities within the state – the Federation and the RS – and the Brcko District (BD). Each entity has political, legislative, and judicial authority. BD was a self-governing area under the jurisdiction of the state. Entity-level authorities addressed domestic trafficking offenses internal to their territories, and state-level authorities addressed cases with international aspects. Article 186 of the state-level criminal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking only in cases where the victim was exploited in a country in which he or she did not reside or have citizenship; it prescribed penalties of one to 10 years’ imprisonment. Articles 210a and 210b of the Federation’s criminal code criminalized sex and labor trafficking and prescribed a minimum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. Article 145 of RS’s criminal code criminalized sex and labor trafficking and prescribed a minimum penalty of three years’ imprisonment. Article 146 of RS’s criminal code criminalized child trafficking and prescribed penalties between five to 20 years. Article 207a of BD’s criminal code criminalized sex and labor trafficking and prescribed a minimum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape.

The State Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) did not initiate any new investigations, compared with two cases involving two suspects in 2022. The SPO prosecuted four defendants, compared with no prosecutions in 2022. State-level courts convicted six traffickers, compared with five traffickers in 2022. State-level judges sentenced two traffickers to 21 years’ imprisonment, one trafficker to three years’ imprisonment, another trafficker to five years’ imprisonment, and did not report the other sentences. Federation authorities investigated eight suspects in six cases, compared with 13 suspects in 10 cases in 2022. Federation prosecutors did not initiate any new prosecutions, compared with seven defendants in six cases in 2022. Federation courts convicted 18 traffickers, compared with 11 traffickers in 2022. Federation judges issued sentences ranging from 22 years’ to 10 years and 10 months’ imprisonment to six traffickers, sentences ranging from six years’ to three years’ imprisonment to six traffickers, and did not report sentencing information for six traffickers. RS authorities investigated three suspects in two cases, compared with five suspects in four cases in 2022. RS authorities prosecuted one defendant in both 2023 and 2022. RS courts did not convict any traffickers in 2023 or 2022. BD authorities investigated three suspects in two cases, compared with no investigations in 2022. BD authorities did not prosecute any defendants, compared with one defendant in 2022. BD courts convicted two traffickers in both 2023 and 2022. BD judges sentenced one trafficker to seven years and six months’ imprisonment and the second trafficker to two years’ imprisonment. Judges increasingly issued sentences with significant prison terms. For example, judges did not issue any suspended sentences and the State court sentenced two traffickers to 21 year’s imprisonment and the Tuzla Cantonal Court sentenced one trafficker to 22 years’ imprisonment in 2022, which were the highest sentences for trafficking in BiH to date. However, court proceedings generally lasted many years, and in previous years, judges often issued sentences below minimum penalties by citing unreasonable “mitigating circumstances” to decrease the sentences. Additionally, the government reported some traffickers avoided imprisonment by utilizing a law that allowed convicted perpetrators to buy their way out of up to one year of imprisonment for 100 convertible marks ($57) a day.

The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) maintained an operational team with 20 officers across four regional offices, and Tuzla Canton in the Federation maintained a specialized trafficking unit in addition to trafficking liaison officers in all police units within the canton. Sarajevo Canton assigned two police officers within each of the seven police stations as liaison officers. The SPO maintained the Department for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Migration with a specialized investigator and four specialized prosecutors. The Federation cantons, the RS, and BD did not have specialized officers, but organized crime and corruption units investigated trafficking. Authorities at times continued to investigate and prosecute sex trafficking, forced begging, and trafficking cases involving family members under lesser crimes, such as “enticement to prostitution,” “child negligence,” and “enticement to child prostitution.” Law enforcement continued to report that lack of capacity, resources, and technical knowledge hindered their ability to conduct effective investigations. For example, the government reported difficulties in meeting the evidentiary requirement of trafficking due to a lack of resources and knowledge to conduct specialized investigative measures to corroborate victim testimony. Prosecutors reported they were evaluated on reaching overall monthly case quotas, which incentivized pursuing trafficking crimes as lesser offenses that were easier and faster to prosecute, while police experienced obstacles in investigating trafficking crimes involving multiple cantons or entities due to a lack of communication and coordination between prosecutors in different jurisdictions. The Chief State Prosecutor chaired the anti-trafficking strike force (strike force) that coordinated law enforcement efforts across entities on trafficking cases. The strike force met monthly and the government allocated 80,000 convertible marks ($45,220) for honorariums and operational expenses for strike force members in both 2023 and 2022.

The SPO cooperated with authorities from Croatia, France, Germany, Montenegro, and Serbia on trafficking cases. The government completed its joint investigation with French authorities initiated in 2015 of a BiH and Croatian married couple alleged to have forced six Romani children to pickpocket in France. The SPO indicted eight defendants in May 2018, state courts convicted the traffickers in December 2022, and courts issued prison sentences to five of the traffickers in 2023; courts acquitted one and planned to try one separately due to health reasons; and one remained at large. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes. Police academies maintained basic courses on trafficking and the government, with financial and technical assistance from NGOs and international organizations, trained police, border police, prosecutors, and judges on various trafficking issues.

The government demonstrated mixed victim protection efforts. The government and NGOs identified 37 victims, compared with 38 victims in 2022. Among the victims, eight were sex trafficking victims, 27 were labor trafficking victims, and two were victims of an unspecified type of trafficking; nine were women, 17 were girls, and 11 were boys; and five were foreign nationals. The government maintained two bylaws which provided SOPs for identifying and referring victims to services, including a list of general indicators, but observers continued to report some first responders did not know or consistently use the guidelines and lacked the knowledge to accurately identify trafficking victims. The government, with financial and technical assistance from an NGO, maintained eight mobile identification teams (MITs) that conducted outreach to vulnerable populations. MITs consisted of police officers and social workers, including three mediators from the Romani community. MITs identified 33 potential victims (26 in 2022) and 243 vulnerable people, primarily children. Observers reported first responders increasingly identified victims from the Romani community; however, some law enforcement and social workers continued to justify cases of potential forced child begging and forced child labor involving members of the Romani community as traditional cultural practices and customs and sometimes returned children to their families even when their parents were involved in their exploitation. In previous years, first responders, including Border Police, local police, and the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs (SFA), lacked standard guidelines and trafficking indicators for irregular migration flows, interview questions and interpreters, as well as general capacity to screen the large influx of migrants and refugees. However, the government, in cooperation with international organizations and NGOs, continued to train border police and staff from the SFA on identifying victims within irregular migration flows. However, no trafficking victims were identified in 2023 within the migrant population accommodated at temporary reception centers, compared with five in 2022. First responders referred potential trafficking victims to law enforcement, which conducted interviews and had authority to officially recognize victims. However, observers reported that the interview and identification procedures lacked transparency and authorities often required victims to cooperate with investigations and prosecutions to receive assistance and support.

The government maintained an MOU with four NGO-run shelters to provide victim assistance and allocated 130,000 convertible marks ($73,490) to the NGO-run shelters in both 2023 and 2022 through a victim protection fund administered by the State Anti-trafficking Coordinator. However, the largest NGO-run shelter was forced to close in January 2024 due to debts accrued to cover operational costs, partly due to the government suspending funding disbursements to NGO-run shelters in 2021 and 2020 because of a lack of a state budget stemming from an extended political crisis. The government, in cooperation with NGO-run shelters, provided accommodation, psycho-social support, medical assistance, food and hygiene, and legal assistance. However, the government’s capacity to accommodate and provide assistance decreased from approximately 150 to 70 trafficking victims after the largest NGO-run shelter closed. The NGO-run shelter closure forced the relocation of 30 trafficking victims, including 27 children, to other shelters and orphanages. Experts criticized the relocation of some child victims, expressing concern about potential re-traumatization; in one case, officials separated six siblings formerly accommodated in one shelter. Observers reported staff in some NGO-runs shelters were not trained to work with trafficking victims, particularly child victims. For example, one staff member allowed a child victim to speak with their alleged trafficker over the phone. NGO-run shelters also provided services to domestic violence victims, which further limited accommodation and services available for trafficking victims. NGO-run shelters assisted 34 victims (27 victims in 2022). Centers for social welfare (CSW) also operated seven drop-in centers for children, which provided academic tutoring, food, and laundry services; drop-in centers assisted 243 children (587 in 2022). However, drop-in centers lacked resources, capacity, and staff and could only provide basic food, workshops, and short-term accommodation for a small number of children. In 2023, the Council of Ministers (COM) adopted minimum standards on providing assistance to victims, particularly children. Additionally, the government established a commission to inspect NGO-run shelters to ensure the minimum standards were met before allocating annual funding. NGO-run shelters allowed victims from BiH to leave voluntarily after informing the staff and law enforcement, but foreign victims required approval from law enforcement and SFA. Minimum standards required each child victim be appointed a guardian from the CSW and accommodated in a separate, dedicated facility. However, observers reported guardians often failed to offer necessary services to child victims and guardians often only participated in interviews with law enforcement. For example, observers reported a guardian visited a child victim only twice during their two-year stay at the shelter. One NGO-run shelter accommodated male trafficking victims but did not offer specialized services for trafficking victims. NGO-run shelters reported developing a reintegration plan for each victim, including vocational training, but observers reported victims spent, at times, multiple years at shelters due to slow court proceedings and a lack of reintegration opportunities. The law provided repatriation assistance to BiH citizens identified abroad and foreigners identified in BiH; no victim required repatriation assistance in 2023 or 2022. Foreign victims were eligible for a humanitarian visa allowing them to temporarily reside and work in BiH, and victims were permitted a 30-day reflection period to determine whether they wanted to request a visa; but there were no requests to the government for humanitarian visas in 2023 (none in 2022).

The government reported that its SOPs incorporated non-penalization standards. Sub-state laws against “enticement to prostitution” permitted law enforcement to treat children 14 years and older as juveniles willingly engaging in commercial sex instead of victims of rape or sex trafficking. The law provided witness protection but lower courts did not possess necessary technical equipment to organize testimonies with adequate protection and confidentiality measures. The law provided free legal aid and the government operated legal aid centers, but it lacked specialization and capacity to assist trafficking victims. As a result, NGOs provided most of the free legal aid but the government did not disburse funding to the NGOs despite an agreement to do so. The government did not consistently conduct victim-centered investigations and prosecutions. For example, the government did not require prosecutors to have a certification on how to work with children and child victims sometimes faced their traffickers in the waiting room before they were escorted to the court room, likely causing re-traumatization and/or creating opportunities to threaten and intimidate victims. NGOs reported that judicial authorities or judges interviewed child victims only in the presence of social workers or psychologists and provided a separate room from which the child victim provided testimony during the trial. However, experts also noted some victims’ attorneys were not informed in a timely manner or at all by the court or prosecutors when medical experts conducted assessments of child victims. Victims could obtain restitution through criminal proceedings or compensation through civil suits; however, courts have not issued restitution since 2019 when a district court awarded a victim 7,500 convertible marks ($4,240), but the victim never received the restitution because seized properties and assets of the traffickers went toward the state budget. In July 2023, the government adopted guidelines for issuing compensation to trafficking victims and the SPO issued mandatory instructions for prosecutors to request restitution for trafficking cases. Judges generally rejected restitution in criminal proceedings and encouraged victims to seek compensation by filing civil suits. Observers reported civil suits required victims to submit new testimonies and medical examinations – causing re-traumatization – despite the government convicting their trafficker(s) in criminal proceedings.

The government slightly increased efforts to prevent trafficking. The government implemented the 2020-2023 national strategy and hired a consulting agency to conduct an independent evaluation. The evaluators rated the government’s implementation of the national strategy as “moderate to high” but recommended further delineating the national referral mechanism, harmonizing laws across entities and cantons, and clearly defining budgets and securing financial commitments from all levels of government. The State Coordinator coordinated anti-trafficking efforts and organized four coordination meetings with international organizations and local NGOs and three coordination meetings with RMTs. The government maintained 18 RMTs: 11 in the Federation (10 cantonal and one at the Federation entity level), six in the RS, and one in BD. RMTs consisted of law enforcement, government, and NGO representatives and a Ministry of Interior official as the coordinator. Five cantonal governments in the Federation allocated honorariums for RMT members to encourage participation. For example, Sarajevo Canton approved and disbursed honorariums of 300 convertible marks ($170) per month for each RMT member for an annual total of 72,000 convertible marks ($40,700). Herzegovina Neretva Canton also allocated 200 convertible marks ($110) for each RMT member for an annual total of 19,200 convertible marks ($10,850). However, BD and five cantonal governments failed to budget honorariums and activities of RMTs varied widely with some participants reporting difficulties in dedicating time to participate or coordinate RMTs, particularly with no honorariums and additional work duties.

The government allocated 10,000 convertible marks ($5,650) to three local NGOs to conduct an awareness campaign during European Anti-Trafficking Day. The government started disbursing the 1.3 million convertible marks ($734,880) to increase access to housing, employment, healthcare, and education of the Romani community. State-level institutions regulated recruitment agencies and required agencies to obtain a license and register, but labor inspectors lacked resources to adequately inspect recruitment agencies and did not report if they inspected any agencies. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government did not provide anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in BiH, and traffickers exploit victims from BiH abroad. Traffickers exploit BiH women and girls in sex trafficking within the country in private residences and motels. Romani children are exploited in forced begging, forced criminality, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude in forced marriages. In 2023, traffickers exploited foreign victims from Croatia, Philippines, Slovenia, and Uruguay. In previous years, victims from Afghanistan, Cuba, The Gambia, Libya, Pakistan, Serbia, Sri Lanka, and neighboring Balkan countries were exploited in BiH. Foreign women and girls from other European countries are vulnerable to sex trafficking within the country. Traffickers exploit BiH victims in sex trafficking and forced labor in construction and other sectors in other countries across Europe. Migrants and refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, and neighboring countries traveling through, stranded in, or being smuggled through BiH are vulnerable to trafficking, particularly women and unaccompanied children.