Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Bosnia and Herzegovina (Ratification: 2001)

Articles 3(a) and 7(1) of the Convention. Trafficking of children and penalties. The Committee observes that pursuant to the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina of 27 June 2003, transnational trafficking (section 185(2)) and organized transnational trafficking of persons under 18 years of age (section 186(2)) are criminal offences. Furthermore, section 210(a)(2) of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina of 9 July 2003, section 146 of the Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska of 2017, and section 207(a)(2) of the Criminal Code of the Brčko District of 2003 penalize trafficking of children. The Committee observes from the 2018–20 Reports of the State Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings that there were two persons convicted under section 207(a)(2) of the Criminal Code of the Brčko District in 2017 and two persons convicted under section 146 of the Criminal Code of the Republika Srpska in 2018. The Committee further notes that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations, expressed concern about the low rate of prosecutions and convictions of the trafficking and exploitation of children and urged the Government to strengthen training for law enforcement officers at all levels to investigate all cases of child trafficking and to ensure that the perpetrators of those criminal offences are prosecuted and adequately punished at all levels of jurisdiction (CRC/C/BIH/CO/5-6, paragraph 46). The Committee recalls that, under Article 7(1) of the Convention, the Government is obliged to take all the necessary measures to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the provisions giving effect to the Convention, including the provision and application of penal sanctions. The Committee therefore requests the Government to ensure that persons involved in the trafficking of children are investigated and prosecuted and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed upon them. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on training sessions for law enforcement officers addressed to investigating child trafficking and apprehending perpetrators, including the number, nature, and duration of sessions and the number of officers attending. It also requests the Government to provide statistical data on the abovementioned sections of the Criminal Codes concerning the trafficking of children, including statistics on the number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties imposed.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.