HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – CRIMINAL LAW, JUDICIAL PRACTICE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN SECURITY

Abstract

Human trafficking represents one of the most serious forms of human rights violations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina criminalises human trafficking as an offence in the category of crimes against humanity and values protected by international law. The drafters of the international conventions, which served as a model to the domestic legislators, did not approach human trafficking solely as an organised crime or transnational crime, for the reason of which the criminal codes in Bosnia and Herzegovina also criminalise domestic human trafficking. The starting point of this paper is the interrelatedness between plea bargaining in procedural law and lenient penal policies, which represents an obvious problem with profound security implications for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this context, we begin with the analysis of the notion of human security, the essential element of which is the protection of human rights and, thus, the rights of victims/aggrieved parties in criminal proceedings. Human trafficking is a result of structural inequalities at the global level and within a country’s boundaries.