Croatia is a destination, source, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced prostitution and forced labor.
Croatian women and girls fall victim to sex trafficking within the country, and women and girls from Serbia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , and other parts of Europe are subjected to forced prostitution in Croatia and in Europe. Men reportedly are subjected to forced labor in agricultural sectors, and children, including Roma , are subjected to conditions of forced begging and theft.
The Croatian Government fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. In , the government continued to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenders, increased the minimum imposed penalty for convicted traffickers, and for the first time, ordered a trafficker to pay compensation to a victim.
Croatia provided significant funding to NGOs providing assistance and shelter to trafficking victims during the reporting period and continued proactive training and outreach on victim identification. However, the government identified very few trafficking victims in and failed to protect some victim witnesses. Human-rights activist, Jana Kohut also came forward with her story. She was trafficked to Slovenia from Croatia in , for sexual exploitation. A female friend had tricked her, which lead to her abduction, and eventually being forced into prostitution and rape until she managed to escape a year later.
With the help of data collected in , and , it was able to be determined that Croatia was no longer a transition destination but a source and destination country. The majority of victims being male, being trafficked and forced into labour. The two main forms of exploitation being first off prostitution , then secondly forced labour. Where as labour exploitation seems only to be less visible. Data collected by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia: [6].
