For more than 20 years, ASTRA has actively engaged in the fight against trafficking in human beings, which also includes labour exploitation. Yesterday, on 6 June, we organized the final event- a round table within the project Labour Exploitation is real. This project, which is part of the wider MY WAY program – Make it Work for Youth!, primarily aims at preventing the exploitation of young people. The project was supported by the European Union / EIDHR – European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights.
The round table addressed the key achievements of the program, such as the creation of a portal Radna eksploatacija je stvarna dedicated to preventing labor exploitation of young people, the campaign Labour Exploitation is a real and a publication under the same name including the recommendations of the Working Group for the Prevention of Working Exploitation of Youth. These recommendations refer to the possibilities for improving the protection of employees referring to temporary work abroad, possibilities for improvement of the system of suppression of illegal work as well as the responsibility of the intermediary in employment for the truthfulness of the advertised working conditions and the implementation of supervision in the recruitment process. Other issues the recommendations touched upon were a reduction of abuse in the field of youth-co-operatives, changes in the way of performing temporary and occasional jobs as well as the changes in criminal legislation.
The round table was attended by more than 40 officials from relevant institutions and organizations dealing with labor rights, labor market analysis and working and living conditions of Serbian workers. After presenting the results of the project and the publication, the round table participants developed a lively discussion considering an inadequate legal framework that leaves employers possibilities to work legally but still at the expense of the worker. Also, participants illustrated the current situation with some concrete examples.
