HOWEVER, I NEED SOMETHING ‘BIGGER’
Forced begging as a form of human trafficking
The campaign However, I Need Something ‘Bigger’ (Ipak mi treba nesto krupnije) was developed with the support of the regional project SMART Balkan – Civil Society for a Connected Western Balkans, implemented by the Center for Civil Society Promotion (CPCD), the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), and the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.
The organization ASTRA – Action Against Human Trafficking has launched a campaign focusing on forced begging as a form of human trafficking. The campaign runs from November 2024 to February 2025.
The main objectives of the campaign are to raise public awareness about forced begging—what it entails, how it can be recognized, the factors leading to it, the consequences it brings, and to distinguish between forced and voluntary begging.
A significant emphasis is also placed on the legal and regulatory treatment of this issue.
Additionally, the campaign contributes to the social and institutional understanding of begging as a prevalent societal phenomenon, with a particular focus on recognizing and combating forced begging while highlighting the need for adequate systemic responses and support for individuals who beg.
#SMARTBalkansProject #SMARTBalkans #SupportedByNorway #NationalInterventionsGrant #CRPMmk #CPCDba #IDM
STATISTICAL DATA AND CURRENT LEGISLATIVE PRACTICE
In its 23 years of operation, ASTRA has received 65,623 calls. During this period, ASTRA has identified a total of 648 victims of various forms of human trafficking, 78.7% of whom were women and girls.
1 out of 20 vulnerable social groups households state that they regularly or occasionally generate income through begging.
In the period from 2020 to 2024, a total of 38 victims of forced begging were identified.
The Law on Public Order and Peace (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 6/2016 and 24/2018) recognizes* the occurrence of begging only in the context of disturbing the tranquility of citizens or disrupting public peace and order. Those who beg are considered offenders and are penalized with a fine or deprivation of liberty. In this way, homelessness, poverty, and individuals with no other means of earning an income are indirectly punished.
Additionally, people experiencing poverty receive an unwelcoming message, reinforcing their social exclusion. What is particularly dangerous is that human traffickers exploit this situation, forcing victims into begging and trapping them in a continuous cycle of exploitation.
The Public Order and Peace Act also does not distinguish between child begging and adult begging, nor can any of its provisions be used to infer what constitutes begging.
*Jovanović, V. (2024). Zašto prosjačenje (ne)treba da bude prekršaj: Prilog za javno zagovaranje izmene odredbe o prosjačenju u Zakonu o javnom redu i miru.
BASIC CAMPAIGN ELEMENTS
The campaign video aims to draw attention to the ubiquity of forced begging in an informative and effective way, to apostrophize the problem and act as a call to action.
The campaign’s main message –“However, I need something bigger” is the backbone of the video, while the further narrative highlights how to help those who are forced to beg and how to stop human traffickers.
CAMPAIGN ON SOCIAL NETWORKS
Through a series of posts on social networks, we wanted to show what the concept of forced begging entails exactly, how to distinguish it from voluntary begging, how begging affects the begging person’s health, who is at greater risk of becoming a victim of forced begging, and what are the shortcomings of the legislation when it comes to victims of forced begging.
Educational leaflet
If you want to be further informed and read the summarized results of the research together with an explanation of the key aspects of forced begging, you can do so via the leaflet.
Please, use the link to download the leaflet.
CONCLUSION
As every action can contribute to the change, we all can help recognize and suppress forced begging. If you suspect someone from your environment is being forced to beg, call the ASTRA SOS telephone number at + 381 11 785 0000.
The content and materials from the campaign ‘However, I need something bigger’ are the sole responsibility of the organization ASTRA – Action against human trafficking and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society, the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), the Institute for Democracy and Mediation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kingdom of Norway.