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Networking

In order to provide its clients with better assistance, improve the mechanisms of support and protection of victims, and be involved and acquainted with the trends in the field of combating human trafficking in our country and the world, ASTRA networks and cooperates with numerous organizations from Serbia, the region, and abroad. In addition, ASTRA has given an exceptional contribution to local capacity building and decentralization of assistance and support to victims of trafficking by establishing a network of collaborating organizations – Anti-Trafficking Network (AT Network), former ASTRA Network, consisting of eight independent organizations from Serbia that also work on the prevention of human trafficking in the cities from which they originated.

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AT NETWORK

Anti-Trafficking (AT) Network is a network of civil society organizations, which fights human trafficking in cooperation with relevant actors, and designs and implements activities aimed at preventing, reducing and solving the problem of human trafficking at the national level and in local communities in the Republic of Serbia.
The former ASTRA network, and currently the Anti-Trafficking Network, established in 2002, is still active. Currently it has 8 members: ASTRA, Anti-Trafficking Action – Belgrade, SOS for Women and Children Victims of Violence – Vlasotince, Independent Women’s Centre – Dimitrovgrad, Human Rights Committee – Vranje, Centre for Girls – Niš, PAOR – Zrenjanin, Centre for girls – Užice, Women’s Forum – Prijepolje.
STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS OF AT NETWORK ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD 2021-2024:
  • Improving the information of persons at risk in order to prevent human trafficking;
  • Cross-sectoral strengthening of the AT Network’s links with relevant actors at local, national and regional level;
  • Raising the internal capacities of the AT Network for adequate prevention and response in cases of human trafficking;
  • Increasing the visibility of the AT Network as a resource at the local and national level.
ASTRA pays great attention to strengthening the capacity of these groups’ members in the anti-trafficking field and strengthening cooperation with groups in smaller towns in Serbia. The AT Network meets periodically, several times a year, when experiences are exchanged and agreements on further cooperation are made. The meetings are a kind of training aimed at strengthening the capacity of all member organizations through the evaluation of previous joint work, acquiring new knowledge in the field of concrete assistance to victims, cooperation with institutions related to media visibility. All representatives of the member organizations of the Network can get more familiar with the work of various organizations, institutions and individuals who face the problem of human trafficking, with ways to strengthen cooperation and practical opportunities to better address the impact on their local communities.
Some NGOs from this Network managed, with the support of ASTRA, to start and develop their own programs of education and prevention of human trafficking.

prEUgovor

prEUgovor is a network of six civil society organizations from Serbia, formed in May 2013, with a mission to monitor the implementation of policies in the field of rule of law (Chapter 23) and justice, freedom and security (24) and propose measures to improve the situation, using the EU integration process to make substantial progress in further democratization of Serbia.

The PrEUgovor network was founded on the initiative of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCBP) and consists of five other civil society organizations: Centre for Applied European Studies (CPES), Group 484ASTRA, Transparency Serbia (TS) and the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS).

The aim of the network is to use the next phase in the European integration process to make substantial improvements in the areas of human rights, justice, rule of law, security policy and the fight against organized crime.

You can read more about the activities of the prEUgovor coalition at the official website of the coalition www.preugovor.org

“WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE” NETWORK

The Women Against Violence Network is a coalition of specialist women’s NGOs that provide individual support to women and change the social context to reduce violence against women in Serbia.
The Women Against Violence Network was established in 2005, as part of the continuity of women’s networking in Serbia on reducing violence against women, with the primary goal of empowering and connecting specialist women’s organizations that provide services to women survivors of violence (SOS lines, counselling centres, shelters, safe houses, crisis centres, and else).
The Women Against Violence Network is an open space for all organizations and individuals who, directly or indirectly, work to reduce violence against women, through research, advocacy for women’s rights to life without violence, education, lobbying for violence protection laws, and which accept and implement the basic principles of the Network.

ASTRA je početkom 2013. zajedno sa šest partnerskih i 13 saradničkih NVO iz cele Evrope, započela realizaciju projekta „Balkans ACT (Against Crime of Trafficking) Now“. Projekat je podržan od Evropske unije u okviru programa EuropeAid, i nedavno je okončana treća faza razvoja BAN projekta. Jedno od osnovnih usmerenja ovog projekta bilo je izgradnja kapaciteta NVO u regionu, što je za posledicu imalo i formiranje BAN platforme ili mreže čiji je cilj da doprinese demokratizaciji i procesu evropskih integracija Zapadnog Balkana kroz unapređenje okruženja za građanski aktivizam, kao i da doprinese unapređenju kapaciteta, posvećenosti i uticaja mreža civilnog društva u oblasti ljudskih prava i vladavine prava u kontekstu problema organizovanog kriminala, tj. trgovine ljudima. Osim toga, platforma treba da doprinese unapređenju kapaciteta organizacija civilnog društva za javno zastupanje i sprovođenje nezavisne i objektivne analize i praćenja, kao i jačanju njihove legitimnosti, odgovornosti, vidljivosti i političkog uticaja u Srbiji, Bosni i Hercegovini, Severnoj Makedoniji, Crnoj Gori i Albaniji na polju borbe protiv trgovine ljudima, a u skladu sa standardima, normama i vrednostima EU.

BAN Project

Partners

La Strada International (LSI)

La Strada International is a European platform of anti-trafficking NGOs, whose work is based on the protection of human rights, providing support and assistance to victims of human trafficking.

The platform aims to prevent human trafficking and to protect and realise trafficked persons’ rights. This is done by providing access to adequate assistance and support to victims, and via information and knowledge exchange, capacity building of NGOs and other stakeholders and cross-sectoral cooperation. The further focus of the platform is on monitoring and advocating changes for achieving accountability for the effective implementation of European anti-trafficking policies and regulations.

La Strada International operates throughout Europe. Currently, the platform consists of 26 member organizations and 2 associate members from 23 European countries.

All members of the network are NGOs, which operate independently at the local level, but also at the European and national level. General activities undertaken by the platform members include direct and indirect support and empowerment programs for victims of trafficking and at-risk groups, including (psycho) social, medical, legal and professional support; providing accommodation / shelter, working on long-term reintegration and employment support; providing consultations and further referrals via national SOS lines; holding preventive lectures and trainings for groups of various professions; and raising awareness about the problem of human trafficking, that is, lobbying, organizing advocacy and media campaigns.

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)

ASTRA is a member of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), which consists of over 80 NGOs from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and North America. The headquarters of the network is in Bangkok (Thailand), where the secretariat, which coordinates the activities of the Alliance, is based. The members of the GAATW network are anti-trafficking organizations, organizations dealing with migrants’ rights, associations of survivors of trafficking, associations of domestic workers, sex workers, and human rights and women’s rights organizations, or those participating in providing assistance to vulnerable groups. GAATW promotes and protects the rights of all migrants and their families, trying to prevent their abuse in the global labour market. In doing so, the Alliance seeks to ensure the implementation of standards relating to migrant workers in formal and informal sectors – food and clothing production, agriculture and farming, domestic work, sex work and other areas where slavery-like conditions and practices have not been eradicated.

Missing Children Europe (MCE)

In 2012, ASTRA introduced the unique European hotline 116 000 for missing children in Serbia. The goal of this SOS line is to, upon receipt of a report of disappearance, provide immediate action to help find the child, which includes assisting the police in conducting searches, as well as supporting the family whose child is missing. This line, introduced in cooperation with the organization Missing Children Europe (MCE), brings together 31 member organizations of the MCE Federation from 26 European countries. All these organizations are active in resolving and preventing the disappearance of children. Very soon after the introduction of the 116 000 hotline, ASTRA became a member of this network. This membership allows us to easily and quickly alert partners across Europe on international disappearances via the network.

Global Missing Children Network (GMCN)

In July 2014, ASTRA became a member of the Global Missing Children’s Network (GMCN), a multilingual database containing photos and information on missing children around the world. This global database, created in 1998, today gathers many members and contains a large number of data and photographs. The GMCN consists of websites where data are entered into the central multilingual database of each organization or member state. ASTRA, as a member organization, can exchange photos and information about missing children from our country, as well as exchange experiences, opinions, projects, initiatives, and else with other members.

Europian Implementation Network (EIN)

ASTRA is one of the partner organizations of Europian Implementation Network (EIN), which, in cooperation with members and partners – lawyers, civil society organizations and communities – from across the Council of Europe region, advocates the full and timely implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Headquartered in Strasbourg, EIN is a base for European civil society organizations, and it facilitates engagement in the Council of Europe organizations. Among other activities, EIN organizes regular briefings of civil society organizations with the Committee of Ministers, which oversees the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

ECOSOC

At the end of July 2019, ASTRA officially received a special consultative status in the Ekonomskom i socijalnom savetu UN-a (ECOSOC). This status allows members to actively cooperate with ECOSOC and its bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat – and it gives certain privileges but also obligations for member organizations. The ECOSOC Council is the core of the United Nations system, dedicated to advancement of the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. It is a central platform for fostering dialogue and an innovative approach to problem-solving, as well as consensus on the ways to progress and coordinate efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.

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