U.S. Dep't of State, 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report: Montenegro

MONTENEGRO (Tier 2) The Government of Montenegro does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore, Montenegro remained on Tier 2. These efforts included identifying more victims and opening and fully funding a temporary government-run shelter for child trafficking victims. The government strengthened its Anti-trafficking Unit (ATU) through a reorganization, which allowed it to assign specialized officers to local offices.

The government increased prevention efforts, including by increasing funding for operational costs for the Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Persons (TIP office), providing grants to NGOs to raise public awareness, and allocating funds to strengthen human rights for the Romani community, a population vulnerable to trafficking. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government investigated, prosecuted, and convicted fewer traffickers. Despite the reorganization, ATU severely lacked resources and capacity with only three officers.

Authorities prosecuted possible sex trafficking cases as crimes with significantly lower penalties than trafficking, and the government assigned lawyers with little or no experience to victims’ trials. The government’s temporary shelter for child victims was co-located with a juvenile detention center for children with behavioral issues, which could decrease the security and privacy of victims at the shelter. Licensing procedures required NGOs seeking authorization to operate a shelter or provide victim services to own the property of their operations, which prevented qualified NGOs from applying for licenses. PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, including those involving complicit officials, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.

Allocate sufficient resources and staff to the ATU to proactively investigate trafficking and assign specialized officers on trafficking in regional offices. Ensure the location of the shelter for child victims is appropriate and confidential for child victims. Allocate sufficient resources for victim protection, establish standards and guidelines for victim protection, and continue training new shelter staff to provide specialized victim assistance. Amend licensing procedures to remove the requirement for NGOs seeking to provide victim services to own the property of its operations and incorporate mechanisms to revoke or suspend licenses after investigating credible reports of misconduct.

Increase proactive identification of trafficking victims by screening for trafficking among individuals in commercial sex, migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, seasonal workers, and other at-risk populations. Provide advanced training to judges, as well as for prosecutors, and law enforcement on trafficking investigations and prosecutions, including collecting evidence on subtle forms of coercion or the use of specialized investigative techniques. Appoint a national anti-trafficking coordinator. Increase access to justice and victim-witness assistance for victims participating in criminal justice proceedings, including access to experienced attorneys and Romani interpreters.

Integrate Romani groups into decision-making processes regarding victim protection. Create and finance an accessible compensation fund and inform victims of their right to compensation during legal proceedings. Consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, including by eliminating recruitment fees charged to migrant workers and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable.

PROSECUTION

The government maintained law enforcement efforts. Article 444 of the criminal code criminalized labor trafficking and sex trafficking and prescribed penalties ranging from one to 10 years’ imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and, and with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. In 2024, police investigated eight cases (one sex trafficking case and seven labor trafficking cases), compared with nine cases in 2023. Police investigated one case of forced marriage, which may have involved trafficking in persons.

Authorities prosecuted 13 defendants (six for sex trafficking and seven for labor trafficking), compared with 16 defendants in 2023. Authorities also prosecuted five defendants for forced marriage, which may have involved trafficking in persons. Authorities continued 23 prosecutions initiated in previous years. The courts convicted one labor trafficker, compared with three in 2023, and sentenced the trafficker to three years’ imprisonment.

Courts also convicted two perpetrators for forced marriage, which may have involved trafficking in persons. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns. In 2022, the government initiated an investigation of alleged misconduct by a management employee of a former anti-trafficking shelter for “negligence at work” and “abuse and unlawful deprivation of liberty;” the investigation remained ongoing. The government maintained a multi-disciplinary operational task force to identify and investigate trafficking that met quarterly.

In 2022, the government reorganized the ATU to a sub-group within the National Police Directorate (NPD) Department for Suppression of Serious Crime, which reduced the ATU’s ability to proactively investigate trafficking. However, in December 2024, the government adopted a regulation that elevated the ATU as a section within NPD, allowing it to assign specialized officers for trafficking cases in local police offices. The ATU inspected bars, nightclubs, commercial sex venues, escort agencies, and businesses suspected of illegal employment practices; however, the ATU severely lacked resources and capacity with only three officers covering all trafficking cases. The Higher State Prosecutor’s Office (HSPO) maintained jurisdiction of trafficking cases involving organized crime, and Basic State Prosecutor’s Offices (BSPO) maintained jurisdiction of all other trafficking cases.

Case referral procedures required HSPO to initially review all trafficking-related cases to assist BSPO in qualifying the case as trafficking. BSPO relied almost exclusively on victim testimony with little corroborating evidence, and experts reported some prosecutors stopped potential trafficking investigations when they secured enough evidence to prosecute under other offenses and did not investigate for more subtle forms of coercion or seek additional evidence through specialized investigative techniques. GRETA previously reported authorities prosecuted possible sex trafficking cases as crimes that prescribed significantly lower penalties than those available under the trafficking law, such as “brokering in prostitution” (Article 210), because of a lack of sufficient evidence. Some law enforcement and social workers justified cases of potential forced child begging, forced labor, and forced criminality involving Roma as traditional cultural practices and customs rather than investigating for evidence of trafficking.

The government, with financial and technical assistance from international organizations and a foreign donor, provided training to – and maintained institutionalized training programs for – police, prosecutors, and judges on various anti-trafficking issues.

PROTECTION

The government increased victim protection efforts. The government identified 28 victims, compared with 15 victims in 2023. Traffickers exploited all 28 victims in labor trafficking, including 12 in forced begging; five were men, 11 were boys, and 12 were girls. First responders carried out the preliminary identification of possible victims and then contacted police, who recognized the individuals as potential victims.

The government reported screening foreign nationals and individuals in commercial sex for trafficking indicators; however, police and prosecutors generally did not seek to proactively identify victims, according to observers, who reported most ongoing trafficking cases were referred by NGOs rather than initiated by law enforcement. GRETA reported continued gaps in screening and identifying victims among asylum-seekers and migrants, including a lack of identification efforts during the summer tourism season to screen the influx of seasonal workers from neighboring countries. The government maintained the Team for Formal Identification of Trafficking Victims (TFITV) to assess and officially recognize potential victims and coordinate their referral to care. TFITV used SOPs for identifying and referring victims to services, which eliminated the requirement for victims to cooperate with law enforcement to receive services.

TFITV comprised a doctor, a psychologist, an NGO representative, a police officer, a social worker from the Center for Social Work, and a representative from the TIP office; TFITV met 28 times in 2024. The government, with financial and technical assistance from international organizations, provided training on victim identification and assistance to police, labor inspectors, health workers, social workers, and municipality officials. In 2024, the government finished renovating a building for the shelter of child victims, hired and trained staff, furnished the building, and allocated €136,918 ($142,470) for operational costs and €5,382 ($5,600) for victim care costs. The shelter for child victims could accommodate up to 10 victims, maintained separate facilities for girls and boys, and provided psycho-social support, legal assistance, and educational support.

However, the new shelter for child victims was co-located on the premises of a juvenile detention center for children with behavioral issues, and civil society expressed concern with the security and confidentiality of the child trafficking victims because of its location. The government continued to license an NGO-run shelter to provide accommodation and support services to adult female victims and allocated €50,000 ($52,030) for operational costs and €250 ($260) per victim per month assisted at the shelter. The NGO-run shelter had the capacity to accommodate three adult female victims. The government reported licensing procedures required NGOs seeking to open a shelter or provide victim services to own the property of its operations, which prevented qualified NGOs from applying for a license.

While 13 government institutions and NGOs signed an agreement formalizing cooperation and defining responsibilities of each institution for victim protection, the government continued to report an absence of accommodation and support for male trafficking victims. The law allowed foreign victims to acquire temporary residence permits from three months to one year, with the ability to extend; no victims applied for temporary residence permits in 2024. The law required victim-witness assistance, free legal aid, and a psychologist to participate in prosecutions; 14 victims participated in prosecutions (10 in 2023). Observers continued to report the government assigned lawyers with little or no experience to victims, including lawyers with experience in only civil proceedings and not criminal proceedings.

The government maintained support services for victims and witnesses in 15 first instance courts and two high courts that provided assistance during proceedings, including legal and logistical assistance, and measures to prevent re-traumatization. Authorities reported difficulties in hiring interpreters, particularly Romani interpreters and interpreters for rare languages, to support victims in judicial proceedings. The law allowed for restitution in criminal cases, but courts have never issued restitution or ordered seizure of assets or property from traffickers to allocate towards restitution and/or compensation. Similarly, courts have not awarded any victims compensation in civil proceedings; civil proceedings frequently last two to five years, which discouraged victims from seeking such compensation.

The law on compensation of victims, intended to provide financial assistance to victims of violent crimes, will not go into effect until Montenegro becomes a member of the EU.

PREVENTION

The government maintained prevention efforts. The government maintained a coordination body to monitor implementation of the national anti-trafficking strategy for 2019-2024. The coordination body was composed of NPD, HSPO, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, other relevant ministries, and several local NGOs, and met twice in 2024 (four times in 2023). The national coordinator led the TIP office and overall anti-trafficking efforts and chaired the trafficking in persons working group, which included government agencies, civil society organizations, and the international community.

However, the national coordinator resigned in August 2024, and the position remained vacant at the end of the reporting period. The government allocated €110,823 ($115,320) to the TIP office, compared with €108,080 ($112,470) in 2023. The TIP office published limited information on anti-trafficking efforts but maintained a cooperation agreement between law enforcement, relevant ministries, and six NGOs to strengthen anti-trafficking efforts. The government awarded NGOs a total of €48,000 ($49,950) to raise public awareness on trafficking, compared with €40,000 ($41,620) in 2023.

In addition, the government allocated €500,000 ($520,290) for strengthening human rights of the Romani community, including €31,436 ($32,710) to prevent forced marriage and forced begging. The TIP office, with financial support from a foreign donor and international organizations, continued their multi-year awareness campaign targeting the public, children, women, and students. The government continued to finance an NGO-run hotline for trafficking victims; the hotline received 1,077 calls, but most calls focused on obtaining information or reports of other forms of violence (2,282 in 2023). The government did not have procedures in place to regulate labor recruitment agencies.

The labor inspectorate, which was trained on indicators of trafficking, inspected businesses and identified workers with contract violations; however, the government did not provide information on the number of inspections conducted in 2024 (6,435 in 2023) or if any inspections resulted in the identification of potential trafficking victims or the referral of potential trafficking cases to enforcement for further investigation. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Trafficking affects all communities. This section summarizes government and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking over the past five years.

Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Montenegro, and traffickers exploit victims from Montenegro abroad. Traffickers are predominantly men and members of organized criminal groups operating in the Western Balkans. Victims of sex trafficking identified in Montenegro are primarily women and girls from Montenegro, neighboring Balkan countries, and, to a lesser extent, other countries in Eastern Europe. Traffickers exploit victims in the hospitality industry, including bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and cafes.

Traffickers exploit children, particularly Roma, Ashkali, and Balkan Egyptians, in forced begging. Romani girls from Montenegro reportedly have been sold into marriages and forced into domestic servitude in Romani communities in Montenegro and, to a lesser extent, in Albania, Germany, and Kosovo. Traffickers exploit migrant workers from Türkiye in construction, and migrant workers from neighboring countries are vulnerable to forced labor, particularly during the summer tourism season. Similarly, traffickers recruited workers from Azerbaijan with false promises and exploited victims in labor trafficking in construction with withheld salaries, forced overtime, and inadequate housing.

Traffickers previously recruited workers from Taiwan, confiscated their passports and restricted their movement, and set up a call center where they forced the victims from Taiwan to make fraudulent calls. On This Page search > < MONTENEGRO (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Human Trafficking Montenegro Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports