111 GIRLS FIND SHELTER IN BELGRADE CENTRE FOR FOR WHITE SLAVERY VICTIMS

BELGRADE, May 8 (Hina) - The shelter of the Belgrade-based counselling centre for victims of violence has provided accommodation over past two years for 111 girls, victims of trafficking in human beings, local electronic media reported on Saturday.#L# A representative of the centre, which is a nongovernmental organisation, Vesna Stanojevic, told the Beta news agency that most victims of white slavery had come from Moldova, namely 30 Moldovan girls found shelter there. They were followed by 29 Romanian girls, several Ukrainian girls, five Russian, one Albanian and 14 girls from Serbia-Montenegro. At the moment there are five girls in the shelter. Stanojevic said that of 111 girls, who found shelter there, 90 had no documents. Most of them enter Serbia from Romania. They are usually detained in Belgrade or Novi Sad in a sort of detention centres for about 20 days, and then sold by smugglers to owners of bars and clubs. Some remain in Serbia, while others are sold in Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania. "They live in horrendous conditions, they are often raped, beaten and harassed, and are forced to prostitute themselves without any income and are forced to consume drugs and alcohol," Stanojevic said. (Hina) ms