Bosnia: 31 Romani children found in ‘house of horrors’, police officer among eight arrested for trafficking
04 March 2025
Shock waves swept across Bosnia last week following the revelation that eight people, including a police officer, were arrested on charges including human trafficking, after 31 Romani children under the age of 12 were found in a house. When the story first broke in the media – that Brčko District Police had initially arrested three people, the police officer, his mother and an Italian citizen – it knocked the trials, tribulations and sentencing of Republika Srpska president, Milorad Dodik off the front pages.
The ‘house of horrors’ story only came to light on the evening of 25 February 2025, after a ‘disoriented’ 12-year-old girl with two young children, approached a passer-by in the street for help, explaining that they did not want to go back to the house.
Police and social welfare officers were immediately notified, raided the house and found the children, ranging in age from a few months to twelve years, in what the reporting described as “various conditions – some were sleeping in cribs, while others were sitting on furniture.” According to preliminary information, six of the children possessed Croatian documents.
The first three arrests were, according to the police statement, on grounds of “reasonable suspicion of having committed the criminal offenses of human trafficking, child trafficking, and child neglect or abuse.” By 27 February, it was reported that eight people had been arrested on similar charges, and that Europol was involved, as part of a complex and wide-ranging urgent investigation.
As to how such activities could have gone undetected for so long, locals told the media that they assumed it was ‘an illegal kindergarten’, an easier notion to ‘swallow’, one said, than the notion that “some terrible crime was committed here in the end, and none of us even suspected it.” Unfortunately, the number of arrests, the gravity of the charges and extension of the criminal investigation beyond the borders of the federation, hint at the probability that ‘some terrible crimes’ have been committed.
In a letter to the authorities, the ERRC welcomed the speedy arrests and the apparent urgency with which this investigation is being conducted, but expressed deep concern at reports that unknown numbers of children have ‘passed through’ this house over a number of years, with a report related to this case having allegedly been filed with the competent institutions back in 2018: “The direct involvement of a local police officer, and the fact that these activities went unchecked for years, while the alleged perpetrators remained at liberty and unhindered, raises the alarming possibility of wider official collusion.”
The ERRC called for a thorough and independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding the alleged child trafficking, neglect and abuse of these Romani children, including the possible involvement of any other law enforcement officers or state officials in aiding, abetting or perpetrating the exploitation and abuse of these and other children over the past seven years.
The ERRC also urged the authorities to provide comprehensive protection and support to the victims, with particular attention to the fact that they are minors. The best interests of each child victim must be the primary consideration, and each individual case must be accorded the utmost careful review. Placement in child-care institutions must be avoided to prevent further harm, abuse or discrimination, and efforts should prioritize family tracing, safe reunification, and where appropriate, and in the best interests of the child, alternative community-based care must be provided to prevent institutionalisation of these children.
Beyond this immediate case, the ERRC called for a robust institutional response from the authorities to protect the most vulnerable in a context where Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a country of origin, destination and transit of trafficked persons. The ERRC echoed the call of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) that the authorities take measures to strengthen the criminal justice response to human trafficking. This should include steps to ensure that human trafficking offences are prosecuted as such, rather than as lesser offences, every time the circumstances of the case allow this, and lead to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.
