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The Western Balkan countries remain important corridors in Europe for drug, human and migrant trafficking, according to the Organized Crime Index 2025, prepared by a non-profit anti-corruption organization.
Despite their political and economic differences, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia share a number of vulnerabilities that make them a favorable environment for organized crime, according to the Organized Crime Index 2025, published on Monday.
The report, prepared by the Geneva-based non-profit organization Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, says that the six Western Balkan countries act in various ways as a source, transit, and destination for human trafficking and smuggling, particularly on the well-known migration route from Greece to Central Europe.
Albanian criminal groups and their diaspora networks continue to transport people and illicit goods across the Atlantic. “Albania remains both a source and transit country for human trafficking, with organized criminal groups maintaining extensive international networks,” the report says.
The border areas in North Macedonia and Kosovo, with limited controls, constitute another key corridor for migrants, trafficked persons and goods moving towards Serbia. “Human trafficking in Serbia remains widespread, with the country acting as an origin, transit and destination,” it further notes.
The high rate of migration of people from the six Western Balkan countries to the European Union makes it easier to organize forced labor and sexual exploitation and more difficult to combat them. Victims are found among workers in seasonal tourism, construction, hospitality, agriculture and in private homes.
In North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, vulnerable ethnic minorities, such as Roma women and children, are particularly at risk of forced begging and early or forced marriage. In Montenegro and Albania, exploitation is often linked to tourism and nightlife.
The report highlights corruption as one of the factors enabling this, noting that in Montenegro and Serbia, long-standing patronage networks have historically protected certain groups from law enforcement.
In North Macedonia, frequently changing political coalitions hinder continuity in anti-human trafficking policies.
Across the region, police, customs services, municipal authorities and judicial systems are vulnerable to the impact. Bosnia's complex administrative system makes it difficult to detect and prosecute such cases, especially in areas near the border with Croatia.
Montenegro is not a focal point for migrant flows, but its coast and ports play a crucial role in other illegal markets in the region, especially in drug and tobacco smuggling.
Most of the cocaine trafficked from South America passes through the port of Bihać in Montenegro and Durrës in Albania, from where it then ends up in Western Europe. A small portion of it remains in the region for domestic markets.
"Albanian traffickers maintain strong ties with suppliers in Colombia and Ecuador, which allows them to expand their influence in European cocaine markets," the report says, while criminal groups from Serbia and Montenegro are often linked to large-scale cocaine trade, using legal businesses in the fields of logistics, transport and hospitality to launder profits.
Cannabis production continues to be present in the mountainous areas of Albania, where law enforcement presence is limited. Cannabis cultivation also remains a problem in parts of Kosovo and North Macedonia, from where it ends up in Bosnia and Serbia as transit or consumer countries.
The report emphasizes that criminal groups are often linked to state structures and even operate under their protection, which often means a lack of investigations or prosecutions for these crimes.
The report also adds that the rate of environmental crimes from illegal logging to mineral extraction is also on the rise in the region, thanks to political connections./BIRN
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