"ASTRA SOS Hotline started its operation in 2002. Since then, almost ten thousand calls have been received. So far it has served as the only SOS hotline intended for (potential) victims of traffi cking in persons in the Republic of Serbia; at the time of its setting up it was one of the rare services of the kind in South-East Europe. During the fi rst eight years of work a methodology has been developed, results achieved, some of the dilemmas have not yet been solved and the new ones have appeared. We would like to share our experiences with the expert public. We also nourish hope that our long-term experience in this fi eld, although we are pretty much self-taught, will be useful for those who are planning to establish a similar hotline. We believe that this Manual will also help the ones who have organized other types of SOS telephones (for fighting family violence, violence against children, etc.), because traffi cking in human beings may be a consequence of some other form of violence or may be hidden behind it. Although the Manual is intended for individuals who already have some experience in the anti-traffi cking fi eld, we nevertheless start with a brief defi nition and description of the problem for the sake of those who might be faced with this form of severe human rights violation for the first time. At the very start, principles and methodology of work that had been developed for ten preceding years in the Belgrade women’s NGOs that were engaged in anti-violence activities, particularly the SOS Hotline and Centre for Girls and the Autonomous Women’s Centre were the basis for our work, and we would like to avail ourselves of this opportunity to thank them. ASTRA SOS Hotline has been developing its activities by directly following fi eld actions and trends related to traffi cking of human beings; we have adapted the accepted principles and work methods according to circumstances in this new and totally diff erent scope. Of utmost importance are our contacts with partner organizations in the region and beyond, i.e. meetings where we have exchanged our experiences. Unfortunately, conferences on the SOS hotlines are very rare. This is the reason why we would like to present in this Manual experiences of other SOS telephones, both in Serbia and in South-Eastern Europe, as well as certain tendencies in the member states of the European Union." (Preface)