Human Trafficking in [Macedonia Street Children in [Macedonia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Macedonia] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the first
ten years of the 21st Century
- 2000 to 2009
Macedonia is a source, transit, and
destination country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial
sexual exploitation. Macedonian women and children are trafficked internally
within the country. Victims trafficked into Macedonia are primarily from
Albania and Kosovo. Macedonian victims and victims transiting through
Macedonia are trafficked to South Central and Western Europe. Children,
primarily ethnic Roma, are trafficked for the purpose of forced begging
within the country. Victims were trafficked for the purpose of forced labor
in Macedonia’s service sectors. - U.S.
State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Revealed: kept in a dungeon ready to be sold as slaves The women, aged 18 to 24, are from
across eastern Europe, lured from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria,
with promises of good jobs as waitresses, au pairs and dancers. Instead, they have been forced into
modern-day slavery in western ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are trafficked to CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - The government’s National Commission for Prevention and
Suppression of Trafficking in Persons has established a Secretariat, which
includes police officials, NGOs, the OSCE, and the IOM. A Trafficking
of Children sub-group has been formed within the Secretariat. The government cooperates with IOM to
provide a shelter for victims of trafficking. The government has signed the
Agreement on Co-operation to Prevent and Combat Trans-border Crime in an
effort to prevent trafficking and develop an effective transnational database
mechanism. The countries of the
Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, including Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – While
the country remained primarily a transit and destination point for trafficking,
officials and others acknowledged that it was a point of origin for a small
number of trafficking victims. Women from the country were trafficked
throughout the former There were four reported cases of
trafficking involving girls during the year. There were reports that female
minors were recruited by some massage parlor owners to perform sexual
services for clients. In at least one case, authorities shut down a massage
parlor operating in this way. Trafficked women were forced to
work in prostitution, often under the guise of dancers, hostesses, or
waitresses in local clubs. Police raids and testimony by victims confirmed
that trafficking victims were subjected to threats, violence, physical and
psychological abuse, and seizure of documents to ensure compliance. Macedonian suspected of involvement in human trafficking
arrested in Kosovo www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=106451&NrIssue=618&NrSection=20 He is suspected of having proposed
a false marriage offer to a girl from Vucitrn only to
lure her in a motel located in the vicinity of Tetovo
and force her into prostitution. Life in prison for child sexual abuse www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=69245&NrIssue=357&NrSection=10 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
The Criminal Code will be also
supplemented with "Trafficking with minors". A person who solicitates, transports, buys, sells or accepts an
underage person for sexual exploitation, pornography, forced labor, etc, will
be punished with at least 8-year prison sentence. The buildings and premises used
for committing human trafficking or trafficking with minors, including
hotels, motels, bars, apartments, are also subject to confiscation. Judiciary - weak link in combating human trafficking www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=56897&NrIssue=284&NrSection=10 Judiciary is one of the weakest
links in the chain in Macedonian institutions as to the fight against illegal
migration and trafficking in human beings. Combat Against Human Trafficking, Key Issue For Macedonia The Macedonian Interior Ministry
prepared 53 charges against 111 perpetrators in the field of human trafficking,
forced prostitution and emigrants trafficking. Revealed: kept in a dungeon ready to be sold as slaves The women, aged 18 to 24, are from
across eastern Europe, lured from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria,
with promises of good jobs as waitresses, au pairs and dancers. Instead, they have been forced into modern-day
slavery in western Balkans
Urged To Curb Trafficking Countries in Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free Stop Violence Against Women – Country Page Macedonia Wins High Ratings in US Report on Fight Against
Human Trafficking www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/jun04/hed6517.shtml At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] The US Secretary of State Colin Powell
and the Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons,
John Miller, presented Monday the fourth annual report on trafficking in
human beings. Macedonia is the only
country in the Balkan region, placed in the first tier of 25 mainly Western
European countries which fully comply with the US standards on the fight
against human trafficking. Psychosocial
Support to Groups of Victims of Human Trafficking in Transit Situations [PDF] THE TRANSIT CENTER FOR FOREIGNER
VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING
- . The Transit Center for Foreign Victims of Trafficking in the Republic of
Macedonia was opened in April 2001. In the years since then, it has hosted more
than 700 foreign victims of trafficking: women only, including female minors.
The minimum stay in the T.C. is three weeks, which is the time needed for
issuing travel documents, making travel arrangements and designing proper
reintegration programs. Victims of trafficking often stay there longer,
because their presence in the country is deemed necessary for investigative
and judicial purposes, for medical reasons, or because the conditions do not
exist for a timely, safe return trip home. A doctor is present every day at
the T.C. and two nurses are there during the night for emergencies. Pregnancy
tests, gynecological examinations, TB tests and general check-ups are offered
to the women on a strictly voluntary basis. Whenever a woman is in need of
specialized care, a qualified professional follows her case. Regrettably,
some women arrive at the T.C. with significant physical trauma, including
broken legs and gunshot wounds and need surgical attention, rehabilitation
and hospitalization. These individual cases are transferred to local health
institutions. Report on Situation with Children Rights in Macedonia www.oneworldsee.org/mk/node/5516 see.oneworld.net/article/view/95768/1/3332 Macedonian NGOs say that the
children in Macedonia are unprotected from all forms of violations of their
rights: physical, psychological and sexual violence, kidnapping, forced labour and prostitution. Children are abused by their
parents, neighbours, teachers... “They can be victims of almost
anything this side of the classical trafficking in children, which is rare,
but also very possible, having in mind the current situation with the economy
in the country. Physical violence remains the greatest problem, for many
parents believe that the children are their property”, says Gordana Zmijanac from the First
Children Embassy “Medjasi”. Moldova:
Young Women From Rural Areas Vulnerable To Human Trafficking Victims are usually young girls
from poor families who graduate from middle school without few, if any,
prospects for the future. But older
women can also fall prey to traffickers. Twenty-nine-year-old Mariana is
from a village in northern Moldova and spent more than four years in
Macedonia after being sold to Serbian traffickers. She thought she was being led into Italy,
but instead, this is what she says happened. MARIANA: When we arrived in Macedonia, we
were sent to a policeman's house. The policeman bought girls and then sold
them to nightclubs. We spent one month and a half at his place. I did not
know where I was and asked him when we were going to Italy. He said,
"Italy is here." Then he sold me to a club. Prostitution Rampage Through www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2641 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] The police discovered the group
after one of the abused girls reported that she's been a victim of human
trafficking. According the preliminary reports, the girl R.A. was forced
twice into whoring with Greek citizens. In March this year, the suspects M.A.
and A.N. sold the girl to Sh.K. from Kichevo for 150 Euros. He and his unwed wife forced the
girl to serve them in their bar. The bosses sold the girl to the Ohrid resident D.B. for 100 Euros June 6, 2003. He also
forced the girl into prostitution in his bar "Persa." The same day, the accused Sh.K. bought the 14-year old girl A.M. (native of Prilep) from some man from Bitola,
paying 50 Euros. Sh.K. forced the girl to
prostitute herself. Several days afterward, D.B. bought the girl A.N., also
to force her to work as a servant and prostitute. Since she refused the
orders of her owners, she endured repeated raping between June 14 and June
17, 2003. - htcp A notorious human trafficker’s
escape from jail has highlighted flaws in the Macedonian judiciary which
could hamper the authorities’ efforts to stamp out organised
crime. Dilaver
“Leku” Bojku escaped from
the minimum-security Struga prison, where he was
serving a six-month sentence for forcing a woman into prostitution, on June
20. Struga prison director Dragan Petreski and senior
prisons official Ljupco Sapcevski
were both dismissed five days later and are now facing criminal charges over
the incident, as is a Macedonian security guard present when Bojku made his dash for freedom. But Macedonian prime minister Branko Crvenkovski has placed
the blame for Bojku’s escape firmly on the
republic’s judicial system, which is perceived to be inefficient and in need
of a radical overhaul. Ohrid Police Saves Nine Victims of
Human Trafficking www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2369 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Two days ago, the local police in Ohrid discovered a young Romanian girl (16), who was
forced into prostitution in the night club "Playboy." The girl, a victim of human trafficking,
informed the police that 8 Ukrainian girls work as sex slaves in the same
night club. 535 Registered Victims of Human Trafficking in Macedonia www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2365 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Five hundred thirty five women
have been sold and forced to prostitution in Macedonia by October 10,
2002," said the IOM representative in Skopje, Vladimir Danailov. These 535
women are citizens of Romania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Ukraine, Russia and
Yugoslavia (Kosovo). All of them were released from slavery by the Macedonian
police and taken to the Shelter of the International Organisation
for Migration (IOM) in Skopje. From here, the victims, if they want, can be
sent back to their countries of origin. Girl, 15, Sold to Work as Slave In the Brothels of London www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=754 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] A sex slave aged 15 can be bought
for as little as £1,300 it emerged, after a Romanian girl who had been
prostituted across Europe escaped her Albanian captors while working in a
British sauna. Her “owner” had
pocketed up to £500 a day as he made her work in brothels for up to 20 hours
at a time, seven days a week, and beat her if she resisted. Natasha, age 15, came to the
notice of traffickers and soon she was forced to become a “dancing girl” in a
nightclub in the south of Macedonia,
where, for six months, her duties included stripping and having sex with
clients. She escaped this club when
she was purchased, without her knowledge, by Jorgi,
an Albanian pimp, for 4,000 German marks (£1,300). He forced her to telephone saunas
and massage parlours, finding the numbers from the
back pages of the magazine What’s On In London. He drove her to and from
work, pocketing the cash that she was paid.
“I was working morning, afternoon and evening. Sometimes I would get
home at 7am and would have to start work again at 11am,” Natasha said. “I hated all the men I was working for. But
if you didn’t do what they were saying they would always get angry and hit
you and swear at you.” After Jorgi hit her she
would cover the bruising with make-up and go to work again. - htcp Macedonia on the Route of Child Sex Slavery realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2151 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Between August 2001 and November 2001,
Macedonian Police discovered 328 [trafficked] women in the raids in the night
bars in the West and Northwest of the country. 12% of them are young girls
aged 14 to 16. A Skopje shelter, run by IOM with the assistance from the
police, accepted 6 girls under age of 18 during this year. UNICEF's child protection officer
Carry Nill says that the problem of child sex
slavery in Macedonia worsened during the last two years. Macedonia is known as a country on
the route of trafficking women for prostitution [in Western Europe], and also
as destination country for this kind of organized crime. Since the last
year's security crisis in the country, Macedonia becomes a lair for children
trafficking as well. Trapped in Macedonia www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=1854 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] MSNBC reports that on buses and
cars and crossing borders on foot Natasha followed a path to sex slavery
trodden by thousands of other hapless women, passing, under the watchful eyes
of a gang of Balkans thugs, through Romania, Serbia and Kosovo before ending
up in Macedonia. In Veleshta, a key transit town in
the sex trade where women are beaten and raped into submission, Natasha was
bought by Meti, an ethnic Albanian pimp wanted by
the Macedonian police on smuggling and prostitution charges. Natasha says that she was forced
to sleep with more than thousand men during her nine months in Veleshta. Besides the Albanians and Macedonians, there
were men from France, Germany and the United States, she said, referring to
soldiers from the NATO peacekeeping mission in Macedonia and nearby
Kosovo. They were as bad as the rest,
Natasha said. They did anything they wanted to us. And besides, if Meti heard me asking them for help, he would have killed
me. MSNBC: Albanian Nationalists Profit From Sex Slavery and
Drugs in Macedonia www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=1877 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Tanja said that their bosses paid a lot
of money for them so that girls were supposed to repay the debt. However, the
repayment didn’t end in a month, but prolonged for a year. Another Ukrainian
woman Oxana says that she tried to run away couple
of times, but she was violently prevented from doing so. After one
unsuccessful attempt, her owners beat her up for a week. Her face was made
blue and she had several broken ribs. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin,
"Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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Human Trafficking in [Macedonia Street Children in [Macedonia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Macedonia] [other countries]