2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT FOR MACEDONIA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 12 SKOPJE 000067 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, G-ACBLANK, INL, DRL, PRM, EUR/PGI, EUR/SCE, INFO USAID, DOJ, DHS, DOL, DOT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PHUM KCRM KTIP KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC ELAB MK SUBJECT: 2009 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT FOR MACEDONIA REF: 09SKOPJE65 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY ¶1. SUMMARY: During the reporting period the GOM continued to show a strong commitment to combating trafficking-in-persons (TIP) and participated in cross-border operations and other international activities directed at identifying and eliminating human trafficking. High-ranking GOM officials took an active interest in combating TIP and made public statements against TIP. The National Commission (NC) for Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons and Illegal Migration worked proactively with the international community and the primary TIP NGOs in the country to improve its TIP prevention, prosecution, and victim protection. ¶2. The NGOs and international organizations that work with the NC overwhelmingly reported positive collaboration and cooperation with the GOM. The OSCE reported a dramatic improvement in the GoM's TIP combating efforts in the past two reporting periods versus the years prior. The office of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) under the Ministry of Labor ad Social Policy (MLSP) reported that the previous NC (up until 2006) often refused to even admit TIP existed in Macedonia and was determined to do away with the office. Under the current NC the NRM reported exceptional support and a proactive attitude towards acknowledging and combating TIP. ¶3. During the reporting period Macedonia saw considerable results from the streamlining of its judicial process for handling TIP crimes and its new TIP legislation. Case times decreased dramatically and sentences for TIP crimes were higher and more consistent. The GoM was proactive in its fight against TIP, seeking the expert advice of the international TIP-combating community to build its own programs. It provided extensive trainings internally and reached out to regional and international partners to bolster TIP prevention cooperation. ¶4. PolOff Matt Keener currently serves as post's TIP Officer. Post coordinates anti-TIP programs through a TIP committee comprised of the DCM, POL, PAO, OPDAT, ICITAP and USAID. Keener's contact information: Embassy phone 389-2-3116-180, ext 2111; fax 389-2-3133-601; unclassified e-mail KeenerM@state.gov. PolOff Keener is an FS-04 and spent approximately 100 hours on the preparation and writing of this TIP Report. -------------- CHECKLIST -------------- ¶23. (U) MACEDONIA'S TIP SITUATION: --A. Post's main sources of information on TIP were the NC; the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) under the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); OSCE; the Vienna-based International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD),the Red Cross, two local NGOs that provide assistance to victims of trafficking in the country's two TIP victim shelters and a handful of additional NGOs that work on TIP prevention. In January 2009 the NC published an annual National TIP report detailing TIP related activities and statistics during ¶2008. A National Reporter of TIP was recently appointed and, with the support of the OSCE and ICMPD, is working to implement a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation report that will provide a qualitative assessment of TIP activities to complement the more quantitative annual report. --B. Macedonia remained primarily a transit country for foreign victims of trafficking. However, international trafficking crimes dropped during the reporting period versus previous years. Foreign victims were primarily trafficked from neighboring countries such as Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia with destinations in the European Union. There were some victims who were trafficked into Macedonia as a destination point. Much of the trafficking that occurred during the reporting period was internal. Internal TIP victims were primarily minors, trafficked from poor rural areas of the country to wealthier urban centers, often with the complicity of family members or acquaintances. During the reporting period the Organized Crime Unit of the MOI successfully conducted two major operations to foil the activities of a large international criminal trafficking and smuggling organization that has been smuggling migrants from central and eastern Asia through Macedonia to Greece. Coordinating with the regional Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative (SECI) center, Macedonia worked in close cooperation with law enforcement partners in Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria in these investigations to make dozens of arrests and discover large groups of smuggled migrants. The charges in both operations were for migrant smuggling since the SKOPJE 00000067 002 OF 012 crimes were foiled in transit and no trafficking offenses had occurred yet. However, elements of the same organization were tied to previous forced labor trafficking crimes in Albania and victim interviews indicated that a portion of the smuggled migrants would have become TIP victims upon reaching their final destinations. The most recent operation in November resulted in 18 arrests, two additional arrest warrants and the discovery of 64 smuggled migrants. During the reporting period 130 people were assisted as presumed TIP victims in Macedonia's two TIP shelters: 118 foreign and 12 Macedonian. Macedonia's Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) consider a person a "presumed TIP victim" if there are any indications that a person may have been a victim of TIP. The GoM provides a full range of TIP victim services to presumed TIP victims. Only after an extensive interview by a competent, trafficking in human beings authority can a potential victim become a "confirmed victim of TIP." During the reporting period eighteen confirmed TIP victims were assisted in the two shelters: fourteen Macedonians and four foreign victims; fifteen of the eighteen victims were children. The Centers for Social Welfare assisted seven confirmed victims of TIP, six minors. --C. The changing modus operandi of traffickers in recent years has resulted in a change in the overall conditions for trafficking victims. While a small number of individual cases revealed trafficking victims kept in slave-like conditions, most traffickers have resorted to fear and coercion rather than physical force to maintain control over their victims. Victims were generally allowed some freedom of movement and were sometimes even paid small salaries by their traffickers. Under these conditions it proved more difficult for police to gather strong evidence against the traffickers and victims were less likely to self-identify. During the reporting period there was speculation by the OSCE about the existence of trafficking elements in the unofficial labor market, specifically in the textile and seasonal agricultural industries. However, the OSCE has been careful to point out that there was no concrete evidence to support this, maintaining only that more investigation is needed. The GoM and IOM admitted that there were serious problems with labor exploitation in these industries but were skeptical that the elements of force or coercion needed to elevate these issues to TIP were present. Nonetheless, the OSCE and MLSP have agreed to make the investigation of these suspicions their primary objective during the upcoming reporting period and have begun to organize victim identification trainings focused specifically on labor trafficking for labor inspectors, police, centers for social welfare and public prosecutors. The MLSP is also coordinating with UNICEF and the OSCE to develop a set of internal procedures and documentation to more effectively address the more visible problem of organized begging in the Roma community. --D. According to the NRM and NGOs; poor, uneducated, single women between 15 and 35 years old were at the highest risk of becoming victims of trafficking. Single mothers and ethnic minorities were also identified as at-risk. During the reporting period, the MLSP and IOM continued their Economic and Social Stabilization (ESS) TIP project that began in 2007, focused on helping people from vulnerable victim groups create micro-businesses in order to improve their financial stability and significantly reduce their risk factors. In 2007 and 2008 the project focused on Tetovo and Kriva Palanka. During 2008, the project assisted 40 women from Kumanovo and Bitola through the program. The project is on-going. --E. No standard profile for traffickers emerged during the reporting period. Victims were trafficked both by large, international trafficking and smuggling organizations and smaller, one-off traffickers. Most traffickers had previous criminal backgrounds. The traffickers used coercion tactics more often than outright kidnapping or abduction. Traffickers used devices such as false marriage proposals and enticing job offers to lure their victims. There were more reports of the involvement of friends and family members in the recruitment phase and eventual trafficking of the victims, especially in cases that involved minors. Traffickers and smugglers of foreign victims often used fake passports from third countries with fake EU visas to transit their victims. In some cases the victims were trafficked through Macedonia to countries without visa requirements using their actual documentation. SKOPJE 00000067 003 OF 012 ¶24. (U) SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS: -- A. The Government was acutely aware of the problem trafficking in persons presents domestically, regionally and globally and continued to make combating TIP a GoM priority at the highest levels. Many GoM officials publicly spoke out against trafficking, and highlighted it as an issue the government must address. GOM officials, NGO leaders, media and others stated publicly the importance of effective anti-TIP measures to Macedonia's continued progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration. -- B. The NC was the government body responsible for drafting legislation and coordinating the GoM's anti-trafficking efforts. The NC was headed by the National Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in persons. Within the NC were representatives from MOI's Department for Organized Crime, the NRM under the MLSP, the MOE, Skopje Criminal Court One (which tries all TIP cases) and the Centers for Social Welfare. The Department of Organized Crime's Sector for Anti-trafficking of Human Beings was in charge of all TIP-related law enforcement activities. The NRM under the MLSP was the lead on prevention campaigns and trainings related to victim identification, protection and assistance. The NRM also coordinated the work of 58 social workers from 27 centers for social welfare who dealt with internally trafficked victims around the country. --C. During the previous two reporting periods the government addressed numerous legislative obstacles to effectively combating TIP. At the end of the last reporting period the GoM made significant changes to the criminal code for TIP crimes against minors and removed a previously existing loophole for mediation in prostitution involving minors. The government also increased the sentencing guidelines for mediation in prostitution to reduce the tendency of judges to use that crime to mitigate the sentenced of traffickers. Both legislative changes resulted in tangible sentencing increases during the reporting period. Additionally, to address international recommendations that the government take a bigger role in domestic victim protection, the GoM passed amendments to a law on family and a law on social welfare that created a legal basis to institutionalize the domestic shelter with government funding and NGO support. While evidence of TIP related corruption was minimal, overall corruption continued to be a problem in Macedonia. Low level municipal corruption sometimes hampered criminal investigations, including investigations into the types of clubs and bars that feature prostitution, which is illegal in Macedonia, where TIP victims were often discovered. --D. The government consistently monitored its anti-trafficking efforts on all fronts. The National Coordinator for TIP gathered and compiled statistical data from the entire spectrum of TIP-related agencies and organizations and held frequent meetings with the primary TIP NGOs and international community to disseminate this information and discuss ongoing TIP activities. In January 2009, the NC published an in-depth annual report that included data on trafficked victims, information on GoM and NGO prevention and victim protection activities, and information on GoM officials' training related to TIP. The GoM also operated two databases: one on TIP victims (hosted by the NRM),and another on TIP criminals (hosted by the MOI). Working with OSCE and ICMPD, the newly appointed National Reporter on TIP is working to implement an additional, comprehensive monitoring and evaluation report that will provide a qualitative assessment of TIP activities as well. ¶25. (U) INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS: -- A. Macedonia has a law specifically prohibiting trafficking in persons. This law criminalizes TIP not only when carried out for purposes of sexual exploitation, but also for other purposes, such as forced labor, involuntary removal of human organs for transplantation, pornography, forcible marriage or fertilization, and illegal adoption. The TIP-specific articles in the Criminal Code were introduced in 2004: Article 418a ("Trafficking in persons"); Article 418b "Smuggling of migrants", Article 418c "Organizing a group for TIP" and Article 418g "Trafficking in juveniles." On January 4, 2008, the Macedonian Parliament adopted amendments to the 2004 Criminal Code which fully harmonized the relevant Macedonian legislation with the 2000 UN Palermo Convention against trans-national organized crime and its Supplementing Protocols, and provided the legislative SKOPJE 00000067 004 OF 012 basis for the ratification of the Council of Europe's Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005) and the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (2007). In addition, the GoM amended Article 191 of the criminal code, "mediation in prostitution" twice in 2008. Amendments in January 2008 eliminated a subsection pertaining to minors and increased the minimum sentence from six months to one year. In November an additional amendment increased the minimum sentence to three years. As a result, all crimes related to prostitution involving minors must now be charged as "Trafficking in Minors" under Article 418g. The new minimum sentence for mediation in prostitution involving adults is now more in-line with the four year minimum sentence under 418a. Section 191 can still be used where trafficking evidence is lacking, and mediation in prostitution also includes a subsection on prostitution "by using force or by serious threat to use force." The sentence for this subsection was increased to eight years (previously three years) in November 2008. These changes to Article 191 helped eliminate the temptation of judges and prosecutors to use section 191 simply as a means to mitigate the sentences of crimes that otherwise would have been charged under 418a. In fact, in one case during the reporting period the charge was actually elevated from 191 to 418g. In March the court reopened the case of a perpetrator who had previously been convicted to a one and a half year sentence for mediation in prostitution of a minor and retried the case under 418g. The case is currently awaiting sentencing. -- B. Penalties for traffickers engaging in sexual exploitation carry a minimum of four years imprisonment. Penalties for offenders for keeping other persons "in a slavery relationship" carry a minimum four year sentence. Penalties for the confiscation or destruction of a persons ID, passport or other documentation in connection with any of these crimes carries a minimum sentence of four years. Penalties for a person who knowingly obtains or enables others to obtain sexual services from a trafficked person range from six months to five years. Any of the aforementioned crimes committed against a minor, with the exception of document confiscation or destruction, carries a minimum sentence of either eight years or ten years. The minimum penalty for mediators/organizers of prostitution is three years. -- C. Article 418a criminalizes trafficking for purposes of forced labor. The Law on Labor Relations and the Law on Criminal Procedure cover all acts of labor exploitation. Child labor abuse, not specifically as a result of trafficking, is dealt with in Section XIII, Articles 172-176, of the Law on Labor Relations. Article 173 bans employees under the age of 18 from working in difficult or dangerous labor conditions, while Article 175 precludes them from working between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am. -- D. Penalties for rape or forcible sexual assault are prescribed in Articles 186 through 189 of Criminal Code and carry a sentence ranging from three years to a maximum of 15 years imprisonment. For rape committed against a child less than fourteen years of age the minimum sentence is eight years. --E. During the reporting period eleven cases were prosecuted under the two sections of Article 418 that deal exclusively with trafficking: three cases under 418a "Trafficking in Human Beings" and eight cases under 418g "Trafficking in Minors." The total number of individuals prosecuted in those cases was 28, resulting in 17 convictions to date: seven under 418a and ten under 418g. The average sentence for 418a convictions was 5.57 years; all sentences were at or above the legally stipulated minimum. The average sentence for 418g convictions was 5.8 years; none of the sentences were below the legally stipulated minimum of four years. However, the four year minimum sentence under Article 418g only pertains to document confiscation or destruction; otherwise the minimum sentence is eight years. Six 418g convictions were below eight years and at least four of those were for items under 418g that stipulate an eight year minimum sentence. According to the court those four sentences (two separate cases) were mitigated under Article 40 of the Criminal Code: "The court may mete out a punishment for the offender under the limit prescribed by law or apply a more lenient form of punishment when: 1) the law foresees that the offender may be punished more leniently; or 2) it concludes special mitigating circumstances, which point out that the aim of the punishment shall be achieved also through a more lenient punishment, exist." Both cases are currently in the appellate court and the trial monitoring NGO All4Fair Trails believes the current sentences will be overturned and increased. (Note- prior to this reporting period SKOPJE 00000067 005 OF 012 cases involving minors were primarily prosecuted as "mediation in prostitution" offenses which carried a minimum sentence of six months at the time. Even with the mitigated sentences in these four instances the sentencing for trafficking crimes involving minors significantly increased versus previous reporting periods.) There are three 418a and 418g cases where sentencing has not yet occurred. One case, involving one perpetrator, is still awaiting sentencing. Another case is in the early stages of investigation and the exact number of perpetrators involved has not been disclosed. In a case that involved a minor victim trafficked to France, the court pressed charges against five perpetrators in absentia and has been working with Serb authorities to locate them. In a case in Croatia that involved two Croatian perpetrators and a Macedonian victim the investigation was carried out through the Transnational Referral Mechanism (TRM) and the perpetrators are being tried in Croatia. Charges were dropped against a total of three perpetrators in 418a and 418g cases due to a lack of evidence. --F. During the reporting period the NRM, with the support of the OSCE and ICMPD, conducted three separate Standard Operating Procedure trainings to more than 100 people from the MOI, Centers for Social Work, Judiciary, MOJ and Prosecutors office. Two trainings took place in April and one in October. The trainings were organized as trainings for trainers, so the people trained could effectively disseminate the information to the rest of their organizations. In October the NRM also conducted a two day training for MOI spokespersons and newspaper editors on responsible reporting of TIP crimes in the media, with particular attention to victim sensitivity and confidentiality. The ICMPD and OSCE are currently developing a project with the GoM to better educate local level officials on the details of the SOPs, an area where some shortcomings have been identified. Embassy officers from the US Department of Justice representing ICITAP and OPDAT worked closely with the GoM to provide broad training and assistance to the Judiciary and law enforcement. Their assistance has had a direct and positive impact on Macedonia's ability to investigate and prosecute TIP. The OSCE's Rule of Law office also provided extensive support to the Judiciary and law enforcement, including two officers assigned exclusively to human trafficking and smuggling. -- G. During the reporting period the GoM made international TIP cooperation a high priority. Working with the ICMPD, the GOM began developing its trans-national referral mechanism (TRM) for TIP with other governments throughout Europe. The ICMPD has praised the GoM for its efforts in this area. Macedonia's decision to develop unique, parallel procedures for foreign victims versus domestic victims within the same document (the SOPs) and then to formally adopt the SOPs as official government procedure gave Macedonia the ability to efficiently and effectively implement trans-national referral mechanisms with other countries. ICMPD cited these two acts as a best practice and is encouraging other countries it works with to follow suit. The transnational referral mechanism was implemented by Macedonia in three cases during the reporting period. In April French authorities found a 13 year-old Roma girl from Kavadarci, Macedonia in Carcassonne, France after being trafficked through Serbia and Italy by three Serbs and a Croat. The perpetrators convinced the victim's family to agree to a false marriage proposal from one of the perpetrator's relatives and then took her to France where she was introduced to her alleged husband, who forced her to work and provide sexual services to clients of a caf/restaurant, as well as to steal. The victim was repatriated to Macedonia, where she was offered a full range of victim services and returned to her family at her request. In March police discovered a Bosnian woman trafficked by three Macedonian citizens to Macedonia for the purpose of a forced marriage. The woman was immediately sheltered, and although the woman had no documentation, or any record of her citizenship in Bosnia's national database due to data loss that occurred during the war, the MOI quickly confirmed that she was a Bosnian citizen through close cooperation with Bosnian contacts established under the TRM. The Macedonian citizens were charged under 418a and the Bosnian citizen was repatriated with the assistance of IOM. In May, Macedonian authorities, following up on a missing persons report, exercised excellent cooperation with Croatian authorities through the TRM to locate an e-Albanian Macedonian who was trafficked to Croatia on a false promise of marriage in Germany. SKOPJE 00000067 006 OF 012 Macedonian police passed all their information along from an internal investigation to Croatian authorities who pressed trafficking charges against two Croats. The victim was repatriated to Macedonia where she was sheltered, received legal support, medical insurance and new documentation. During the reporting period Macedonia also served as rotating president of the Migration, Asylum and Refugee Regional Initiative (MARRI). This Presidency runs from May 2008 to May 2009. The MARRI headquarters have been located in Skopje since 2005. The intergovernmental organization includes six member states and focuses on regional projects to control irregular and illegal migration through programs focused on regional cooperation and coordination. Current projects include a project to regionally coordinate efforts to combat TIP. During the reporting period the GoM hosted eight regional MARRI conferences and meetings. Additionally, Macedonia has taken a leadership role coordinating smuggling and TIP investigations through the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative (SECI) center which led to the dismantling of two major international smuggling/trafficking organizations during ¶2008. "Operation Dragon" was carried out in March 2008 and the perpetrators were tried in May 2008. "Operation Dora" was carried out November 3, 2008, and is still in trial. The Greek ringleader of both organizations is still at large and believed to be residing abroad but was sentenced in absentia for Dragon and will likely be sentenced for Dora in the same fashion. The charges in both operations were for migrant smuggling since the crimes were foiled in transit and no trafficking offenses had occurred yet. However, elements of the same organization were tied to previous forced labor trafficking crimes in Albania and the investigations and victim interviews during Dora and Dragon suggest many of the migrants would have arrived at the same fate upon reaching their final destination. -- H. The GoM extradites foreign criminal suspects upon receiving a request from authorities in the country of origin. However, the Macedonian constitution prohibits the extradition of Macedonian nationals who are charged with criminal offenses. In such cases, the GoM requests that the other country transfer its jurisdiction for criminal action against, for example traffickers, to the GoM for prosecution. The government can extradite other-country nationals who are charged with trafficking. The extradition procedure is delineated in the Law on Criminal Procedure, bilateral extradition treaties, and the Council of Europe's Extradition Convention. -- I. There was no evidence of involvement of high-level GoM officials in TIP, or of tolerance or condoning of TIP at any official level. As previously mentioned, low level municipal corruption occasionally hampered criminal investigations into clubs and bars featuring prostitution, which is illegal in Macedonia, where TIP elements may have been present. The MOI's Sector for Anti-trafficking identified presumed TIP victims during 17 successful bar and club raids during the reporting period. However, there were reports of several raids in which bar and club owners appeared to have been tipped off by local contacts in advance and managed to elude serious charges by clearing out commercial sex workers just prior to the raid. Please refer to REFTEL for additional information on government official involvement in trafficking and smuggling crimes. --J. No government officials were prosecuted for involvement in trafficking-related crimes during the reporting period. Please refer to REFTEL for additional information on ongoing investigations into government officials involved in trafficking and smuggling crimes. -- K. Prostitution is not legal in Macedonia. According to the Law on Misdemeanor Offenses, prostitution is punishable by two months in prison or a monetary fine. Activities of brothel owners, pimps and enforcers are criminalized. Article 191 of the Criminal Code addresses these illicit activities. The November 4, 2008 amendments of the Criminal Code raised the minimum penalties for Article 191 cases. Offenders can be sentenced from 5 years (previously one year) to ten years (previously five years) in prison for recruiting, instigating, stimulating or enticing others into prostitution. Individuals who organize activities such as recruiting or instigating, or who through the use of force, serious threat of force, or by deceit induce others to give sexual services, will receive a minimum sentence of 8 years (previously three to five years) of imprisonment. Individuals who enable another to use sexual services for profit will receive a sentence of three to five years (previously up to a year). SKOPJE 00000067 007 OF 012 -- L. Even though Macedonia does not contribute more than 100 soldiers to peacekeeping or other similar missions abroad, the GoM continued to provide pre-deployment training for soldiers that included awareness and prevention training on the dangers of TIP and its link to the demand for commercial sex. -- M. Macedonia is not considered to have a significant incidence of sex tourism involving children nor is there any indication that Macedonian nationals engage in sex tourism at a significant level. Nonetheless Macedonia was particularly aggressive its investigation and prosecution of TIP crimes against minors during the reporting period. ¶26. (U) PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS: --A. Macedonia offers formal witness protection services to victims testifying in high-risk, high profile cases. Witnesses are often housed in safe houses or hotels and receive 24-hour police protection. No TIP cases during the reporting period required this level of witness protection and in recent years only one case has required such protection. The international community and TIP NGOs all commended the effectiveness and professionalism with which the GoM provided witness protection services during that particular case. Additionally, the Reception Center for foreign victims included round-the-clock police security and the domestic shelter maintained a high level of secrecy and discretion with its location and employed an on-call private security company. There have been no TIP cases in recent years where victim protection failed. --B. The MOI, with IOM support and the help of NGO specialists, fully operated the Reception Center (formerly the Shelter Transit Center) for foreign victims of trafficking and irregular migrants. The Center provided safe housing for victims at the pre-trial, trial, and post-trial stages, until the eventual repatriation of victims to their countries of origin. In late November the MOI added positions for an additional psychologist, an additional social worker and eight new security officers to the Center. The government budget for the Reception center was approximately $105,000. During the reporting period domestic victims were housed in the domestic victims' shelter, run by the NGO OpenGate and funded by the Dutch International NGO Lastrada. In March the MLSP will take full financial and material responsibility for the Domestic Victims shelter. The new domestic shelter will include OpenGate and For Happy Childhood as NGO partners to work exclusively with the victims. The MOI will provide security. The NGO OpenGate voiced some concerns during the reporting period over the exact organizational structure of the planned shelter. However, the NC and the two partner NGOs recently agreed to an equal partnership in the shelter and to determine a specific division of responsibilities for the shelter's operation to address these concerns. The NGO OpenGate has expressed satisfaction with the terms of the agreement thus far. The MLSP currently runs a shelter for victims of domestic violence using a similar format and there have been no reported problems with that shelter. Additionally, the MOI's current NGO partner in the Reception Center, Happy Childhood, has been positive about its partnership with the GoM in the Reception Center has not expressed any concerns over plans for the new domestic shelter. Domestic victims who opted not to stay in the domestic shelter, or had previously stayed in the domestic shelter and left, could also receive social, psychiatric and reintegration services from any of the 27 centers for social welfare throughout the country. The government budget for the Centers for Social Welfare was approximately $6,200,000 in 2008 and the government budget for the Centers for Social Welfare in 2009 is approximately $8,300,000. During the reporting period, six confirmed TIP victims stayed at the GoM run Reception Center. All six of the victims were minors. Two of the victims were Macedonian victims sheltered in the Reception Center due to security concerns. The Reception Center had better round the clock protection to ensure the safety of at-risk victims. The NGO-run shelter for domestic TIP victims assisted twelve confirmed victims during the reporting period. The Centers for Social Welfare assisted seven TIP victims during 2008. --C. In the Reception Center the GoM provided social and psychological services through resident civil servants. The GoM also provided office space for the NGO Happy Childhood to provide a variety of victim services. The MLSP provided legal services to victims through a legal advocate employed in the NRM. The legal SKOPJE 00000067 008 OF 012 advocate also served as a specially appointed guardian for three domestic minor victims. The GoM has standing agreements to compensate both shelters for victim medical expenses but the shelters have reported complications receiving that compensation. The GoM claims those problems were related to accounting problems stemming from the privatization of the medical industry. To resolve this issue the government recently established a partnership with the Red Cross to provide basic medical services to victims and is working with the Ministry of Health to ensure victims of trafficking are included as a specific victim category within health care laws entitled to specialized treatment. Under the agreement with the Red Cross the government will reimburse the Red Cross directly as a services provider for the government, thus eliminating any complications involved with compensating a private clinic. Additionally, domestic victims who choose not to reside in the domestic shelter can receive psychological and social services from any of the 27 MLSP-run centers for social welfare. The centers for social welfare also provide victim reintegration services. Additionally, the centers for social welfare in conjunction with the NGO OpenGate established a program to assist TIP victims with job placement upon reintegration. --D. The Law on Foreigners, which came into force on January 1, 2008, allows persons suspected of being TIP victims to be given a two-month temporary residence permit in the country while they are deciding whether or not to testify. During that period, the GoM is to support and protect the presumed victims. The period can be extended for victims who are minors. Article 82 allows for the granting of a six-month temporary residence permit for all TIP victims who have agreed to testify. No victims requested the temporary residence permit during the reporting period. --E. After domestic victims leave the domestic shelter they can continue to receive a full range of victim support services through the Centers for Social Welfare, including social reintegration services, psychiatric services and in some cases skills training and employment services. --F. The National Referral Mechanism and the SOPs outlined detailed procedures for victim referral to either the domestic shelter or Reception Center by police, social workers, prosecutors and other potential TIP first responders. --G. 130 presumed trafficking victims were referred to the two TIP victim shelters during the reporting period. According to the SOPs, all presumed victims must be referred to care facilities and are considered presumed victims until formally evaluated by a trained trafficking-in-persons professional. Of the 130 presumed victims, 18 victims were confirmed as victims of trafficking. Even when the result of the evaluation did not result in TIP victim confirmation, the presumed victims were given a full range of contact information for TIP shelters, medical and psychological assistance, legal assistance, NGOs and other services available to them. 118 people were evaluated in the Government-run Reception Center and twelve people were evaluated in NGO-run domestic victims' shelter during the reporting period. Seven TIP victims were assisted by the centers for social welfare in 2008. --H. The TIP SOPs, formally adopted by the GoM at the beginning of 2008, establish a formal system for victim identification for use by the police, social services personnel and any other potential first responders. All the police, immigrations officers, prosecutors and social workers expected to encounter TIP victims were trained on the SOPs during 2008. The SOPs were developed to fully conform to accepted international standards on victim identification and treatment. The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires its consular officers to receive training on recognizing potential victims of trafficking. Consular officers are instructed not to routinely issue visas or work permits to women for employment in the "entertainment industry." Such requests are flagged and sent to the MOI's internal review board, which assesses the credentials of the applicant as well as the authenticity of the Macedonian establishment where the visa applicant is to work. -- I. Most presumed victims of trafficking were discovered during police raids on bars and nightclubs. Initial screening of victims was carried out by TIP-trained police officers in the unit to combat human trafficking and social workers from the local centers for social work. Where police and social workers suspected any elements SKOPJE 00000067 009 OF 012 of TIP they referred victims to one of the two shelters. The shelters provided any immediate health or social services to the presumed victims. The SOPs permitted presumed domestic TIP victims an up to 30 day reflection period during which they could stay in the shelter before taking part in the formal victim identification process. Foreign presumed victims were permitted a two month reflection period. Once presumed victims deemed themselves capable, a trained social worker, often accompanied by an NGO representative, formally interviewed the presumed victim to determine whether or not they were a victim of trafficking. The NRM served as the central authority in TIP victim identification and assistance. The office was responsible for facilitating an institutionalized and operational network for adequate identification, as well as providing assistance and protection for victims of internal TIP, particularly minors, without regard to nationality, ethnicity, age or gender. The handling and treatment of victims by law enforcement officials and representatives of other governmental institutions overall was in accordance with generally accepted procedures. NGOs that observed police procedures reported that victims were informed of their rights and briefed before testifying as witnesses/victims at trials. Isolated reports of unsatisfactory adherence to the SOPs still occurred in specific prostitution raids conducted by local police. In one of these raids in Skopje, where prostitutes were allegedly submitted to medical checks and some were later deported, the MOI maintained that at least one TIP-trained police officer was involved and the prostitutes were ruled out as presumed TIP victims prior to being subjected to a criminal investigation for prostitution. Nonetheless, the GoM acknowledged this as a potential problem and in January 2009 implemented a new requirement that all raids conducted by local police are now required to include an officer from the Sector for Anti-Trafficking to ensure the SOPs are being followed and improve the overall victim identification skills of local police forces. Using Macedonia's IPA (EU) funds allotted for police reform, the IOM and MOI are also coordinating a project to focus on front line training for local police, border police and labor inspectors to assure appropriate victim treatment and identification in full accordance with the SOPs. -- J. The GoM encouraged victims to participate in investigations and trials, and provided support to them. In cases when foreign victims of trafficking are witnesses against their traffickers, the victims do not have the right to obtain other employment in the country. In cases in which the witness has not been repatriated, victims typically stay at government-protected shelters. Victims can institute civil proceedings to claim damages and/or compensation. For the first time, rulings for compensation were made in three TIP cases during 2008. However, the MLSP and the OSCE report that compensation still has not been awarded in any of those cases. The OSCE notes that the current process for victim compensation is too complex and victims awarded compensation have thus far been unable to see the entire process through to fruition. To remedy this problem the NC is pushing for the creation of a TIP victims' fund from which victim compensation could be paid out as soon as compensation rulings are awarded by the court. This would place the responsibility for seizure of assets entirely on the GoM rather than requiring the victim to pursue compensation. --K. During the reporting period the MLSP, with the support of the OSCE and ICMPD, conducted three separate SOP trainings to more than 100 people from the MOI, Centers for Social Work, Judiciary, MOJ and Prosecutors office. Two trainings took place in April and one in October. The trainings were organized as trainings for trainers, so the people trained could effectively disseminate the information to the rest of their organizations. Additionally, social workers from the centers for social welfare received extensive training from international experts on interviewing techniques with suspected TIP victims in November 2008. This training was organized by the OSCE and MLSP. The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires its consular officers to receive training on recognizing potential victims of trafficking. Consular officers are instructed not to routinely issue visas or work permits to women for employment in the "entertainment industry." Such requests are flagged and sent to the MOI's internal review board, which assesses the credentials of the applicant as well as the authenticity of the Macedonian establishment where the visa applicant is to work. SKOPJE 00000067 010 OF 012 --L. The two repatriated Macedonian TIP victims discovered abroad during the reporting period were permitted to stay in the domestic shelter and given access to a full range of services offered by the Centers for Social Welfare. They also received new identity documentation, a government health insurance card and legal representation from the office of the NRM. -- M. Several NGOs and international organizations were active in prevention and awareness-raising projects in Macedonia. To date, those involved in working directly with victims of trafficking are: a) "For Happy Childhood" is an NGO responsible for the psychosocial support of victims of trafficking in the MOI Reception Center. In March the NGO will become one of the MLSP's two NGO partners in the new domestic victims' shelter. The GoM provided office space, phones and computers to Happy Childhood at the Reception Center and the University of Skopje (where they oragnized prevention activities) during the reporting period. b) The International Organization for Migration (IOM),which provided financial support to the Reception Center, is responsible for the repatriation program for foreign TIP victims and provided material support and funding for a number of awareness campaigns. Additionally, the IOM worked on an ESS TIP project that began in 2007 that helped vulnerable victim groups create micro-businesses in order to improve their financial stability, thus reducing their risk factors. c) "Open Gate - La Strada" is an NGO that managed the shelter for victims of internal trafficking and victims of Macedonian origin. In March the NGO will become one of the MLSP's two NGO partners in the new domestic victims' shelter. Through the domestic shelter the NGO provided a full range of support services including adult education programs and specialized skills training. During victim reintegration Open Gate worked with the centers for social welfare to help place victims in jobs where they could receive practical training in their new skill set. Open Gate also operated the national toll-free TIP victims' helpline which received more than 400 calls during 2008. d) Red Cross- In October the NC signed a memorandum of understanding with the Red Cross which will integrate the Red Cross into the victim identification process and allow the Red Cross to provide medical services to TIP victims in both shelters. All these organizations have reported that Macedonian authorities are cooperative and supportive of the NGOs and international organizations in their anti-trafficking programs and activities. ¶27. (U) PREVENTION: --A. During the reporting period the government conducted a variety of anti-trafficking education and awareness campaigns. Between November 2007 and March 2008 the MLSP conducted a national awareness campaign titled "It's Simple," a TIP awareness campaign directed at potential victims that featured ads on TV, radio and internet and print materials distributed throughout the country. Although the campaign ended in March, the internet ads ran during all of 2008 and the NRM continued to distribute the print materials at various forums during the entire reporting period. In May 2008 the NRM conducted a nationwide survey on TIP awareness. The survey included responses from 1022 citizens and asked six close-ended questions designed to specifically determine nationwide TIP awareness. Using the results of the survey, the NRM identified specific areas where public TIP awareness was lacking. From this analysis the NRM developed and conducted nine public roundtable discussions throughout the country to improve the public's understanding of TIP in Macedonia. The Ministry of Education (MOE) requires primary and secondary schools to include TIP education in their standard curriculum. The NGO For Happy Childhood provided training to the teachers who present these lessons. Additionally, in March 2008 the MOE signed an agreement with Open Gate to go into the primary and secondary schools and provide more extensive TIP education directly to the students. This campaign focused on high-risk communities and featured specialized curriculums based on the age of the students involved. The NGO worked with nine schools during the reporting period, reaching more than 2000 students. The NGO also used the trainings to identify peer-leaders among the students and then provided additional specialized trainings to them. In addition to the aforementioned NRM trainings for MOI spokespersons and newspaper editors, Open Gate conducted a separate training for Macedonian journalists on responsible TIP reporting with the support of an expert from the MOI's Sector for Anti-trafficking. The MLSP and NC provided support to the IOM in a regional awareness campaign it ran through April 2008, which featured billboards, TV and radio spots, and internet banners. Many of the TV and Radio spots continued to run after April. In the second week of December 2008 SKOPJE 00000067 011 OF 012 the NC organized a National Anti-TIP week. Throughout the week a number of high-level government officials publicly spoke about TIP in televised interviews and speeches and the NRM organized public TIP roundtable discussions. The NC organized booths in more than a dozen cities throughout Macedonia to distribute TIP awareness materials and the University of Skopje organized public presentations promoting TIP awareness during the entire week. The University of Skopje also offered similar TIP awareness presentations at a less frequent rate throughout the reporting period. --B. As a member of the regional governmental organization, the Migration, Asylum and Refugee Regional Initiative (MARRI),Macedonia has participated in a number of projects focused on improving regional cooperation and implementing tools to monitor and control regional migration more effectively. The projects include harmonizing identification documents and visas between the member states, facilitating the exchange of migration information between countries and integrated border management. All of Macedonia's border police and immigration officers have received victim identification training and specialized training to identify fraudulent documents and visas. --C. Internally, the NC was responsible for coordinating the anti-trafficking efforts between all of Macedonia's primary TIP stakeholders. The NC was headed by the National Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in persons. Within the NC were representatives from MOI's Department for Organized Crime, the NRM under the MLSP, the MOE, Skopje Criminal Court One (which tries all TIP cases) and the Centers for Social Welfare. The MOI law enforcement Sector for Anti-trafficking worked closely with the SECI center, which coordinates the international law enforcement efforts of 13 member countries and has successfully broken up a number of regional human trafficking and smuggling operations. The GoM coordinates many of its regional, policy-level TIP activities through MARRI, a governmental organization formed out of the 2003 Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, which includes six regional member states. These activities include projects specifically to combat regional TIP as well as a number of other projects designed to bolster regional cooperation and infrastructures for monitoring and controlling migration. During the reporting period the GoM, in conjunction with the ICMPD, proactively worked to develop transnational referral mechanisms with fourteen countries throughout Europe. --D. Having accomplished all the objectives of its previous National Action Plan (NAP) to combat TIP well ahead of schedule, the NC collaborated with the international community and NGOs during three full days of open debate and discussion in December 2008 to formulate a new NAP for 2009-2012 during National Anti-Trafficking week in the first week of December. The international community and NGOs have cited the new NAP as an excellent example of collaboration between all the key stakeholders combating TIP in Macedonia. The final version of the new NAP was agreed upon by all parties in the first week of February and is expected to be formally published imminently. --E. The public University of Skopje, through an ongoing partnership with the NGO "For Happy Childhood," organized presentations throughout the year, including seminars and films promoting TIP awareness. During National Anti-TIP week they stepped up these activities and organized TIP awareness presentations every day. These presentations and films included speakers and materials focused specifically on demand reduction, including presentations by lawyers and doctors on the severe consequences of procuring commercial sex services. A regional campaign funded by the IOM included materials directed at clientele for commercial sex acts but that campaign ended early in the reporting period. The same demand reduction materials were also used in a separate nationwide campaign organized by the NC during National Anti-TIP Week in December. For this campaign the NC set up TIP awareness booths in city squares across the country to promote Anti-TIP Week and distribute TIP awareness materials. --F. The government did not take any specific measures to combat international child sex tourism by Macedonian nationals during the reporting period. The international community, NGOs and GoM SKOPJE 00000067 012 OF 012 generally concur that Macedonia does not have a significant number of nationals travelling abroad for sex tourism. -------------- NOMINATION OF HEROES AND BEST PRACTICES -------------- ¶28. (U) HEROES Kiro Todorovski, National Anti-TIP Commission Secretary since 2006, has raised the bar for the National Commission to Combat TIP. He has invested huge amounts of time and energy in turning a previously ineffective government commission into a benchmark for other government commissions to follow. He has proactively encouraged all the TIP stakeholders in government, the NGO community and the international community to actively participate in the development and improvement of Macedonia's TIP combating efforts. In the National Commission he has created an environment of open debate and discussion focused on achieving positive, tangible results. His efforts have created a commission that seeks constructive criticism to improve its own operations, which is particularly impressive in a government that often fiercely shields itself from criticism and shows strong reluctance to effect significant change. During his time in the National Commission every one of the NGOs and International Organizations has reported a remarkable improvement in the GoM's cooperation, willingness and ability to combat TIP. Many have cited the National Commission's work as a model that other governments should follow to overcome their own challenges in TIP. His leadership has not only had a significant impact on the fight against TIP in the Balkans but has created a positive example for the rest of the Macedonian government as it tries to overcome a variety of challenging issues. ¶29. (U) BEST PRACTICES The international community and NGOs cited two practices in Macedonia that could serve as best practices in combating TIP in other countries. The ICMPD praised the GoM for its development of a transnational referral mechanism that can be implemented quickly and efficiently in bilateral and multilateral agreements. ICMPD attributes this to two specific best practices by the GoM. First, the GoM's decision to create unique procedures for dealing with domestic victims versus foreign victims and include them side-by-side in the same document (the SOPs) created a clear framework for implementing the same procedures at an international level. Second, the GoM's decision to adopt the SOPs at the highest level of government allowed those procedures to easily be adopted in bilateral agreements. ICMPD has reported that these two steps have made Macedonia substantially more nimble and effective in implementing its transnational referral mechanism than virtually all the other countries in ICMPD's program. The second item cited as a potential best practice by the GoM during the reporting period was the NC's decision to organize a working group midway through the projected timeline of the NAP to evaluate its progress and look for ways to revise it. As previously mentioned, the working group ultimately determined the NAP had been almost completely executed and the evaluation resulted in decision to create a completely new NAP which will keep Macedonia aggressively moving forward in its efforts to combat TIP. NAVRATIL