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INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE 0599

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 SKOPJE 000069 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, G- LAURA PENA, 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 MCA AJ
TI, MW, BK, KS, MK 
 
SUBJECT: 2010 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT FOR MACEDONIA 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  001.2 OF 011 
 
 
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 international activities directed at identifying and 
eliminating human trafficking.  High-ranking GoM officials took an 
active interest in combating TIP and made public speeches 
domestically and internationally 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.  The 
government continued to strengthen its TIP specific bi-lateral and 
multi-lateral relationships to ensure expedient victim 
identification and referral across borders, and maximize the 
effectiveness of international trafficking and smuggling law 
enforcement efforts.  The NGOs and international organizations that 
work with the NC reported positive collaboration and cooperation 
with the GoM. 
 
¶2. PolOffs Matt Keener and Amanda Timko currently serve as post's 
TIP Officers. 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 389-2-310-2265, fax 
389-2-310-2499; unclassified e-mail KeenerM@state.gov. Timko's 
contact information:  Embassy phone 389-2-310-2413, fax 
389-2-310-2499; unclassified e-mail TimkoAM@state.gov. Both PolOffs 
are FS-04s and spent approximately 100 combined hours on the 
preparation and drafting of this TIP Report. (End Summary) 
 
------------------- 
REPORTING QUESTIONS 
------------------- 
 
 
¶25. (U) MACEDONIA'S TIP SITUATION: 
 
-- A. Post's main sources of information on TIP were The National 
Commission; the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) under the Ministry 
of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP); the International Organization 
for Migration (IOM); the OSCE; the Vienna-based International Centre 
for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), 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 December 2009 the newly appointed National 
Reporter on Trafficking and Smuggling completed the first annual 
National Reporter's report detailing TIP combating activities.  The 
report's qualitative assessment of TIP complements the NC's more 
quantitative annual report.  Interested in delivering the most 
accurate, critical assessment of TIP possible, the National Reporter 
organized a formal presentation of the findings of the report's 
first draft to the National Commission, International Community and 
TIP-focused NGOs and requested their feedback and recommendations 
prior to publishing the final report.  The final report included the 
resulting feedback and suggestions conveyed by the international and 
NGO community, along with recommendations for improving the report 
going forward. 
 
-- B. Macedonia continued to be a transit country for smuggled 
migrants. International trafficking crimes continued to drop during 
the reporting period.  One foreign victim from Kosovo was discovered 
during the reporting period.  There are some indications that 
Macedonia may be a source country for victims of labor trafficking. 
One particular case, in which approximately 370 migrant workers 
(primarily Bosnian) allegedly became victims of trafficking while 
working for a Serbian company in Azerbaijan, reportedly included a 
number of Macedonian workers as well.  Upon learning of the case, 
Macedonian TIP authorities contacted Bosnian authorities and the IOM 
for more information.  Through the course of the investigation 
Macedonian authorities identified a handful of Macedonians who had 
worked for the company in Azerbaijan and proactively reached out to 
the workers to offer them assistance and interview them in 
accordance to the SOPs.  All of the retuned workers refused 
assistance and most insisted they were not victims.  In fact, most 
of them also indicated a strong desire to return to Azerbaijan and 
work for the company again.  Macedonian authorities uncovered some 
indicators of TIP in the course of their interviews but have been 
unable to substantiate any concrete evidence of TIP so far.  The MOI 
has planned to conduct additional interviews with other workers and 
will pass its report on to the Prosecutors Office upon completion. 
The IOM lauded the Macedonian authorities' professionalism and 
diligence in proactively following up on the case.  There were no 
other reports of Macedonian citizens being trafficked abroad during 
the reporting period.  The majority of the trafficking that occurred 
during the reporting period was internal.  Internal TIP victims were 
primarily minors, generally trafficked for the purpose of sexual 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  002.2 OF 011 
 
 
exploitation, often with the complicity of family members or 
acquaintances. 
 
During the reporting period 157 people were interviewed by 
Macedonian TIP authorities and offered assistance as presumed 
victims of trafficking.  Most of those were foreigners who were 
either smuggled into the country in transit to western European 
destinations or discovered working as prostitutes during police 
raids of bars and nightclubs.  Of those, six Macedonian minors were 
identified as confirmed victims of trafficking. One foreign victim 
was identified as a confirmed victim of trafficking.  Macedonia's 
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) consider a person a "presumed 
victim of trafficking" if there are any indications that a person 
may have been subject to any of the elements of force, fraud or 
coercion.  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 be categorized as a "confirmed victim of TIP." 
 
-- C. Since Macedonia's TIP victims were almost exclusively 
Macedonian minors trafficked by family members and acquaintances, 
they were primarily trafficked through the use of fear and coercion. 
 Victims were generally allowed some freedom of movement and were 
sometimes even paid small salaries by their traffickers. 
 
-- D. According to the NC and NGOs, poor, uneducated, single women 
between 15 and 25 years old were at the highest risk of becoming 
victims of trafficking.  Ethnic minorities, particularly Roma, were 
also identified as most vulnerable. 
 
-- E. According to the MOI, Traffickers were typically 20 to 50 year 
old, Macedonian males.  The traffickers were not typically part of 
organized criminal groups, rather first time, one-off trafficking 
offenders.  False marriages have been identified as a common tactic 
in recent years to lure to the victims. 
 
 
¶26. (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 continue to 
vigorously address. 
 
-- 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 Ministry of Labor and Social 
Policy (MLSP), the National Referral Mechanism under the MLSP, the 
Ministry of Education, Public Prosecutors office, Skopje Criminal 
Court One (which tries all TIP cases) and the Centers for Social 
Welfare.  The MOI's Department of Organized Crime's Sector for 
Anti-trafficking of Human Beings was in charge of all TIP-related 
law enforcement activities.  The Public Prosecutors' Organized Crime 
and Corruption Unit handled all TIP prosecutions.  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 30 centers for social welfare that dealt 
with internally trafficked victims around the country. 
 
-- C. There were no significant limitations on the Government's 
ability to address TIP.  Some communication problems between the MOI 
and the Public Prosecutors office and vacancies in six of the 13 
Organized Crime and Corruption public prosecutor positions slowed 
the handling of TIP cases during the reporting period.  Aware of the 
communication problem, the NC is encouraging more direct 
participation of this office in NC activities. The six vacancies are 
a temporary problem.  The Public Prosecutors office has funding for 
the six vacant positions and expects to fill at least four by 
mid-2010, if not all, but has had trouble finding qualified 
candidates.  Police funding has been adequate and the government 
currently has sufficient resources to aid victims.  During the 
reporting period the government completed the process of taking over 
full financial responsibility for the office of the NRM. (Note: The 
NRM was previously working within the Ministry of Labor and Social 
Policy but its employees and activities were mostly funded by the 
OSCE.) The government also set aside 20,000 EURO in the budget 
dedicated to establishing a government run domestic shelter in an 
existing government owned building.  During the reporting period the 
MLSP opened an additional three centers for social welfare, which 
also provide victim assistance. 
 
-- D.  The government consistently monitored its anti-trafficking 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  003.2 OF 011 
 
 
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 2010 the 
newly appointed National Reporter on Trafficking and Smuggling 
published the first annual National Reporter's report detailing TIP 
which provided a comprehensive assessment of TIP activities during 
the year.  The National Reporter formally presented the first draft 
of this report to the NC, international community and primary TIP 
NGOs in December 2009 for evaluation and integrated the feedback and 
criticism from that evaluation into the final draft of the report as 
areas of focus and improvement for 2010.  The GoM also operated two 
databases: one of TIP victims (hosted by the NRM), and another of 
TIP criminals (hosted by the MOI). 
 
-- E. Macedonia maintains a standard, modern system for identity 
establishment.  Births are registered and filed by municipal 
governments and transmitted to the Ministry of Interior for 
consolidation into a national citizenship database.  The government 
also takes regular censuses.  The next census is scheduled for 
¶2011. 
 
-- F.  The MOI maintains case management and criminal databases, 
including the aforementioned database exclusively for tracking TIP 
criminals. The courts also maintain a separate case tracking 
database and, with the assistance of USAID, have been working to 
modernize their case management system and improve transparency. 
The government has no significant gaps in tracking law enforcement 
efforts. 
 
 
¶27. (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.  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 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).  The 
exact text of Article 418 is included below: 
 
TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS 
Article 418-A 
 
(1) A person who by force, serious threat misleads or uses other 
forms of coercion, kidnapping, deceit and abuse of his/her own 
position or a position of pregnancy, weakness, physical or mental 
incapability of another person, or by giving or receiving money or 
other benefits in order to obtain agreement of a person that has 
control over other person or in another manner, recruits, 
transports, transfers, buys, sells, harbors or accepts persons 
because of exploitation through prostitution or other forms of 
sexual exploitation, pornography, forced labor or servitude, 
slavery, forced marriages, forced fertilization, unlawful adoption, 
or similar relationship or illicit transplantation of human body 
parts, shall be punished with imprisonment of at least four years". 
 
(2) A person who destroys or takes a way an ID, passport or other 
documents for identification with aim to commit the crimes set out 
in paragraph 1 of this article shall be punished with at least 4 
years of imprisonment. 
(3) A person who uses or enables another person to use sexual 
services or other type of exploitation from persons for whom knew or 
should have known or were victims of human trafficking shall be 
punished with imprisonment between 6 months and 5 years. 
(4) If the act from paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of this article is 
committed by an official person in the course of duty, this person 
is punished with a minimum sentence of eight years in prison. 
(5) The consent of the victim of trafficking with the intention for 
exploitation prescribed in paragraph 1 is of no relevance for the 
existence of the crime of paragraph 1. 
(6) If the crime of this article is committed by a legal entity, it 
shall be fined. 
(7) The real estate utilized and the items used and the means of 
transport used for committing the crime shall be confiscated. 
 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  004.2 OF 011 
 
 
SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS 
Article 418-B 
 
(1) One who, using force or serious threat that will attack the life 
or body, with kidnapping, fraud, out of greed, with misuse of 
his/her official position or using of the powerlessness of other 
illegally transfers migrants through the state border, as well as 
one that produces, purchases or owns fake passport with such 
intention, shall be sentenced with imprisonment of at least four 
years. 
(2) One that engages, transports, transfers, buys, sells, hides or 
accepts migrants shall be sentenced with imprisonment of one to five 
years. 
(3) If during the commitment of the crimes stipulated in the 
paragraphs 1 and 2 the life or the health of a migrant is 
endangered, or the migrant is treated especially humiliating or 
cruelly, or he/she is prevented to use the rights he/she has 
according to the international law, the stipulator shall be 
sentenced with imprisonment of at least eight years. 
(4) If the crime stipulated in the paragraphs 1 and 2 is committed 
with a minor, shall be sentenced with imprisonment of at least eight 
years. 
(5) If the act from paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4) of this article 
is committed by an official person in the course of duty, this 
person is punished with a minimum sentence of ten years in prison. 
(6) The means and vehicles used for committing the crime shall be 
confiscated. 
 
ORGANIZATION OF A GROUP AND URGING FOR COMMITTING THE CRIMES HUMAN 
TRAFFICKING, TRAFFICKING IN A MINOR AND SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS 
Article 418-C 
 
(1) One who will organize a group, gang or other association with 
intention to commit crimes stipulated in the articles 418-a, 418-b 
and 418-d, shall be sentenced with imprisonment of at least eight 
years. 
(2) One who will become a member of a group, gang or other 
association stipulated in paragraph 1 or in other way helps the 
group, gang or association, shall be sentenced with imprisonment of 
at least one year. 
(3) The member of the group stipulated in the paragraph 1 who will 
disclose the group before he/she commits a crime as its member or on 
its behalf, shall be pardoned. 
(4) One that calls, urges or supports commitment of the crimes 
stipulated in the articles 418-a, 418-b and 418-d, shall be 
sentenced with imprisonment of one to ten years. 
 
TRAFFICKING OF A MINOR 
Article 418-D 
 
(1) The person who recruits, transports, transfers, buys, sells, 
harbors or accepts minor because of exploitation through 
prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, pornography, 
forced labor or servitude, slavery, forced marriages, forced 
fertilization, unlawful adoption or similar relationship or illicit 
transplantation of human body parts, shall be punished with 
imprisonment of at least eight years 
(2) The person who shall commit the crime from paragraph 1 by force, 
serious threat, by misleading or through other forms of coercion, 
kidnapping, deceit and abuse of his/her own position or a position 
of pregnancy, weakness, physical or mental incapability of another 
person, or by giving or receiving money or other benefits in order 
to obtain agreement of a person that has control over other person, 
shall be punished with at least 10 years imprisonment. 
(3) A person who shall use or enable another person to use sexual 
services or other type of exploitation of a minor for whom the 
person knew or should have known that are victims of human 
trafficking shall be punished with at least 8 years imprisonment. 
(4) A person who destroys or takes away an ID, passport or other's 
person documents for identification with aim to commit the crimes 
set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this article shall be punished with 
at least 4 years of imprisonment. 
(5) If the act from paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4) of this article 
is committed by an official person in the course of duty, this 
person is punished with a minimum sentence of ten years in prison. 
(6) The consent of the minor with the activities foreseen in 
paragraph 1 is of no relevance for the existence of the crime of 
paragraph 1. 
(7) If the crime of this article is committed by a legal entity, it 
shall be punished with a fine. 
(8) Estates utilized and the objects and the vehicles used for the 
committing of the crimes shall be confiscated. 
 
In September 2009 the government adopted amendments (above) to all 
four of the TIP related sections of the criminal code that mandate 
an eight year minimum sentence for any of these crimes committed by 
a public official while in the course of official duty, ten years if 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  005.2 OF 011 
 
 
the victim is a minor. 
 
The criminal code also includes a law against "mediation in 
prostitution," Article 191.  Article 191 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 in 
November 2008. This law cannot be used in prostitution cases 
involving minors.  All crimes related to prostitution involving 
minors must be charged as "Trafficking in Minors" under Article 
418D. 
 
-- B.  Penalties for traffickers engaging in sexual exploitation 
carry a minimum of four years imprisonment. Any of the crimes 
involving the sexual exploitation of a minor carry a minimum 
sentence of eight years, ten years if the trafficker abuses a 
position of authority or a physical or mental weakness of the victim 
in order to commit the crime.  The minimum penalty for 
mediators/organizers of prostitution is three years. 
 
(See 27. -- A. for full details on the prescribed penalties for 
trafficking for sexual exploitation) 
 
-- C.  Article 418a also criminalizes trafficking for purposes of 
forced labor and carries a minimum sentence of four years. (See 27. 
-- A. for full details on the prescribed penalties for trafficking 
for labor exploitation) 
 
The Law on Labor Relations and the Law on Criminal Procedure cover 
all acts of non-trafficking related 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. The MOI arrested 18 suspects in connection with seven alleged 
trafficking cases during the reporting period.  Investigation is 
ongoing in five of those cases and two of those cases are currently 
being prosecuted in the courts.  No trafficking cases opened during 
the reporting period have reached the conviction stage as of this 
report. 
 
-- F. During the reporting period the government and IOM conducted 
an extensive training program focused on improving adherence to the 
standard operating procedures and victim identification skills 
across all of Macedonia's TIP responders.  The first phase of the 
program, completed in December, included eight, two-day trainings 
reaching 280 local law enforcement officials and border police to 
improve understanding and implementation of the Standard Operating 
Procedure by front-line law enforcement officials.  The trainings 
included a special focus on identifying the new, more discreet 
victim profile and adapting police methods to the changing modus 
operandi of traffickers that have emerged due to Macedonia's 
crackdown on human trafficking over the past three years.  Those 
trainings are now being followed up with six specialized trainings 
reaching 150 officials from the Prosecutor's office, MOI and NRM. 
The third phase of these trainings will be a series of integrated 
trainings to improve coordination between the MOI, labor inspectors, 
NGOs, prosecutors and social workers.  Those trainings are set to 
begin in spring 2010 and will reach 120 employees from the various 
institutions. The trainings were funded with Macedonia's EU 
Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funds. 
Separately, the MLSP and State Labor Inspectorate, in conjunction 
with the OSCE, conducted a series of four three-day workshops 
focused on training more than 120 labor inspectors.  The trainings 
are designed to help the inspectors identify the less obvious 
indicators of labor trafficking and educate them on appropriate 
procedures for investigating and reporting those crimes through the 
National Referral Mechanism. 
Embassy officers from the US Department of Justice representing 
ICITAP and OPDAT work closely with the GoM to provide broad training 
and assistance to the Judiciary and law enforcement. ICITAP and 
OPDAT make an effort to work TIP enforcement into all oQ;Q&oDmXyc@J! in cooperation with Serbian officials 
through the SECI center 
 
Through the Migration, Asylum and Refugee Regional Initiative 
(MARRI), a governmental organization formed out of the 2003 
Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, which includes six regional 
member states, Macedonia has continued the implementation of various 
TIP related and border security projects in coordination with the 
other countries belonging to the initiative. 
 
-- 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. 
 
No cases requiring criminal extradition occurred during the 
reporting period. 
 
-- I. There was no evidence of involvement of high-level GoM 
officials in TIP, or of the tolerance of TIP at any level. 
 
-- J. No government officials were involved in human trafficking 
cases during the reporting period.  However, due to the rise in 
human smuggling cases transiting through Macedonia over the last 
couple of years, law enforcement officials have increased their 
efforts to root out any corruption that makes Macedonia more 
vulnerable to organized international human smuggling and 
trafficking networks.  On July 1, 13 people in Macedonia, including 
one senior MOI police officer, were arrested and charged with human 
smuggling for the smuggling of Asian migrants from Serbia, through 
Macedonia, to Greece. Operation "Kanis" (as the case has been 
dubbed) was coordinated in cooperation with Serbian officials 
through the SECI center. Separately, beginning on August 25, the 
Organized Crime Unit began arresting border police and customs 
officers in operation "Boomerang" for allegedly taking and/or 
soliciting bribes at border entry points.  To date, charges have 
been brought and indictments levied against 57 border police and 3 
customs officials. Trials are underway for all 60 defendants. 
Although there is no evidence connecting either case to TIP crimes, 
Macedonian authorities consider both cases significant wins in 
securing the borders against vulnerabilities to international 
smuggling and trafficking crimes. 
To further discourage corruption, in September 2009 the government 
also adopted amendments to the TIP related sections of the criminal 
code that mandate an eight year minimum sentence for any of these 
crimes committed by a public official while in the course of 
official duty (10 year minimum sentence if committed against a 
minor). 
 
-- K.  Macedonia contributes troops to the ISAF peacekeeping mission 
but none of those troops have been implicated in facilitating any 
form of trafficking or the exploitation of trafficking victims. 
 
-- L.  Macedonia does not have an identified problem of sex tourism 
involving children nor is there any indication that Macedonian 
nationals engage in sex tourism.  Nonetheless Macedonia has been 
particularly aggressive in its investigation and prosecution of TIP 
crimes against minors. 
 
 
¶28. (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.  Additionally, the Reception Center for 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  006.2 OF 011 
 
 
international TIP cooperation a high priority.  The GoM finished 
developing its trans-national referral mechanism (TRM) for TIP with 
14 other governments throughout Europe and hosted the TRM project's 
fourth and final international conference in Ohrid in June 2009. 
The TRM harmonizes victim identification, referral, and return, and 
investigative cooperation among participating governments when 
dealing with international TIP crimes. 
 
Additionally, Macedonia continued to coordinate smuggling and TIP 
investigations through the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative 
(SECI) center. On July 1, 13 people in Macedonia, including one 
senior MOI police officer, were arrested and charged with human 
smuggling for the smuggling of Asian migrants from Serbia, through 
Macedonia, to Greece. Operation "Kanis" (as the case has been 
dubbed) was coordinated in cooperation with Serbian officials 
through the SECI center 
 
Through the Migration, Asylum and Refugee Regional Initiative 
(MARRI), a governmental organization formed out of the 2003 
Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, which includes six regional 
member states, Macedonia has continued the implementation of various 
TIP related and border security projects in coordination with the 
other countries belonging to the initiative. 
 
-- 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. 
 
No cases requiring criminal extradition occurred during the 
reporting period. 
 
-- I. There was no evidence of involvement of high-level GoM 
officials in TIP, or of the tolerance of TIP at any level. 
 
-- J. No government officials were involved in human trafficking 
cases during the reporting period.  However, due to the rise in 
human smuggling cases transiting through Macedonia over the last 
couple of years, law enforcement officials have increased their 
efforts to root out any corruption that makes Macedonia more 
vulnerable to organized international human smuggling and 
trafficking networks.  On July 1, 13 people in Macedonia, including 
one senior MOI police officer, were arrested and charged with human 
smuggling for the smuggling of Asian migrants from Serbia, through 
Macedonia, to Greece. Operation "Kanis" (as the case has been 
dubbed) was coordinated in cooperation with Serbian officials 
through the SECI center. Separately, beginning on August 25, the 
Organized Crime Unit began arresting border police and customs 
officers in operation "Boomerang" for allegedly taking and/or 
soliciting bribes at border entry points.  To date, charges have 
been brought and indictments levied against 57 border police and 3 
customs officials. Trials are underway for all 60 defendants. 
Although there is no evidence connecting either case to TIP crimes, 
Macedonian authorities consider both cases significant wins in 
securing the borders against vulnerabilities to international 
smuggling and trafficking crimes. 
To further discourage corruption, in September 2009 the government 
also adopted amendments to the TIP related sections of the criminal 
code that mandate an eight year minimum sentence for any of these 
crimes committed by a public official while in the course of 
official duty (10 year minimum sentence if committed against a 
minor). 
 
-- K.  Macedonia contributes troops to the ISAF peacekeeping mission 
but none of those troops have been implicated in facilitating any 
form of trafficking or the exploitation of trafficking victims. 
 
-- L.  Macedonia does not have an identified problem of sex tourism 
involving children nor is there any indication that Macedonian 
nationals engage in sex tourism.  Nonetheless Macedonia has been 
particularly aggressive in its investigation and prosecution of TIP 
crimes against minors. 
 
 
¶28. (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.  Additionally, the Reception Center for 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  007.2 OF 011 
 
 
foreign victims included round-the-clock police security and the 
domestic victims' 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.    The government budget for 
the Reception Center was approximately $105,000 in 2009. 
 
During the reporting period domestic victims were housed in the 
domestic victims' shelter, run by the NGO OpenGate.  The shelter was 
funded in part by the Dutch International NGO Lastrada, as well as a 
40,000 EURO award OpenGate received from the ERSTE Foundation.  The 
government nominated OpenGate for the ERSTE award based on its 
prevention programs in Macedonia and OpenGate was awarded the first 
prize out of 1,300 project submissions.  During the reporting period 
the NC and MLSP ran into a number of setbacks in plans to take full 
financial and material responsibility for the domestic victims' 
shelter.  In September, the NC identified an ideal location for the 
new domestic victims' shelter and received a full endorsement of the 
location from the two NGOs that would ultimately operate victim care 
and day-to-day operations of the shelter.  However, tenants in an 
adjacent facility for the blind did not want a victims shelter 
placed next to their facility and threatened to create media 
problems if the government followed through on the plans.  Wishing 
to keep the shelter low profile and discreet, and to avoid an ugly 
media frenzy, the GoM decided to abandon the location.  In October, 
GoM officials believed they had identified another suitable location 
for the shelter, but following a tour of the location with the NGOs 
(in which Embassy PolOffs also participated) the location was deemed 
inadequate and the government was forced to continue its search.  On 
February 12, the NC was granted authorization to convert a large 
government owned apartment, which will ultimately shelter as many as 
nine victims, into the new domestic victims' shelter.  The NGOs have 
fully endorsed this plan.  They feel the apartment is secure, well 
located, and provides an appropriate level of freedom, comfort and 
amenities for domestic victims. 
 
Domestic victims who choose not to reside in the domestic shelter 
can receive psychological and social services from any of the 30 
MLSP-run centers for social welfare.  The centers for social welfare 
also provide victim reintegration services.  The MLSP opened three 
new centers for social welfare during the reporting period.  The 
2009 government budget for the centers for social welfare was 
approximately $11,000,000. 
 
There was one foreign victim of TIP discovered during the reporting 
period who was housed in the Reception Center prior to returning to 
Kosovo.  The NGO-run shelter for domestic TIP victims assisted 11 
confirmed victims during the reporting period.  Five of the victims 
assisted were from cases opened during the previous reporting 
period. The centers for social welfare assisted seven TIP victims 
during 2009. 
 
-- 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 GoM 
signed a MoU with the Red Cross during the last reporting period to 
provide emergency medical assistance to foreign victims in the 
reception center. The government transfers approximately $350 a 
month to the Red Cross to provide those services.  Macedonian 
citizens are entitled to healthcare under the law but due to 
complexities surrounding registration for healthcare some domestic 
victims who were not previously registered are not immediately able 
to obtain it.  In these cases the government has provided healthcare 
to domestic victims on a case by case basis or the NGO that runs the 
domestic shelter has paid for emergency medical care itself. During 
the reporting period, the MLSP submitted amendments to Parliament 
that would eliminate these complexities and guarantee that all 
domestic TIP victims are granted government healthcare no matter 
what.  That legislation is still awaiting Parliamentary approval. 
 
 
Additionally, domestic victims can receive psychological and social 
services from any of the 30 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 have continued their program to 
assist TIP victims with job placements upon reintegration. 
 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  008.2 OF 011 
 
 
-- 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. 
 
-- 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. Seven confirmed victims of TIP were identified during the 
reporting period.  Of those victims six were Macedonian minors and 
one victim was a foreign minor from Kosovo. Three victims were 
victims of just sexual exploitation, two were victims of just labor 
exploitation, and two were victims of both sexual and labor 
exploitation.  One of the victims of labor exploitation was also a 
victim of forced begging.  All of the domestic victims have received 
assistance from the NGO funded domestic shelter for TIP victims as 
well as the government funded centers for social welfare. 
 
-- 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 have been trained 
on the SOPs.  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.  Victim rights were respected during the reporting period. 
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 of TIP they referred victims to one 
of the two shelters. The shelters provided any immediate health or 
social services to the presumed victims. 
 
There were no reports of potential TIP victims being detained, 
jailed, prosecuted or fined during the reporting period, nor were 
there any reports of unsatisfactory adherence to the SOPs by local 
law enforcement as there had been in years past. 
 
-- J.  The government encouraged victims to participate in 
investigations and trials, and provided support to them. During the 
reporting period, two of the victims provided witness testimony in 
the courts and three of the victims have assisted in the 
investigation of their cases. 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 a foreign witness has not been repatriated or 
requested a residency permit they stay at the government-run 
reception center. 
 
Victims can institute civil proceedings to claim damages and/or 
compensation and compensation has been awarded in several cases in 
the past few years.  However, the current process for victim 
compensation continues to be too complex, and victims who have been 
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 government provided 
specialized training on TIP victim identification and assistance to 
law enforcement officials, border police, the Prosecutor's office, 
MOI officials, NRM officials and state labor inspectors as 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  009.2 OF 011 
 
 
previously noted in 27.--F. 
The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requires its consular 
officers to receive training on recognizing potential victims of 
trafficking. 
 
No trafficking victims sought host country embassy or consulate 
assistance during the reporting period. 
 
-- L. Repatriated Macedonian TIP victims are 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 receive new 
identity documentation, a government health insurance card and legal 
representation from the office of the NRM as necessary. 
 
-- 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. 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 during the reporting period. 
 
b) "The International Organization for Migration" (IOM), which 
provides financial support to the Reception Center, is responsible 
for the repatriation program for foreign TIP victims and provides 
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 manages the shelter for 
victims of internal trafficking and victims of Macedonian origin. 
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. 
 
d) "Red Cross"- The NC has signed a memorandum of understanding with 
the Red Cross which has integrated the Red Cross into the victim 
identification process and allows 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. 
 
 
¶29. (U) PREVENTION: 
 
-- A. During the reporting period the government conducted a variety 
of anti-trafficking education and awareness campaigns. On October 
18, EU Anti-Trafficking Day, the Minister of Interior and Minister 
of Justice attended an EU Ministerial Conference in Brussels where 
they each delivered speeches on the importance of joint 
international efforts and cooperation in combating TIP.  The NC also 
distributed TIP awareness leaflets and brochures in two of 
Macedonia's largest malls, and MOI together with IOM sent out a 
press-release detailing the current facts and figures of TIP to 
promote TIP awareness. 
 
On December 2, the World Abolition of Slavery Day, the NC with the 
help of the NGO Semper distributed leaflets and brochures in Bitola, 
Macedonia's second largest city, which has been identified as a 
particularly high risk city for TIP.  With the cooperation of the 
Red Cross, the NC and Semper also held an awareness raising event on 
the same day for high school students in Bitola.  Semper conducted 
similar workshops in Bitola throughout the year. 
 
Seeking to address client demand for victims of trafficking, the NC 
began broadcasting a demand reduction campaign over the state 
television network in November 2009.  The NC translated the IOM's 
"Buy Responsibly" campaign into Macedonian for use in the campaign. 
 
In addition to these activities, an inter-ministerial panel on 
children's rights, which includes the head of the NRM, distributed 
TIP prevention leaflets to schools throughout Macedonia.  The 
government's Agency of Youth and Sports granted the NGO OpenGate 
$1000 in funding to assist in the continuation of their TIP 
prevention lectures to youth around the country.  The public 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  010.2 OF 011 
 
 
University of Skopje, through an ongoing partnership with the NGO 
"For Happy Childhood," continued to organize seminars and films 
promoting TIP awareness.  Furthermore, the Minister of Interior has 
delivered public speeches on the importance of combating TIP at 
national conferences and training events throughout the reporting 
period. 
 
-- B. The government monitors immigration and emigration patterns 
for evidence of trafficking.  As a member of the regional 
governmental organization 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 have included harmonizing identification 
documents and visas between the member states, facilitating the 
exchange of migration information between countries, creating tools 
for tracking regional migration and the circular migration of 
temporary workers, 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. 
 
During the reporting period the GoM completed the development of its 
Transnational Referral Mechanism with 14 other governments 
throughout Europe.  The TRM harmonizes victim identification, 
referral, return and investigative cooperation between governments 
when handling international TIP crimes. 
 
The GoM coordinates many of its regional, policy-level TIP 
activities through MARRI.  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. 
 
-- D. The NC, in collaboration with international community and NGOs 
completed its a new NAP for 2009-2012 at the end of the previous 
reporting period and the new NAP was adopted by the government in 
September 2009, along with an approximately $550,000 budget for its 
implementation.  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.  For the first time, the 
new National Action Plan (NAP) for combating trafficking included 
detailed government funding responsibilities. Previously the NAP 
only detailed Macedonia's specific TIP combating goals and 
objectives but did not define specific funding sources to achieve 
those goals. Now, every one of the goals and objectives in the NAP 
includes a funding directive that defines which ministries are 
responsible for funding that specific activity. This change will 
make budget allocations easier and require ministerial 
accountability for TIP combating responsibilities. 
 
-- E. Seeking to address client demand for victims of trafficking, 
the NC began broadcasting a demand reduction campaign over the state 
television network in November 2009.  The NC translated the IOM's 
"Buy Responsibly" campaign into Macedonian for use in the campaign. 
 
The public University of Skopje, through an ongoing partnership with 
the NGO "For Happy Childhood," continued to organize seminars and 
films promoting TIP awareness.  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. 
 
During the reporting period the NGO Semper also held a number of 
workshops in Bitola which included sessions focused on reducing 
demand for commercial sex by encouraging attendee awareness of the 
possibility that commercial sex workers may be unwilling TIP 
victims. 
 
-- F. The international community, NGOs and GoM generally concur 
that Macedonian nationals do not travel abroad for sex tourism. The 
government did not take any specific measures to combat 
international child sex tourism by Macedonian nationals during the 
 
SKOPJE 00000069  011.2 OF 011 
 
 
reporting period. 
 
-- G.  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. 
 
-------------------- 
¶30. (U) PARTNERSHIPS 
-------------------- 
 
-- A. 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 also coordinates many of its regional, policy-level TIP 
activities through MARRI.  These activities include a TIP specific 
project to develop a regionally integrated approach to preventing 
and combating TIP as well as a number of other projects designed to 
bolster regional cooperation and infrastructures for monitoring and 
controlling migration. 
 
-- B.  The government has hosted the headquarters of the 
inter-governmental regional initiative, MARRI, in Skopje since the 
initiative's inception free of charge.  Representatives from each of 
MARRI's six member countries coordinate regional projects and 
initiatives out of the headquarters which are located in the 
government owned Macedonian TV building. 
 
In September 2009, the Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy General 
Prosecutor from Tajikistan visited Macedonia and met with senior NC 
official to learn best practices for combating TIP in Tajikistan. 
At the international TRM conference in Ohrid in June, the Deputy 
Minister of Interior from Montenegro asked the Macedonian National 
Coordinator for combating TIP if Macedonia could assist Montenegro 
in improving its TIP combating activities.  The NC will be sending a 
delegation to Montenegro on February 25, 2010 to meet with 
Montenegrin TIP officials to discuss ideas for assistance and 
coordination.  In April 2009, students from the University of 
Toronto also visited NC officials in Macedonia to learn about best 
practices for combating TIP. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CHILD SOLDIERS PREVENTION ACT 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶33. Macedonia has not been the subject of allegations regarding 
illegal child soldiering. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
NOMINATION OF HEROES AND BEST PRACTICES 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶35. In December 2010 the newly appointed National Reporter on 
Trafficking and Smuggling completed the first draft of the first 
annual National Reporter's report detailing TIP combating 
activities.  Interested in delivering the most accurate and critical 
assessment of TIP combating activities in Macedonia as  possible, 
the National Reporter organized a formal meeting to present the 
findings of the report's first draft to the National Commission, 
International Community and TIP focused NGOs, and requested their 
feedback and recommendations prior to publishing the final report. 
The final report included the resulting feedback and suggestions 
conveyed by the international and NGO community, along with 
recommendations for 2010.  All who participated commended the 
government for its inclusive approach to preparing the report and 
its willingness to proactively seek a broad critical assessment of 
the report in order to achieve best results. 
 
 
REEKER