The best interest of the child as a guiding principle for protection of the child trafficking victims was in the focus of a multi-disciplinary capacity building activity on preventing and combating child trafficking, organised in Veles with the support of EU and Council of Europe Thirty-three police officers, social workers, legal professionals and representatives of the civil society organisations enhanced their knowledge and skills on determining the best interest of the child trafficking victim in the criminal law response to this crime. The training also aimed to strengthen co-operation among all relevant actors assisting and supporting child trafficking victims and inform them about the relevant international standards in this regard.
The participants discussed access to free legal aid for child trafficking victims and learnt about the novelties of the recently adopted Law on the Justice for Children. Тhis Law, among other, prescribes a working experience of at least 10 years for judges, prosecutors and police officers working with child victims. Although intended to enhance the protection of the child trafficking victims, it can produce a counter-effect on the mechanism for justice for children, considering its scarce resources, pondered the participants.
“You should gain the trust of the child, be empathic and compassionate. Usually, exploited children are brought up with violence and neglect. They were constantly let down by adults.”, explained Dr. Liljana Ingnjatova, psychiatrist and forensic expert in cases involving child victims. She also tackled the psychological perspective of interviewing child victims of trafficking.
Daja Wenke, international consultant on child trafficking victims, explained international standards relevant for child trafficking victims, and presented concrete examples with respect to child friendly justice.
The participants expressed their commitment to advance multi-agency co-operation in view of protecting the right of the child victim of trafficking with due consideration of the best interest of the child.
The training was organised by the action “Strengthening anti - trafficking action in North MacedoniaStrengthening anti - trafficking action in North Macedonia” part of the of the European Union and Council of Europe joint initiative “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” in co-operation with the Sub-group on Child Trafficking of the National Anti-trafficking Commission of North Macedonia.
