In North Macedonia, statistics speak about 60 identified trafficking victims, most of them are children. The child trafficking victims generally originate from disadvantaged social groups. Children without parental care are at a higher risk of trafficking due to their life circumstances. In this context, the role of psychologists, social workers and pedagogues is pivotal to educate children about the perils of child trafficking and to assist child trafficking victims.
To assist them in preventing child trafficking and in taking good care of child trafficking victims the action ““Strengthening anti - trafficking action in North Macedonia” in partnership with the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth delivered a 2-days training on detecting, identifying, protecting and referring potential child trafficking victims. Twenty-two psychologists, social workers and pedagogues, taking care of children without parental care, took part in the training and enhanced their skills on how to approach and identify potential child trafficking victims, on how to identify their needs and on how to keep children safe from falling into a vicious circle of child trafficking.
'Individuals become more vulnerable due to physical, psychological and sexual violence. The trafficker imposes a lots of rules on their victims. They are not allowed to eat or sleep without his permission. They’re not allowed to go out on their own and even if they are, he is watching their every move' said Marika PODDA CONOR, the anti-trafficking educator from Malta. She emphasised that child victims are socially isolated, watched and guarded 24/7, and coached to give a made-up cover story.
Through adult learning methodologies, which include interactive methods, group work and discussion of videos on trafficking, the participants were able to understand better the profiles of child victims and traffickers. Good practices on preventing and combating child trafficking from Malta empowered the participants to use a proactive and victim-centred approach in these cases.
During the training, representatives of the NGO “For Happy Childhood” had the opportunity to present their work and experience with helping child trafficking victims. They also shared effective anti-trafficking prevention models with the participants.
The action on “Strengthening anti - trafficking action in North Macedonia” is part of the European Union/Council of Europe joint Programme Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.
