Supporting investigative journalism to report on human trafficking – The Council of Europe

With the aim to support investigative journalism to tell fact-based, gender- sensitive and victim-oriented stories about human trafficking, 13 stories were published by local journalists and media reporters from North Macedonia. Supported by the EU and Council of Europe joint action “Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking in North Macedonia” this initiative assisted local media representatives to report on key issues surrounding human trafficking. The media stories were published in electronic and conventional media, informing the general public about child trafficking, trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, increased risks from trafficking due to the pandemic and the perils of trafficking for migrants.

Most of the awarded stories investigated the vulnerability of children in the street situation forced to beg and exploited in forced marriages , such as the story that talks about Angel, a child in extreme poverty who was forced to beg, and received a follow-up support by the public institutions for his return to school.

Several grantees highlighted victim and gender perspectives in the discovered cases of child trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Stories were focused on the regions which are more vulnerable to human trafficking such as Tetovo and Gostivar, or reporting on the refugee/migrants' route transits in the South-East of the country.

The microgrants for media actors provided in the framework of the programme, aimed to support and strengthen journalistic research, reporting and dissemination of investigation into trafficking in human beings in North Macedonia from the media perspective. The multimedia and print stories were published and aired in the local media outlets while a wide outreach was ensured also through the social media with more than 170,000 views, while video and audio reportages were played in a prime time by national / regional TV and radio stations.

Watch and read the stories on trafficking in human beings, available also at Publications about Combatting Human Trafficking (coe.int)

 A1ON: the lives of children – victims of trafficking 

24Vesti: Expansion of children forced to beg on street

TetovoInfo: Human trafficking in the Tetovo region – changes and challenges over the past decades

MIA: Increase in human trafficking in conditions of pandemic, social networks a new form of recruitment

 Radio Pela: The vicious circle of children's marriages – a thin line between tradition and human trafficking

 Nezavisen vesnik: “Two grown men gave money to my father,” he said, “he married me.”

 Kanal VIS – The Balkan refugee route transits through Mount Belasica

 Nova Makedonija – The corona crisis has deepened the problem of child trafficking

 Nova TV – outside of the system – in the magic circle (research story)

 Nezavisen – Elena's closed circle, the most dramatic case of child trafficking

 Svedok – Covid – 19 crises changes the course and forms of human trafficking in North Macedonia

 Globi – Economic emigrants entagled in the web of labor explotation

 MRT 4:”From dusk till dawn they beg at the crossroads and dream of better tomorrow”

The action on “Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking in North Macedonia” is part of the European Union / Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II” aiming at assisting beneficiaries in the Western Balkans and Turkey to comply with the Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process.