“Labour exploitation is on the rise and the labour inspectors are the first to get in touch with potential victims of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation. Therefore, this type of trainings is very much needed for labour inspectors” – stated the Head of the National Unit for suppression of illegal migration and human trafficking, the Public Prosecutor Gordana Smakoska during the basic training on proactive detection, identification and referral of potential trafficking victims of labour exploitation.
Twenty-nine labour inspectors, police officers, social workers and NGO representatives attended the training, organised by the EU and Council of Europe joint action “Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking in North Macedonia”. For the majority of the participants, this training represented the first opportunity to learn about the elements and indicators of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation and its gender dimension.
The training was delivered in co-operation with the State Labour Inspectorate. Its acting Director Vesna Tomovska underlined during the event the need to have a clearly defined competence in the respective law for the labour inspectors to be able not only to share information, but also to document the trafficking cases for labour exploitation.
In addition, the State Advisor Elena Grozdanova from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy emphasised the contribution of the Ministry for identification, protection and assistance of trafficking victims. The national referral mechanism for the trafficking victims is embedded in the Ministry, as well as the anti-trafficking mobile teams, which are active in prevention, detection and preliminary identification of trafficking victims.
Representatives from the NGO “Open Gate”, which manages the State Centre for Victims of Trafficking and Gender-based Violence provided the victims’ perspective in order to sensitise the participants about the traumas and the assistance that trafficking victims must obtain in order to be re-integrated in the society.
The participants were also presented with the Pocket Guide (available at https://rm.coe.int/dzeben-vodic-trgovija-so-lugje-/1680a22607) a practical tool for labour inspectors, which in addition to the indicators, also provides the procedure and contacts of the institutions to be informed about the potential trafficking victims.
The participants were engaged in a lively discussion about the role of the labour inspectors in identification of potential trafficking victims and the need for the inter-institutional cooperation with the police, social workers, the NGO sector and the prosecution.
The Action “Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking in North Macedonia” is implemented under the joint European Union / Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.
