A 16-year-old girl from Syria, who had arrived in Macedonia along with other refugees, is possibly a victim of human trafficking, Telegraf.mk informed.
There has been suspicion, and authorities are investigation the case and trying to discover what happened to the girl. In the interest of the investigation, they do not uncover any more details.
Macedonia kept two children from Syria last year, for whom there was also a suspicion they had been victims of human trafficking.
Macedonia is not immune to the traffickers' attempts to use the struggling refugees in order to profit, said activists who have been helping refugees in Tabanovce and Gevgelija since the beginning of the crisis. According to them there is ground suspicion that the refugee influx yields children trafficking as well.
"There have been cases when a man would travel with dozens of children, approximately at the same age, saying they are his. There have also been cases where children are given documents forged in Turkey, claiming they are 21 years old, and it is apparent they are far younger. Refugees themselves have claimed that among the organ traffickers there has been a woman, probably from Turkey. There have been children attempting to cross with a suspicious company. The children, due to the fear they feel, fear to tell who they are travelling with," said Lence Zdravkin, a humanitarian activist from Veles, helping refugees in Macedonia since the beginning of the crisis.
According to UNHCR data, there are currently 68 children under the age of 18 in Macedonia, all unaccompanied by their parents or relatives, or separated from their families. All of them are male. Of those, 26 have been registered as unaccompanied children (23 are Afghans, 3 are Syrians), and 42 have been registered as separated from their families (31 Afghans, 8 Syrians, 3 Iraqis). Of those, 6 are girls. There are also 2 children under great risk, one is a child-parent, the other is a pregnant teenager.
All children have been here for over a month.
Council of Europe expert group on human trafficking has recently addressed the governments of all Europe to immediately protect children and youth from human traffickers, especially minors separated from their families, and arriving in Europe unaccompanied.
The recommendation refers to the countries in terms of improving the identification procedures of children - victims of human trafficking, to improve the aid given to them, and to stop children missing from the transit centers.