For the first time in North Macedonia, a child victim of human trafficking for the purpose of forced marriage received financial compensation from her trafficker as a follow-up to the compensation order issued by the Skopje Criminal Court.
The court ordered the trafficker to pay the victim compensation amounting to approximately 4,800 euros, which was paid to the victim from the confiscated criminal assets of the perpetrator. Although the number of convictions in human trafficking cases has increased in recent years, the successful enforcement of the court decisions regarding the compensation of victims remains an important challenge in North Macedonia. Major obstacles include difficulties in processing or selling seized or confiscated criminal assets, as well as the length, cost and complexity of the civil compensation procedure, which leads very often to victims abandoning proceedings.
Strengthening access to justice and remedies for victims of trafficking is one of the main objectives of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings and improving access to compensation is an important aspect of the Council of Europe’s co-operation projects. Since 2017, the joint European Union and Council of Europe action “Preventing and combating human trafficking in North Macedonia” has been working closely with the national authorities and civil society partners to make compensation accessible to the victims of trafficking.
It has been providing continuous support to the authorities in building capacities and training legal professionals, including investigators, judges, prosecutors and lawyers. This support helped to improve financial investigations, to ensure the systematic confiscation of criminal assets and to provide specialised legal aid to victims of trafficking. Within this joint action, the Council of Europe has also provided legislative support in drafting a law on state compensation for victims of violent crimes, including human trafficking victims. Efforts are underway to develop a victim compensation fund that will enable the authorities to guarantee compensation to victims for the harm they have suffered in case of impossibility to secure compensation from the perpetrators.
The action “Preventing and combating human trafficking in North Macedonia” is part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, which aims at assisting beneficiaries in South-East Europe to comply with Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process, where relevant.