“It ought to concern every person, because it’s a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at the social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name – modern slavery.”

President Barack Obama

September 25, 2012

This report covers lot of issues related to trafficking and forced labor, such as victim identification; global law enforcement; 2013 tip report heroes; countries information etc. This report also talks about the specifics of this issue in 188 countries.

Republic of Macedonia is one of the involved countries. According to the report, Macedonia is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Macedonian women  and girls are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor within the country in bars, nightclubs, and in begging on the street; Children, primarily ethnic Roma, are forced to beg by their families; The government sustained its vigorous prosecution of trafficking offenders, including public officials alleged to be complicit in trafficking. However, the government failed to screen effectively possible victims of trafficking encountered during police raids on bars and nightclubs; officials did not make use of trained social workers and NGOs, bypassing the national referral mechanism, and rapidly screened migrants in detention without victim support. The government continued to rely on NGOs to provide many of the services at shelters without providing adequate funding for medical care and reintegration.

Source: US Department of States