Trafficking Probe Makes Headlines

An investigation by IWPR into human trafficking in the Balkans has stirred vigorous public discussion of the issue.

The report, Trading in Misery, has resulted in a series of round table debates and drawn media coverage throughout the region, bringing to light a pervasive crime which had previously received little attention.

In response to the investigation, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, held a conference on human trafficking in Kosovo and judges in Skopje have called on IWPR to organise a high-level seminar focussing on relations between the media and the Macedonian justice system.

Trading in Misery, first published on the IWPR website in September, drew on research by contributors in eight countries across the region and was coordinated by staff in London and Romania.

The journalists visited clubs, bars, hotels and brothels and spoke to traffickers, pimps, government officials and the victims of human trafficking themselves, along the way constructing a detailed picture of the cross-border network of gangs responsible for perpetuating this modern-day slave trade.

The report was republished in full in dozens of newspapers and magazines across the Balkans and cited in numerous others.

It provided the foundation for a series of round-table debates, organised by IWPR in Serbia, Romania, Kosovo and Macedonia throughout September. Discussions focussed on human trafficking and the way this crime is dealt with in the media.

Among the high profile officials who attended these conferences were Dusan Zlokas, coordinator of a team set up by the Serbian ministry of internal affairs to tackle people smuggling, and General Dan Valentin Fatuloiu, deputy director of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative for combating organised crime and drugs trafficking. Also present were journalists, lawyers and representatives from a number of NGOs working in the region.

The round tables generated a great deal of media coverage, with newspapers, radio stations and news agencies running stories related to the events.

The Pristina gathering was reported by RTK television, which broadcasts to the whole of Kosovo; the one in Skopje was covered by a number of Macedonian broadcasters, including A1 Television, the country’s biggest channel; while that in Bucharest also made the news bulletins of several regional television stations.

The public discussion and media coverage generated by IWPR’s investigation has prompted a major international organisation and local legal officials to organise follow-up events.

On October 22, one month after IWPR’s round table in Pristina, the OSCE organised its own conference in Kosovo on the problem of human trafficking. A series of recommendations arising from the discussion are being incorporated into an action plan to combat the problem in the region.

“The IWPR-led discussion was very fruitful and timely. Too often are reports put out and there is little or no follow up on an issue. The investigative pieces presented brought to the fore the problem of trafficking on both the regional and, more importantly, the personal and human level,” said Sven Lindholm, OSCE spokesman in Kosovo.

Representatives of the Macedonian judiciary have also approached IWPR to suggest a seminar on the relationship between the courts and the media and the transparency of the judicial process, in relation to trafficking cases

Investigating judge, Hilda Meskova, told IWPR that the Skopje round table has sparked intense debate amongst judges and emphasised the need for a fuller understanding of court procedures and legislation governing media reporting of such cases.

“We are dealing with a lot with trafficking cases and we have had several when reporting has [negatively] influenced [their] outcome by releasing [the] identity and testimonies of victims or witnesses involved in the cases,” said Meskova.

She said that there is much interest in a follow-up discussion, to be organised by IWPR and the Association of Judges of Macedonia, which is expected to take place early next year.