Skopje, 18 October 2022 (MIA) – Seven out of eight victims of human trafficking in 2022 were underage. In general, human trafficking as a crime is increasingly being committed over the Internet, another worrying fact is that the age range has decreased, and if the victims around ten years ago were aged 16 and over, now the ages of the victims range from 10 to 17 years old. The criminals are increasingly targeting the group that uses the Internet the most, and is least informed about its dangers. On the occasion of the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Day – October 18, the Ministry of Interior together with partners from the UN, the Council of Europe and Open Gate, will hand out brochures in 33 schools in the country, aimed at raising students’ awareness about the dangers of the misuse of computer technology The State Secretary in the Ministry of Interior and national coordinator for anti-trafficking, Magdalena Nestorovska, pointed out that, in general, human trafficking as a crime is increasingly being committed through the misuse of information technology. “Using online communication enables greater anonymity and profitability for the criminals, which is why they are increasingly oriented towards recruiting and controlling victims through online communication,” said Nestorovska. Nestorovska stated that out of eight human trafficking victims this year, one is a victim of online communication. According to the executive director of “Open Gate” Jasmina Dimishkovska Rajkovska, the modern age and the use of internet and digital technologies is increasingly exposing children to the risk of human trafficking, stating that the results of their research show that children use social platforms such as Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, and through them interact with people they know and also people they do not know. “A concerning part of the results reveals that the majority of them interacted with people they do not know, and later physically met those people,” said Rajkovska. Parents, said Rajkovska, should pay more attention to the platforms their children use, what they are using them for and who they are interacting with. At the same time, she said, strategies should be created aimed at raising children’s awareness of online risks and teaching them how to use the Internet safely. ad/nn/