Sex Abuse Claims Rock Macedonian Youth Centre

The head of "25 May" a centre for troubled youngsters in Skopje, Macedonia, resigned on Monday "for moral reasons" over a scandal involving the possible sexual abuse of a 13-year-old in the care of his institution.

This case hit the public last Thursday when an international Roma rights organization, the European Roma Rights Centre, ERRC urged the authorities to react.

The ERRC said the girl known only as R.I. had to have an abortion on February 14 after becoming pregnant while in the care of the state care institution, and remains traumatized by the experience.

It said the girl was reported missing from the youth centre by her parents in early March 2017, but that the care authorities failed to act and report the matter to the police. Instead, the young girl was accused of lying.

"According to testimony she gave to an ERRC human rights monitor, R.I. was forcibly taken by an older man from the institution who drove her to his home in another city.

"There he forced her into sexual acts and physical labour. She managed to escape after 30 days and get a bus back to Skopje where the police found her in Bitpazar market," an ERRC statement said.

The girl's pregnancy was determined only after she had been transferred to another youth centre in Skopje.

The rights group said that it had received similar testimonies from two other Roma sisters aged 16 and 13 who were under the care of the same institution.

It said that they too were abducted and sexually abused by an older person who was reportedly working there.

Macedonia's Social Policy Ministry, which operates the centres, on Monday said it expected the police and prosecution to investigate the case and determine whether social workers or other...