An exhibition of informative materials designed as part of the projects and campaigns implemented by the International Center “La Strada” during two decades of activity was mounted in the square before the monument to Ruler Stephan the Great and Holy in central Chisinau on November 3, IPN reports.

“La Strada” executive director Elena Botezatu said that 20 years of activity mean 20 years of courage, 20 years of perseverance, 20 years of lessons learned from beneficiaries. “In the period, we daily learned about the needs of these persons, about the expectations of these children and women and this helped us to develop services, to stage information and awareness-raising campaigns and to also contribute to working out the legal and normative frameworks so that they correspond to the needs of children and women who experienced abuse, violence and exploitation. Only leaving the existing prejudice referring to the most sensitive issues aside, we can contribute to changes to the better,” stated Elena Botezatu.

Brett Rose, Director of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement of the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau, said “La Strada” has been a very close partner of the embassy during many years and they have cooperated in fighting trafficking in persons, eliminating gender-based violence and online child exploitation. “Only when civil society closely cooperates with the authorities, such global problems as the aforementioned can be solved. There are now multidisciplinary teams that offer assistance to victims of violence and this is very important as the victims of violence should not experience again the trauma they suffered when they interacted with the authorities,” noted Brett Rose.

Vasile Harea, head of the Center for Combating Trafficking in Persons, said “La Strada” organized activities that facilitated the police’s efforts to address antisocial phenomena, which resulted also in amendments to the national legislation that are aimed at ensuring the observance of the basic human rights and freedoms.

Attending the event, Nighina Azizov, UN Women Moldova Program Coordinator, said the team of “La Strada” bears enormous responsibility when it works with women who survived violence and with children who suffer because of this shameful and degrading phenomenon.

The exhibition in the square before the monument to Ruler Stephan the Great and Holy can be visited during several weeks.