The International Center for Protection and Promotion of Women’s’ Rights “La Strada” warns that some of the judges in Moldova do not practice justice friendly to child victims of human trafficking. Representatives of “La Strada” draw attention to the fact that when examining cases involving such children, the judges should be more sensitive.

In a news conference at IPN, the Center’s head Ana Revenco said that last year alone the specialists of “La Strada” recorded and intervened to solve over 50 new cases of sexual exploitation of children. “The most important thing is to identify the cases on time, when the abuse and exploitation hadn’t yet occurred and when the first signs showing that the child is in a situation of risk appear,” she stated.

According to Ana Revenco, 99% of the children with whom specialists of “La Strada” work come from dysfunctional families where, even if one of the parents is alive, this has a negligent attitude to the child. “The child is set adrift. This usually has to look by himself for a place to stay and for food. The children do not receive what is essential for them from early childhood,” said the Center’s head.

In the news conference, there were presented two cases when judges didn’t accept victims’ requests to be questioned in the absence of the accused. The Center’s lawyer Natalia Bayram said that in these cases justice is not friendly to young people. “It was an absolutely legal request, in accordance with our national legislation. We didn’t yet make reference to a number of conventions that oblige the Republic of Moldova to have an appropriate and friendly attitude to child victims. It was a legal request that the judge was to grant and this procedure does not violate somehow the rights of the other persons standing trial,” stated the lawyer.

Natalia Bayram said that even if the legislation contains all the measures indicated in the international documents that protect the private life of victims of trafficking in persons, the court ignored them and didn’t pronounce on the applications. It thus insisted that the defendant should be present in the courtroom during the questioning of the injured party.