7,500 Moldovans become human trafficking victims annually

Some 7,500 Moldovans become victims of trafficking in human beings annually, that is 1% of some 750,000 working abroad, the U.S. Department of State estimates. Trafficking countering NGOs annually identify some 500 victims. The rest of them remain unidentified. The La Strada International Center, in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration and the Moldovan Ministry for Social Protection unfold a conference on the national mechanism of assisting the trafficked victims, on October 21 and 22, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to Anna Revenco, La Strada's president, it is necessary to seek optimum solutions to solve the trafficking in humans issue. “It's impossible to establish exactly the dimensions of the phenomenon in this country, because it is a hidden problem and because Moldova lacks a single system collecting related information. So, some 60-65% of the trafficked people remain unidentified,” she said. Lucia Gavrilita, the deputy Minister for Social Protection, says such problems have been coped with by every country passing through transition processes. “The Moldovan Government fights this grave phenomenon. A closer relation between the civil society and the international public authorities will lead to settle the issue,” she said. The conference is dedicated to the European Anti-Traffic Day marked on October 18 and envisages to assess the implementation of the National Reference Systems in 5 countries Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. The Moldovan Parliament adopted the Law on preventing and countering trafficking in human beings, in force since October 20, 2005.