Lack of communication makes children victims of trafficking

Parent migration, social and psychological vulnerability, the high level of forced child labor and the frequent cases of domestic violence are among the risks that can make the children become victims of human trafficking. ”The trafficked children do not have a certain portrait. They can be from socially underprivileged families or wealthy families, blonde or dark-haired, literate and illiterate. The idea is that those who become victims of human trafficking suffer from lack of communication, cannot protect themselves and cannot identify the grownups who want to exploit them for a certain purpose,” psychologist of the Center for Assistance and Protection of Human Trafficking Victims and Potential Victims Lilia Gorceac said in a meeting of the Investigative Journalists Club, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Lilia Gorceac said the victims of trafficking who do not benefit from rehabilitation, especially the children, become ten times more vulnerable. “In Moldova, we do not have rehabilitation centers for boys who were trafficked or sexually abused. There are few such centers for girls, but there are practically no centers for boys,” said the psychologist. According to psychologist Tatiana Buianina, of the Center “La Strada”, the children can be easily manipulated by offering them presents, especially those from poor families who do not have toys or even clothes or food. ”The official data show the number of children trafficked for sexual purposes is on the rise, especially among boys. There is a demand for sexual services and the children can be easily manipulated. The abusers use different methods to attract the victims. They make them consider themselves important or seek help from them posing as foreigners. Many find potential victims over the Internet,” said Tatiana Buianina. The participants in the meeting of the Investigative Journalists Club said the problem of human trafficking is complex and the statistics do not reveal the real situation. The figures refer only to the discovered cases. The fact that more cases of trafficking were identified in 2010 than in 2005 for example does not mean that there were fewer victims of trafficking six years ago.