Trafficking in persons discussed at UN Press Club -- Upd.

[Upd.] {Replaces last paragraph} Moldova is one of the main origin countries for victims of trafficking in human beings. The phenomenon affects women, children and men alike, who are trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced labor or beggary. These and other subjects were discussed at the latest meeting of the UN Press Club in Moldova. Trafficking in human beings remains to be a global problem affecting all the developing or poor countries, and Moldova is one of these countries, says [Stella Rotaru], repatriation specialist with the International Organization for Migration (IOM)'s office in Moldova. The Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family developed a strategy to protect and assist victims as well as potential victims of trafficking in human beings, aiming at preventing and combating this phenomenon, said [Lilia Pascal], head of the Ministry's Department for Equal Opportunities and Prevention of Violence. “This strategy has two specific implementation elements, and namely the prevention of the phenomenon and development of transnational cooperation in the field”, Lilia Pascal specified. For this purpose, the Government allocated last year 512,000 lei and another 608,000 lei this year. Concerning transnational cooperation, there have been repatriated 196 adult persons since 2007. Other 86 minor persons were brought home as part of 30 repatriation missions. According to psychologist [Lilia Gorceac] of the Chisinau-based Assistance and Protection Center, any person may become a victim of trafficking, yet statistics show that the bulk, or 94 percent, are young women. Lilia Gorceac added that in recent years a growing category of victims has been children left behind by migrant parents. Each year over 10,000 persons are reported missing, 10 percent of whom are though to be victims of trafficking, said [Iurie Podarilov], department head at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. To maximize efforts in combating trafficking, the government should facilitate the legalization of migration, thinks [Ana Revenco], director of the International Center “La Strada”. This way people won't have to look for dubious ways to reach a desired destination and ultimately get deceived. In the period from January 2000 to 15 September 2009, IOM Moldova provided assistance to a total of 2,545 victims of trafficking and other 1,788 potential victims.