The women and girls in Moldova are vulnerable to violence and abuse owing to the poverty that makes them look for unsafe jobs abroad. The fact that domestic violence continues to be regarded as a private problem, including by those who enforce the law, encourages abuses against women, said the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Magdalena Sepúlveda.
When presenting a preliminary report, Magdalena Sepulveda spoke about the main problems faced by the women and girls in Moldova. She approved of the state’s commitment to ensure gender equality, but the low rates of implementing these mechanisms bring the efforts made in this field into question.
“The women face additional stigmatization, discrimination and abuse when they return home after working abroad owing to the pressure that they worked as prostitutes there. This is a vicious circle, especially because almost 90% of the trafficked women admitted that they had been victims of domestic violence,” said the Special Rapporteur.
Magdalena Sepulveda established that the women continue to have limited economic opportunities in comparison with the men, despite the results achieved in education over the last few years. The labor force is clearly separated by gender, while violence based on gender and the representation of women in decision making remain critical challenges for Moldova.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Magdalena Sepúlveda has paid a visit to Moldova on September 8 – 14, at the initiative of the Moldovan Government. She will present a comprehensive report with her final findings and recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2014.
