Approximately 1,300 victims of human trafficking were identified nationwide during the past five years. But studies show the real figure of such victims is over 20 times higher. The children represent 30% of the identified victims. Most of these were forced into prostitution. Elena Botezatu, executive director of the International Center “La Strada”, which offers these statistics, said that a number of serious cases of child sexual exploitation occurred during the past three-four years because the measures needed to protect the children in situations of risk hadn’t been taken on time, IPN reports.
In a conference held in Chisinau on the occasion of the EU Anti-Trafficking Day, Elena Botezatu said that the involvement of children in prostitution is seldom discussed. It is considered something shameful and society tries to ignore situations signaling possible abuses. “We have cases when the children are sexually exploited for years before they catch the attention of the authorities or situations when members of the community notice such cases, but do not report them, shifting responsibility onto the children,” stated the executive director of “La Strada”.
Sergiu Russu, of the Prosecutor General’s Office, said that most of the offenses of this kind are committed by using information technologies. Among the stimulating factors are the migration tendencies, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising social inequality and the high level of corruption in the country, says a press release issued by “La Strada” after the event.
For his part, the head of the General Police Inspectorate Iurie Podarilov affirmed the commitment to follow the recommendations formulated by international organizations and the whole anti-trafficking community so as to cope with the challenges in the fight against human trafficking.
Director of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement at the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau Brett Rose welcomed the efforts made by the Republic of Moldova to fight the phenomenon. The U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for the Republic of Moldova shows that in 2020, the Government of Moldova demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Moldova remained on Tier 2. Sustainable partnerships to promote the rights of victims should be developed and the capacities of professionals involved in the fight against human trafficking should be strengthened.
The report says the Government of Moldova does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. Some of these efforts included prosecuting more suspected traffickers, developing a new national referral mechanism, opening a center for male trafficking victims, and commencing construction of a center for child victims and witnesses of crime, including trafficking.
