By Elżbieta M. Goździak, Ph.D.
Research Professor
Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM)
Georgetown University
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding for this research was provided by the Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research-Exploratory (IBSS-Ex) program of the National Science Foundation (Award #1416769). Warm thanks to our NSF Project Officer, Dr. Brian D. Humes for his assistance throughout the life of the grant.
This report benefited greatly from the contributions of many individuals. Ana Revenco and Tatiana Vladicescu of the International Center “La Strada” provided invaluable assistance in gaining access to and interviewing government officials, service providers, and survivors of human trafficking in Moldova. I am also grateful to the representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for discussing with me the challenges and successes in providing protection to and integrating survivors of trafficking into local communities. They all shared their knowledge and insights and I am grateful for their generosity of time and wisdom.
My graduate research assistants, Charles Jamieson and Nicole Johnson, provided indispensable assistance in conducting literature reviews, analyzing existing anti-trafficking laws and data, and masterfully copy-editing and formatting this report.
INTRODUCTION
Trafficking of people for forced labor and sexual exploitation is believed to be one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity and one that is of increasing concern to the international community. Trafficking is commonly understood in terms of the activity, the means, and the purpose, where: (1) The activity refers to some kind of movement either within or across borders; (2) The means relates to some form of coercion or deception, and (3) the purpose is the ultimate exploitation of a person for profit or benefit of another (Martin & Callaway, 2011: 225).
While understanding and recognition of trafficking in persons has improved in recent years, there is little systematic and in-depth analysis of the full life cycle of cross-border human trafficking—from pre-trafficking and recruitment through exploitation to return home or integration into a new community. An area in which very little is known are the experiences of trafficking survivors after return to their home countries. Who returns to their home countries? What is the process for return? After return, are survivors still subject to the same situations that caused them to be trafficked in the first place? What are their health and mental health, education, employment, and other needs after return? Do they receive services that will enable them to reintegrate and, if so, for what period and with what efficacy? What types of stigmas persist over time, particularly for those who were sexually exploited and abused? What are the risk factors for being re-trafficked? To what extent is information available about the incidence and prevalence of re-trafficking? This information is of particular import given the fact that many countries provide survivors with respite assistance, but lack long-term immigration relief.
COUNTRY PROFILE
US State Department TIPR Ranking1 Tier 2
Source: World Bank Development Indicators, US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report 2015.
In the past several years, Moldova has experienced rapid economic growth, accompanied by significant progress in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The economy has been growing at 5 percent annually since 2000. At the same time, the national poverty rate dropped from 68 to 27 percent between 2000 and 2004 and continued the downward trend to 11.4 percent in 2014. Nonetheless, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe and faces challenges in sustaining the progress.
According to the 2016 Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity in Moldova Report, Moldova has one of the highest poverty rates in the region; 41 percent of its population lived below the regional poverty line of 5 USD a day (2005 PPP) in 2014.Employment has been declining in Moldova, especially in rural areas. The employment rate decreased from 55 percent in 2000 to below 40 percent in 2014. Unemployment is low, fluctuating around 3 percent during the period, but inactivity has been on the rise, from 40 percent in 2000 to 59 percent in 2014. These changes are driven by increased migration and early retirement (56 years of age for women and 61 for men) among the aging population (Dávalos et al. 2016).
1The US State Department Trafficking in Persons report ranks countries as follows:
• Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards.
• Tier 2: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards,
MIGRATION IN MOLDOVA
Although precise data are lacking on labor migrants from Moldova, various estimates point to a high share of the working-age population looking for jobs and working abroad. According to the Labor Force Surveys, a peak of labor migrants--394,500--was registered in 2005 (Prokhorova 2016). The results of surveys conducted by the Center of Sociological Research and Marketing suggest that one-quarter of the economically active population was working abroad in mid-2006 (Lücke et al. 2007). According to a more recent International Labor Organization (ILO) survey on labor force migration in Moldova, 460,000 people, or 17 percent of the working-age population, were working abroad in 2012. The share of the economically active population involved in labor emigration grew from 8 percent to 27 percent between 2000 and 2005 (ILO 2012).
The main destination countries for labor migrants are Russia (56% of labor migrants) and Italy (19%), followed by Poland and Romania. Russia is the most popular destination for Moldovan men from rural area who work in the construction industry in Russia. Women represented 68 percent of Moldovan labor migrant to Italy where they find jobs as baby-sitters and cooks. Moldovans who migrate to Russia are more likely to stay there, given the legal possibility of obtaining Russian citizenship, while migrants to Europe are more likely to return to Moldova. Migrants working in the EU countries earn more and send larger amounts of money home, while those working in Russia remit relatively small amounts of money (Prohnițchi and Lupușor 2013).
Nevertheless, remittances are a critical source of foreign currency in Moldova. They are surpassed only by exports. Between 2010 and 2014, remittances accounted for around 20 percent of the income growth of the bottom 40 percent. In 2006–08, they surpassed social protection payments to households through pensions, child allowances, compensation, and other social support (Dávalos et al. 2016).
International Organization for Migration (IOM), Moldovan women represent the third largest group of women forcibly recruited into the sex work industry in Italy; Albanian and Romanian women constitute the largest number of sex workers in Italy (Paduraru 2001). In 1998, Interpol deported more than 2000 Moldovan women from Russia and 670 from Turkey (Mosneaga and Echim (2003). It is unclear how many of the deported women were victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and how many were irregular migrant sex workers. The sources Monsega and Echim cite refer to them as “prostitutes” and do not distinguish between women who worked in the sex industry abroad voluntarily and those who were trafficked for sexual exploitation.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN MOLDOVA
THE LEGAL FRAMEWORKS
In 1994 Moldova ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) in an attempt to combat high rates of gender-based and
domestic violence in the country that many consider to be intertwined with trafficking of women. Upon accession to the European Union on February 17, 2005, the Government of Moldova has ratified the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crimes (2000) and its two protocols: The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air (Fabius 2006).
SURVIVORS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN MOLDOVA
According to the 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report published by the U.S. Department of State, Moldova is primarily a source country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Moldovan victims are subjected to sex and labor trafficking within Moldova and in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia. Women and children are subjected to sex trafficking in Moldova in brothels, saunas, and massage parlors. Increasingly, girls aged 13 to 15 are victims of sex trafficking. Child sex tourists, including from the EU, Australia, Israel, Thailand, and the United States, subject Moldovan children to commercial sexual exploitation.
anti-trafficking investigative body, hampered law enforcement efforts. Authorities identified and assisted more victims, but victims continued to suffer from intimidation. Prosecutors charged some victims with crimes committed as a direct result of their trafficking.
There is little reliable information on the scale of human trafficking from Moldova and even less information on survivors of human trafficking who returned to Moldova. Various sources indicate that between 2000 and 2008 the International Organization for Migration (IOM) assisted 2340 women returned from a trafficking experience abroad as part of their Assistance and Protection Program (Ostrovschi et al. 20011). Mosneaga and Echiem (2003) indicate that 805 Moldovan women trafficked for sexual exploitation were assisted by IOM between 2000 and 2002.
Female Victims of Trafficking Assisted by IOM 2000-2002
Country 2000 2001 2001
relatively low levels of education: 48 percent finished primary school; 26 percent graduated from high school; and 18 percent had post-secondary professional education. The vast majority were single women without children. Eighty percent claimed that they were unaware that they would have to work in the sex industry.
The data the research team obtained from IOM indicate that the organization provided services to 594 Moldovan victims between 2012 and 2015. The majority of the survivors were women; of the 185 males 122 were under the age of 18. Interviews with IOM and other service providers suggest that the majority of those assisted by IOM were at-risk-for being trafficked, not victims of trafficking. Field visits to shelters conat-risk-formed this assertion. We visited three different shelters in Chisinau and surrounding areas. Many of the women we spoke with in the shelters were domestic violence victims, young pregnant girls (several of the pregnancies resulted from incest or rape by strangers) or new mothers who had no place to go after giving birth. We have also encountered several young men who are orphans but have aged out of the orphanage system and were released to the community. With no place to go, some of them found jobs as farm hands. The farmers who hired them provided food and board in makeshift sleeping quarters in barns and stables as well as some remuneration for their labor. However, local social workers, supported by IOM, found these conditions unacceptable and “rescued” these young men and placed them in shelters. Unfortunately, in most instances the shelters provide assistance—mainly room and board—for up to 30 days. It is unclear what will happen to these young men after they leave the shelter. Many have no or very limited education and are functionally illiterate without any vocational skills. Some suffer from mental health problems resulting from abandonment.
additional 27 percent grew up in an incomplete family (Fomina 2006). Social workers interviewed in the course of this research stressed that young orphaned adults who return to Moldova after being trafficked are the most difficult to reintegrate since they have no support systems. Eighty percent of minors assisted by La Strada were trafficked for sexual exploitation, 15% for forced labor, and 5% for begging.
The vast majority of those assisted by La Strada finished middle school (92%), 5% had vocational education, and 4% had higher levels of education. However, regardless of their educational backgrounds, the majority (86%) worked as unskilled laborers and lived in in extreme poverty. Only 9 percent said they knew that the jobs they were offered abroad involved sex work. The rest felt deceived by the recruiters (Ganta 2013).
PREVENTION, PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE
TO TRAFFICKED VICTIMS
PREVENTION
According to the TIP Report, the Moldovan government maintained efforts to prevent human trafficking. The national anti-trafficking committee (NCCTIP) and its secretariat coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking response. In keeping with the national action plan for 2014-2016, NCCTIP implemented programs to raise awareness among students and Moldovan citizens abroad, as well as the general public through radio broadcasts, a website, and a national anti-trafficking week. The government has also provided anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel on identifying trafficking victims.
However, protection of victims and prevention of human trafficking has been mostly supported by NGOs and international organizations funded by foreign donors, including two major players: the International Center "La Strada" and that the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The International Center “La Strada” started their anti-trafficking activities in 2001 as part of the European NGO network against trafficking in human beings comprising eight member organizations in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Macedonia (FYROM), Moldova, The Netherlands, Poland, and Ukraine and an international secretariat based in Amsterdam. La Strada-Moldova manages a hotline that can be called toll-free from within Moldova and from overseas. La Strada also provides consultations via Skype and e-mail to share relevant information on safe migration and human trafficking risks. In addition, La Strada regularly conducts social awareness campaigns for the general public and for potential migrants on various aspects of safe migration, migrant workers’ rights, and trafficking risks.
In the past, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had organized several information campaigns aimed at preventing trafficking in persons. In 2003-2004, IOM bought distribution rights for the film Lijya-4-ever, a brutal story of the downward spiral of Liljia, a trafficked girl from the former Soviet Union. Abandoned by her mother, who migrated to the United States, Lilja ends up in Sweden where she is forced to perform sexual acts for a large number of clients. IOM organized screenings of this movie for some 60,000 people, mainly teenage girls, young women, and a smattering of government officials (Gozdziak 2016). In 2005 IOM launched a play, Abandoned People, about Moldovan migrants in Italy. The play is based on dramatic stories written by Dumitru Crudu that indicates that Moldovan migrants may never come back to their native country. It is somewhat ironic that IOM chose a film and a play that conveniently forget that migration is one of the basic human rights and portray migration as a root cause of trafficking.
In 2009, the Human Rights Festival included several films presented in Chisinau, Balti and Cahul aimed at raising public awareness of a range of social problems, including migration, child rights, rights of HIV infected persons, and different forms of discrimination. The Festival was organized by the Institute for Human Rights with financial support from the Netherlands Embassy, German Embassy, Embassy of Lithuania, UNDP, UNICEF, Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Word AIDS Campaign.
During the time of this research, La Strada-Moldova continued to provide information, organizing trainings, and building capacity of professionals working with victims and potential victims of trafficking in persons (social workers, teachers, doctors, and representatives of law enforcement authorities), while IOM, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Children, focused on socially vulnerable children and youth, social orphans, children left behind as a consequence of migration, children from residential institutions, and sexually victimized young women. IOM deemed these populations at-risk-for trafficking.
PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE
including 132 returned victims, compared with 264, including 85 returnees, in 2014. The government allocated 600,000 lei ($31,914) for the repatriation of victims in 2015. However, not all of the funds were disbursed, in part due to bureaucratic obstacles to accessing the funds.
In addition, the government provided approximately 8.38 million lei ($446,000) to seven shelters for victims of crime and family violence, an increase from 7.26 million lei ($385,970) provided in 2014. One of these shelters, the Chisinau Assistance and Protection Center, specialized in receiving trafficking victims and individuals at high risk of trafficking.
As part of their Assistance and Protection Program, IOM provided assistance to returned victims of trafficking, mainly women. As indicated above, in the early 2000s IOM assisted over 2,400 women. The assistance package consisted of crisis intervention care, including medical, psychological, legal, and social needs assessment, and residential care for up to one month, followed by a 12-month community-based rehabilitation program (social assistance and vocational training). Approximately 80% of returning women accepted the acute crisis intervention and/or rehabilitation programs (Ostrovschi et al. 2011). During our field research, there were no returned women in the IOM shelters. As indicated above, the beneficiaries included young women considered to be at-risk for trafficking. None of the women we visited with ever left Moldova.
INTERVIEWS WITH SURVIVORS OF TRAFFICKING
Fourteen interviews with survivors of human trafficking have been conducted in 2015 by the research team. Twelve of the survivors were women and two were men. All of the survivors were former clients of La Strada Moldova.
WOMEN. The women ranged in age from 18 to 58 at the time of trafficking. However,
the majority (8 women) were very young--in their early 20s--at the time of trafficking. Four of the women were trafficked for sexual exploitation, three for labor exploitation, three for a combination of labor and sexual exploitation, and two for begging. Three survivors hail from Transnistria, the rest are from different towns and villages in Moldova. The vast majority (7 women) were trafficked to Russia, one was trafficked within Moldova, and one each to Ukraine, Dubai, Malaysia, and Cambodia.
The women trafficked to Russia stayed in the country from two months to seven years; however, the majority were in the trafficking situation for two to three months.
Natasha who spent six months in Russia being sexually exploited described her situation as follows: “I was in a foreign country. They were mocking me; these people were not humans. I was often bought by four people for the whole night for 8,000 rubles and they could do whatever they wanted with me.” In order to forget those experiences Natasha started drinking heavily and taking drugs.
Tatiana’s husband was recruited to work in Russia in agriculture. When he got there, the trafficker told him to send for Tatiana because together they would be able to make more money in a shorter period of time. Tatiana’s mother-in-law advised Tatiana against this plan. She thought that at 18 years of age Tatiana was too young to work abroad. However, as Tatiana said in the interview “(…) the money we needed mattered the most, so I went.”
Both Nina and Elena were smuggled into Russia and forced to beg in the streets. Knowing that they were in Russia illegally, they didn’t think they had a choice but to do what the traffickers asked.
exploitation except that she managed to escape on her own after about a year. After she escaped her trafficker, she remained in Malaysia for the next three years, including about 18 months she spent in jail when she was arrested together with a young man she met. She is not quite sure what the charges were as she does not speak any Malay.
Marta was even younger that Alina—18 years old—when she was trafficked to Cambodia for sex and labor exploitation. Somehow Marta managed to call her mother in Moldova. Marta’s mother contacted the Moldovan police and they in turn contacted the Cambodian police who extricated Marta from her trafficking situation.
Ana was 24 years old when she ended up in a sexual exploitation situation in Dubai. It is unclear from Ana’s narrative why she went to Dubai.
MEN. Both of the interviewed men were trafficked for labor exploitation. Victor, a 57-year-old from the Leova District was trafficked together with his wife within Moldova to work in agriculture as a sheep herder. He and his wife spent about 2.5 months in the trafficking situation. The staff of La Strada-Moldova indicated that the cases of trafficking for forced labor within Moldova are on the rise.
Andrei, a 31-year-old, was trafficked with his girlfriend to Russia also for labor exploitation. Andrei did not elaborate what kind of work he and his girlfriend had to perform. They spent about five months in forced labor.
THE TRAFICKERS
Most of the traffickers were strangers. The majority acted alone, but in a few cases the traffickers were married couples. In all cases the traffickers promised good jobs abroad.
In one case, the trafficker was a family member. Natalia ended up being exploited by her Roma husband who convinced her to go with him to Ukraine to work, but instead took her to Russia where he forced her to beg in the streets. When their children were born Natalia was forced to take them with her while she was begging. The husband pocketed all the money she earned.
ASSISTANCE RECEIVED BY MOLDOVAN SURVIVORS
Most survivors did not receive any assistance in destination countries from local programs after they were rescued from their trafficking situation. Those trafficked to Russia indicated that they were there illegally and were afraid to look for help. Some, especially those trafficked across great distances, were placed in temporary shelters, provided with food, and in some instances received counseling before departing for home.
Upon rescue, Marta was placed by law enforcement in a shelter for trafficked victims in Cambodia. She was provided room and board as well as counseling services. IOM arranged for her flight back to Moldova and paid for the airfare. After staying for a month in a shelter for trafficked women, Marta sought out her boyfriend. She stayed with him for a week, but in the end decided to leave him since he beat her. A female friend took Marta in and found her a job, but Marta did not stay employed for long, because the job did not pay well and she could barely afford buying food with the money she made. The real reason for quitting her job, however, seems to be that Marta met another man. “We get along well, she said, and want to marry.” Marta is pregnant and should go to a doctor, but doesn’t have money for prenatal care. Her boyfriend is also unemployed and it is difficult to say how they are surviving. The boyfriend’s sister is working in Italy and is encouraging them to come and join her there.
At the time of the interview Alina said: “I am not staying much in one place. Today I can be here and tomorrow in another place.” At some point after her return, housing was arranged for Alina in her village of origin, but she didn’t stay long there. “The house was next to a cemetery, she said, and people were coming there, breaking my windows, stealing from the house. In the end they have broken and stolen everything they could.” While Alina would like to “have a family and live a normal life,” she doesn’t seem to have any concrete plans to get her life in order or get a job.
Natasha turned for help to her family and friends. When she returned to Moldova from Russia she started drinking heavily and taking drugs. Natasha said: “When I returned from Russia, at first I did not understand what was happening around me. I had a feeling I was in a fog and my life was a scary dream. I was scared of everything. I was drinking and drinking to block the fear out. Fear, fear, fear was everywhere.”
Natasha’s mother connected her with the Women’s Initiative program. The organization enrolled Natasha in a detox program, provided psychological counseling, legal assistance, and vocational training. Natasha would like to find a job as a cook, but she is not sure she could adjust to work outside the sex industry. She said: “I am not sure I will be able to work; I got used to work differently and I don’t know anything else. It is important for me to stop being afraid; I am afraid of the militia, of traffickers, of everything and everybody. I don’t trust people.” Natasha is also afraid that she might be HIV positive.
Several of the interviewed women or their children had serious health problems and turned to a variety of programs, non-governmental organizations and government services, for health care assistance. One of Lyuba’s two children got sick when she was in a temporary shelter. The shelter staff took him to the hospital and he got all the necessary medical treatment as well as basic necessities—medicine, diapers, and some clothing. Lyuba also receives approximately 480 lei from the government for child support, but she says the money is not sufficient to cover all of her expenses.
PROSPECTS FOR SUCCESSFUL REINTEGRATION
Victor thought that he would have to travel abroad to seek employment. Victor reminded us that he and his wife worked abroad for two years in the mid-1990s and enjoyed the experience. He thought that the working conditions in Moldova were much more exploitative. Victor and his wife were exploited and maltreated by a Moldovan sheep herder in a district far away from their village. They returned to their village with no money and are currently in dire financial situation. They are house-sitting for a neighbor who is abroad, but they have no idea where they would go once he returns. The municipal government provides some financial assistance, but it is not enough to survive.
Andrei said he would not want to seek employment outside Moldova, but upon reflection he changed his mind: “Look, he said, we are homeless. We cannot live with my wife’s mother because the authorities would discontinue the meager financial support they are providing at the moment.” According to Andrei, he and his wife are as poor as they were before they went to Russia. There are no real job prospects in the village. On occasion, Andrei gets hired as a farm hand by a local farmer, but the money he makes is barely enough to buy some bread. Andrei and his wife have a young son to take care of and desperately need assistance from the government. Andrei has a brother and a sister, but they are not in a position to help him.
Natalia who was forced by her Roma husband to beg in the streets in Russia, is hopeful that she will be able to have a good life. At the time of our interview, Natalia was receiving help—vocational training and temporary housing—from Insula Speranterol. She hopes she would be able to find a job after she graduates. Natalia’s biggest challenge is to regain full custody of her children who are currently in the care of her Roma husband and his family. Although her family did not like Natalia’s choice of a husband, her parents and sister are happy that she returned to Moldova. Natalia has accepted some help from her sister, but says this is not a long-term solution as her sister has a disabled child and needs a lot of resources as well. Natalia wants to stay in Chisinau to be far away from her husband and his family. She is afraid he would force her again to beg in the streets. She also thinks there are more jobs in the capital than in smaller towns and villages.
P O V E R T Y
unemployment has risen dramatically with the influx of returning migrants. According to the Rural Poverty Portal, an estimated 42 percent of the rural Moldovan population is now affected by poverty, as compared with 14 percent in large cities and 28 percent in towns. Overall, the most deprived districts are located in the central-western parts of the country, followed by the central-eastern and north-eastern areas.2
While the vast majority of Moldovans live in rural areas, at present, 60 percent of agricultural land is operated by large-scale enterprises. The remainder is divided into small plots averaging 1.5 hectares that are too small to become commercially viable. With the exception of larger scale farming that generates some employment opportunities, there has been little investment in rural areas.
H E A L T H P R O B L E M S A N D G E N D E R B A S E D V I O L E N C E
Health problems, including alcohol and drug addiction, also pose great challenges for the returned women and men. Virtually every returned survivor we interviewed faced health problem. Some of the health issues pre-dated the trafficking episode. Victor has always had heart problems, but now the doctor told him he would have to have heart surgery.
Natasha was in and out of detox trying to get clean when she returned. Others were not as proactive and continued to drink heavily. Several women suffered gender-based violence both before they went abroad and during their trafficking ordeal. Reports indicate that 80 percent of Moldovan victims of trafficking experienced violence in their families (Fabius 2006), a culturally accepted phenomenon.
A study of 120 trafficked women assisted by IOM upon return to Moldova found that headaches, stomach pains, memory problems, and back pain were particularly prevalent. Between a quarter and a third of the studied women reported suffering from loss of appetite, toothache, weight loss, chest pain, and breathing difficulties. The researchers emphasized that the high prevalence of headaches, memory loss, poor appetite, and pain may be explained, at least partially, by the women’s poor mental health (Oram et al. 2012).
Indeed, 54 percent of the women in this study met criteria for at least one psychiatric diagnosis, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) alone (16%); co-morbid PTSD (20%); other anxiety or mood disorder (18%). The researchers explained the outcomes as
a result of both traumas experienced during the trafficking and childhood adversity, personality factors, and socio-economic position (Ostrovschi at al 2011).
These results notwithstanding, the researchers caution to avoid burdening trafficked women with additional stigmatizing labels by diagnosing them with ‘disorders.’ In many instances the victims’ psychological reactions are normal responses to extraordinary abnormal events and experiences.
IN SUMMARY
Fighting trafficking in Moldova is very difficult because of weak state control, high degree of corruption at all levels of society, and general criminalization of the state and society. The biggest and most severe shortcoming of the Government of Moldova is their inability to provide the victims of trafficking protection, rehabilitation and counselling services. In many cases the traffickers re-establish their control over the victims as soon as they have returned to their home countries and often victims are re- trafficked abroad (Saari 2006). Non-governmental and international organizations continue bear the responsibility of counter-trafficking work in Moldova.
The anti-trafficking assistance programs, especially those supported by IOM, seem to be helping both survivors of trafficking for sexual and other labor exploitation as well as exploited workers who may not meet the muster of the definition of human trafficking, especially severe forms of human trafficking. In many of the analyzed cases there was neither force nor coercion, and only sometimes deception. In some cases, the victims’ understanding of what particular type of work—especially in the sex industry, but not exclusively—entails were not commensurate with the reality of the particular employment situation they voluntarily signed up for. In some instances, the survivors did not know what the prevailing wage in, for example the construction industry, in a foreign country was and felt wronged if they did not receive what they thought of as adequate compensation. In most instances, however, there was a great deal of fraud.
RECCOMENDATIONS
Given this situation, we recommend the following:
Create training and information programs about safe migration. The concept of
safe migration is often used in the context of labor migrants from the global South migrating in search of employment to the global North. However, it seems that in the context of Moldova there is a need to establish training programs and information clearing houses focusing on labor laws and workers’ rights in destination countries to prepare Moldovan labor migrants well for the realities of the labor markets abroad. This will go a long way towards prevention of forced labor and human trafficking.
Work with people who have experienced long history of unemployment to
equip them with understanding the intricacies of the hiring process. Many of
the returned victims never worked prior to embarking on cross-border or internal migration to follow a job offer. In many instances, the victims did not understand how contracts work, what questions to ask, how to ensure they were offered compensation commensurate with the prevailing or living wage. This problem was especially severe if the victims sought employment abroad and were not able to communicate with the employer directly.
Focus on re-integration. While emergency assistance is necessary when victims
need to be provided with shelter and safety as well as basic necessities, programs need to look beyond the immediate needs of the victims. They need to secure appropriate funding for longer-term programs and follow-up to ensure that the returned victims have an on-going support to re-establish their lives.
Facilitate the empowerment and capacity building among returned victims to
establish victim-led support groups or assistance programs. Most of the
anti-trafficking activities in Moldova follow a top-down approach where the returned survivors of human trafficking are passive recipients of (limited) services. There is a need for a bottom-up empowerment model.
As in other countries studied in this research project, data on human trafficking, including returned survivors of human trafficking is not available for independent analysis.
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