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Selling her body in Europe, this Moldovan prostitute is one of the many victims of human trafficking. (Photo: ABC News)CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - In the run-up to the International Conference against Human Trafficking, which will be held in Vienna from 27 - 29 November 2007, a UN agency has launched a global initiative to fight human trafficking. Among the countries singled out: Moldova, in Europe.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), together with other United Nations agencies, Governments, and NGOs, now want to stamp out the trade in people.
In struggling Moldova, women are lured to sexual slavery. A recent UNODC report called "Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns" puts Moldova among the top countries in the world for trafficking in human beings. According to the report, trafficking victims are held in bondage through physical and/or psychological force; they are not free to walk away. Even if they had the ability to escape from their enslavement, typically they have nowhere to go; and they often lack identity papers.
" - Slavery is a booming international trade, less obvious than two hundred years ago for sure, but all around us," said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. "Perhaps we simply prefer to close our eyes to it, as many law-abiding citizens buy the products and the services produced on the cheap by slaves."
In Moldova, the complicity of public officials is not only obvious but indispensable to the business.
- Trade in human beings: Big business
Because human trafficking is an underground crime, with many undiscovered and unidentified victims, the true numbers are not known. But human trafficking has become big business. According to a 26 March 2007 press release, the U.N. and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion. Segment of the economy of some poor countries now depend on this income to survive. A large part of Moldova's foreign currency earnings are the result of people who are working abroad; some of them doing so against their will.
Next to Moldova, in 'de facto' independent Pridnestrovie, the escalation of the problem is being watched with concern. The unrecognized country, which is also known as Transnistria or Trans-Dniester, has established a support organization to inform of the risks of trafficking and prevent cases of human trafficking.
The project in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie, was funded by the European Union (EU), the Italian anti-immigration exploitation program, IOM (International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency) and Danida, of the Danish foreign ministry.
Progress is slow because the government in Chisinau, Moldova, will officially not collaborate with the government in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie, on issues of joint concern. The hypersensitive Moldovan delegation is fearful of any move that might imply recognition of Pridnestrovie's statehood.
- Sex slavery among underage girls from Moldova
In Moldova, the human trafficking specialists admit that the situation is far worse than in what they usually refer to under its Romanian name, Transnistria. Most victims of modern-day slavery are women and young girls, many of whom are forced into prostitution or otherwise exploited as sex slaves. Trafficked men are found in fields, mines and quarries, or in other dirty and dangerous working conditions. Moldovan boys and girls are trafficked into conditions of child labor. Many of them are fatherless or motherless with parents who already left to work abroad, and never came back. Some of these enslaved children are abused sexually as well.
Data collected by UNODC show that about 80 per cent of the victims of human trafficking, most of them women and young girls, are forced into prostitution. The remaining 20 per cent, usually the men and boys, face forced labor. About half are under the age of 18.
The International Organization for Migration considers Moldova the main European source of women and children for forced prostitution in Western Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East. Typically, young women are lured overseas with the promise of waitress or housekeeping jobs, only to be forced into the sex trade, sometimes even sold two or three times.
The UN Protocol Against Trafficking in Persons makes human trafficking a crime. But in Moldova, few are behind bars for trading in human beings. The United Naions complains that "criminal justice systems have not effectively curbed the practice" and that "few criminals are convicted, and most victims never receive help."
The Washington Post reported that Moldova has become a black-market hub of human trafficking. According to the newspaper, most prostitutes working in the Balkans come from Moldova. The situation is unlikely to get better anytime soon: A poll published last week shows that the majority of Moldovans are negative about the future. With desperation and human misery taking hold in Moldova, it is a fair bet that human traffickers will have plenty of raw material to work with in the months and years to come.
In Tiraspol, where the problem is smaller, there is a fear of spill-over. With only the Dniester river to separate them, the two sides share a number of problems. If they can be solved in Chisinau, this is better for Tiraspol, and vice versa, leading some in the NGO community to now advocate trust and increased collaboration instead of mistrust and continued confrontation. (With information from the United Nations, The Washington Post).
See also:
» NGOs urge Moldova and Pridnestrovie to work together in fight against sex slave trade [1]
» Moldova: Lower prices behind sex slavery boom and child prostitution [2]