Draft report on the implementation of the National Anti-Trafficking Strategy to be debated at a round table

On 23 November, the round table “Draft report assessing the implementation of the National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking (HT) for 2018-2023” was held in Chisinau.

Representatives of administrative authorities with anti-trafficking duties, intergovernmental organizations and civil society organizations active in this field, as well as key actors involved in the mission of preventing and combating human trafficking, gathered to discuss and validate the draft report assessing the implementation of the latest national anti-trafficking strategy and to lay out new policies for the next strategy.

Respectively, the agenda of the day included the presentation of the draft report; discussions on the content and formulation of recommendations to improve the presented document; exchange of opinions and convergence of views on the development of the national anti-trafficking policy.

Valeriu Berlinschi, representative of the State Chancellery, made a salutatory address to the more than 40 representatives of the anti-trafficking community who gathered to debate the draft strategy evaluation report: “We thank La Strada, Oxfam, who ensured the evaluation of the strategy by involving the foreign expert Hanna Antonova, which is in the spirit of the GRETA recommendations. Thank you for the experience we had in working with all anti-trafficking actors from Moldova. We thank our policy development partners. Certainly, we faced many challenges, but we also have tangible results in combating HT. We continue to rely on the unity of the actors involved in preventing and combating this phenomenon.”

Elena Botezatu, president of the International Center La Strada, welcomed the audience, noting that it is a very special report, in the sense that, for the first time ever, it involved an expert in the external evaluation of the strategy implementation:

“I think it’s a very important and critical context. On the one hand, we have an economic crisis, an energy crisis, which increases the vulnerability of our citizens, and of foreign citizens in our country, to various forms of abuse and exploitation. They may be tempted to make some more prompt decisions, to accept some dubious, dangerous job offers, to become victims of various types of crime, including human trafficking.

“At the same time, we are in the midst of a Ukraine war refugee crisis, a crisis that has challenged all of us to reconsider how we intervene to combat any form of abuse and exploitation to which these categories of people may be exposed. It was a challenge to integrate a new category of beneficiaries into all the services we provide for these categories of people in order to combat human trafficking. I hope it will be a useful event for the entire anti-trafficking community, which will generate discussions, will have an interactive workshop, with valuable opinions on what has been reported.”

Jose Antonio Mancera, Oxfam representative, GHT HSP PM, also came with a message of support and encouragement, noting, “Human trafficking has many faces – the face of a woman, a child or a man. Anyone and anywhere can become a victim of HT due to economic situation, personal circumstances and other factors, which increase the state of vulnerability, so people fall prey to traffickers.”

Hanna Antonova, foreign expert, said that the assessment she was involved in was of great responsibility: “I hope that the findings and recommendations provided will be useful and will help the parties involved in the new policy planning on this dimension.”

The options recommended by the expert in order to continue policies include revision and extension of the current strategy, reformulation of a program for 3-5 years or elaboration of a national program of actions for 2-3 years.

In any case, the expert suggested a greater focus on the following areas: leadership, coordination and monitoring; elaboration of anti-trafficking policies at local level; response to online recruitment and exploitation; transformation of Moldova into a country of destination and transit of HT.

The event was organized as part of the project “Strengthening the national response to combat trafficking and gender-based violence in Moldova in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine”, funded by Oxfam GB.