Pridnestrovie PMR

NGOs urge Moldova and Pridnestrovie to work together in fight against sex slave trade

TransnistriaSex slaves are big business in Eastern Europe. Now human rights groups want local governments to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
On a per-capita basis, Moldova is Europe's top exporter of human beings for enslavement in the international sex trade.
On a per-capita basis, Moldova is Europe's top exporter of human beings for enslavement in the international sex trade.

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - NGOs are working in both Chisinau and Tiraspol, respectively the capitals of Moldova and Pridnestrovie, to cut down on human trafficking and the sale of underage girls as sex slaves.

They receive limited help from the two governments, and since Tiraspol and Chisinau don't see eye to eye due to their long-running territorial dispute, there is a near-total lack of cooperation and partnerships at the official level.

Despite a lack of help from Moldova, in Pridnestrovie, or Transdniestria as it is also known, there are separate hotline and prevention activities as part of a program of collaboration with the United Nations, Danida, EU and NGOs to stop human trafficking. The new initiative involves a forum, educational activities and a hotline designed to prevent human trafficking.

The work is sponsored 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.

The group also collaborates with a YMCA-led anti trafficking group originally from Belarus, La Strada. They have set up a hotline which victims and everyone else can call from both within Transdniestria and from without. The number is 0800 88888 and is a free call, locally. If calling from abroad, it is + 373 533 8 60 30.

A spokesperson consulted by Tiraspol Times says that the problem exists, but it is nowhere near the levels of neighboring Ukraine or Moldova, the #1 trafficking hub in Europe. Even so, the group wants to alert locals in Tiraspol and other parts of Pridnestrovie to the risks, and prevent traffickers - some of whom come from Chisinau - from recruiting new sex slave victims locally.

During 2006, the hotline in Tiraspol received 200 calls so far, mostly prevention cases, but also calls from victims of trafficking, from parents of trafficked persons, and so-called SOS calls, regarding supposed or ongoing cases of trafficking, according to Victor Lutenco, representative of the IOM. IOM has also organized approximately 50 seminars in schools in
Rybnitsa and Dubossary, with about 1500 students involved.

Top export: prostitutes

In Moldova, the situation is much worse. Although formerly one of the most wealthy parts of the former Soviet Union, Moldova is today officially the poorest country in Europe. With nearly total unemployment, the registered daily income of 80% of the population is below a dollar per day. This fact can explain why desperate people sell their organs for money and sex trafficking is rampant. Moldovan prostitutes are now the country’s main export.

According to a UNICEF survey, “90% of Moldovans aged between 18-29 would like to leave the country …only 9% said they would like to live in Moldova.” Freedom House says: "Some 800,000 inhabitants of Moldova have left the country to pursue a better life elsewhere, and the majority of the country's remaining population lives in poverty."

40% of Moldova's sex slaves are kids, and both the traffickers and the involved government officials know that children are highly sought after for the sex trade: A UN organization, the IOM, reported that among the victims they have assisted, 40 percent were minors at the time of their initial trafficking. The sex trafficking in minors takes place with the assistance of government officials who make the major share of the income from the trade.

The U.S. State Department's report on Human Rights abuses in Moldova affirms that "trafficking of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation" remains a problem, calling it "very serious." As early as 2005, its report confirmed that Moldovan authorities simply turn a blind eye and refuse to arrest or prosecute anyone: "There were reports of involvement by some government officials in this trade; however, authorities opened investigations against only low-level government officials and did not arrest or prosecute any officials during the year. [...] Low- and high-level government officials were involved in, or routinely turned a blind eye, to trafficking crimes; however, no high-level officials were prosecuted during the year."

Instead of getting better, the already disastrous situation went from bad to worse during 2006. In its follow-up report a year later, the American government had even worse criticism for Moldova: "Prostitution was widespread, and observers noted that sex tourism, which was particularly prevalent in upscale Chisinau hotels, continued to grow. "

In PMR, landlocked location makes trafficking harder

Pridnestrovie is landlocked, stuck between Moldova and Ukraine. It has no commercial airport, so any human trafficking must by necessity cross one of these two countries. On the border with Ukraine, the European Union has a border monitoring mission in place, EUBAM. After nearly a year and a half of closely controlling the border, the European Union affirms that human trafficking from Pridnestrovie is not a problem.

It is also unlikely that trafficking takes place through the border with Moldova. Mostly made up of a river, the Dniester, this border is characterized by a three mile "buffer zone" created after a 1992 cease fire. The zone is guarded by a multilateral team of peacekeepers, headed by a Joint Control Commission consisting of troops from Moldova, Pridnestrovie, Russia, and Ukraine, all with oversight by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which is a party to the Commission.

" - But let us not rule out that maybe some trafficking might still take place," says a spokesman for PMR's Ministry of the Interior.

" - If it is does happen, it is nowhere near the scale of what goes on in Moldova. But even one girl is one too many."

A desperate situation could drive families in Pridnestrovie to take desperate steps. In the past, the region was the richest in the Moldavian SSR and among the most wealthy in the Soviet Union. But last year, Moldova urged Ukraine to close its border to exports with customs documentation issued by Tiraspol. This led to a 40% drop in exports for part of last year and a loss of revenue which government authorities estimate at $500 million.

" - $500 million is a huge sum for a small country with just over 500,000 people. The economic blockade obviously affected the the lives of everyone here," says the Ministry's spokesman.

Local residents do not understand the logic of the move, and remain hopeful that free trade will soon be allowed to flow again.

" - It ought to be such a simple question: Do we want people in this part of Eastern Europe to be prosperous, and build worthwhile lives for themselves? Or do we want to cut away the feet from under them, take away their right to make an honest living and force them into poverty by denying them their right to do business with the rest of the world?"

Studies have shown that crime and prostitution take over when legitimate ways to earn a living are no longer available. A viable economy in its own right, and one of most industrial areas of the former Soviet Union, Pridnestrovie wants to integrate itself in the global economy through free and open trade with the rest of the world.

When this is done openly, with EU supervision and international collaboration, trade flows are transparent and governments can work together to stamp out crime. But when there is no collaboration, trade is forced underground. Groups of organized criminals take over, and instead of eradicating the trafficking in human flesh, it becomes one more source of growing revenue.

Pridnestrovie is currently seeking a transit protocol which would enable legitimate exports to resume and which will bring a climate of collaboration and cross border partnerships to a region which badly needs it.

See also:
» Moldova: Lower prices behind sex slavery boom and child prostitution
» Government officials behind record rise in Moldova organ trade
» Moldova falling apart as corruption, poverty force half the country to leave


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<h1>NGOs urge Moldova and Pridnestrovie to work together in fight against sex slave trade</h1> Pridnestrovie or Transnistria is the name for the left bank of the Moldavian Dniester River / Dniestr River, or Dnestr (Nistru). <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080418052449/http://www.visitpmr.com/">NGOs urge Moldova and Pridnestrovie to work together in fight against sex slave trade</a> which is independent although Moldavia considers it part of Moldova and a Moldovan breakaway region or separatist republic of Moldova. <p> <h2>Tiraspol Times Transnistria news and Transdniester newspaper from PMR Pridnestrovie and Moldova:</h2> It is called Transdniester, Transdniestr or Trans-Dniestria and its breakaway regime in separatist Transnistria became independent from Moldova in 1990 and is today separate de facto state. Large cities and towns include Tiraspol Dubossary Rybnitsa Bender or Bendery with Tighina as well as Grigoriopol, Kamenka / Camenca and Slobozya. The main political leaders are Yevgeny Shevchuk and president Igor Smirnov. <p> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080418052449/http://pridnestrovie.net/">Pridnestrovie Transnistria</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080418052449/http://www.pridnestrovie.net/index.html">Transdnistria between Moldova (Moldova Republic or Moldovan republic) and Ukraine</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080418052449/http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/index.php">Tiraspol Transdniestr (or Trans-Dnistria)</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080418052449/http://www.pridnestrovie.net/aboutus.html">About Pridnestrovie breakaway republic</a> <a href="links.html">Links to Transnistria's government</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080418052449/http://www.pridnestrovie.net/image">Photos and images from Transdniestria</a>