Regional meeting for combating labour exploitation in trafficking of human beings starts in Moldovan capital

Chisinau, 5 October /MOLDPRES/ - A regional meeting of experts from South-Eastern Europe for combating the labour exploitation within the trafficking of human beings has started in Chisinau, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

In the opening of the event, Government’s Secretary General Dumitru Udrea said that the trafficking of persons remained a global problem and was one of the most serious crimes which hit the lives of millions of people. Almost each state of the world is affected by the trafficking, either as origin country, transit one or country destination for victims. This phenomenon is in continuous change and evolution. Despite all efforts made by the anti-trafficking community, the phenomenon still continues to exist in Moldova.    

The labour exploitation is a predominant form of trafficking in Moldova. Therefore, I believe that the today’s event is a good platform for the exchange of experience and knowledge with colleagues from the South-East European region, which will be useful for everybody, in each country, Dumitru Udrea noted.  

As you already know, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Moldova has received a large number of refugees as compared to the overall number of residents and is one of the worst hit countries by the refugees’ crisis. All of us know that each humanitarian crisis enhances the risks of trafficking and abuse. Therefore, Moldova paid special attention to measures of prevention and these actions have been carried out ever since the beginning of the crisis, the government’s secretary general stressed.      

We appreciate the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which provides opportunities to experts from our countries to participate in various similar regional meetings. They represent an excellent platform for the exchange of experience and establishing the inter-institutional and international cooperation of the anti-trafficking actors from the participating countries, Dumitru Udrea added.

The meeting is held on 5-6 October and organized by UNODC, in cooperation with the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France.   

Photo: Government