Moldovan foreign affairs minister participates in high-level event on sidelines of OSCE ministerial conference

Chisinau, 1 December /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Nicu Popescu, along with Foreign Affairs Minister of Iceland Thordis Kolbrún Reykfjörð, Foreign Affairs Minister of Norway Anniken Huitfeldt, Foreign Affairs Minister of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani and OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid, has participated in an event on the sidelines of the OSCE ministerial conference, titled, One year of conflict: joining forces to prevent a crisis of trafficking of people in the region. The event was organized by the Office of OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Valiant Richey.  

According to the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry’s (MAEIE) press service, the Moldovan official said that the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the refugees’ crisis which followed had added a new supplement of emergency, in order to work to prevent and combat the trafficking of human beings.  

Moldova received more than 650,000 refugees on the first days of the Russian invasion in Ukraine and over 80,000 of them chose to remain in Moldova.  

The refugees, including women and children, represent an easy target for traffickers, who take advantage of the insecurity of their situation, in order to exploit them. Being aware of our enhanced responsibility to prevent the trafficking of human beings, the Moldovan diplomacy head informed the international community that Moldova had created a taskforce made up of public authorities, civil society’s experts and partners for the protection of victims.     

Photo: MAEIE