Human trafficking can take many forms: victims are forced to work against their will, to engage in prostitution, to commit criminal acts, or to be forced into marriage. The true extent of the problem is difficult to say, as the number of unreported cases is enormous. It is clear that the phenomenon has been on the rise in recent years.
The United Nations estimates that more than 50 million people worldwide live in situations that can be called "modern slavery."
Several hundred cases are officially recorded in Moldova each year. The real numbers are likely in the high four-digit range, according to a study commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2019.
"La Strada" – helping people in need
Every year, thousands of calls come into a small office in the center of Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova. The callers often just want to know what the legal framework is for working abroad, to ask if the employment contract is reliable, how to protect themselves from exploitation.
But there are also those calls that the Moldovan section of the international NGO "La Strada" calls "SOS calls" - calls from people who live in situations they did not choose and from which there is no way out.
“Then we contact the police and agree on the next steps,” says Tatyana Fomina, a legal advisor and analyst at the organization “La Strada.” “In emergency cases, we provide safe accommodation, psychological and medical assistance.”
The anti-human trafficking hotline is one of the many solutions offered by this NGO, which has been fighting human trafficking since 2001, which represents a serious violation of human rights.
Moldovans work like slaves in Germany, France, Italy
Tatyana Fomina has been fighting human trafficking for over 20 years. There are few people in Moldova who understand this area better than she does. As an analyst and legal advisor at the NGO "La Strada", she collects information and tries to uncover patterns behind individual destinies.
Who becomes a victim, where are people taken? And why? Human trafficking has changed significantly in recent years, says Fomina – and in Moldova. In the early 2000s, she says, almost all cases were related to sexual exploitation. Moldovan women were taken abroad, where they were forced into prostitution.
As the topic has gained more political attention, cases of labor exploitation have been increasingly recorded. Today, this form accounts for the majority of cases. The main destination is the European Union. Moldovans are most often forced to work in France, Italy, and Germany. They are often deprived of their passports under pretexts, live in cramped quarters, work much more than agreed, and receive little or no compensation.
People from Bangladesh and India don't know that it's not in the EU
For two years now, Fomina has been observing a new phenomenon: "Twenty years ago, Moldova was just a country of origin for human trafficking. We could not have imagined that Moldova would develop into a destination."
But as many Moldovans leave to work in the EU, Moldova is now facing a labor shortage. The gap is being filled mainly by people from Asia.
“It's a question of supply and demand,” says Fomina.
Like Moldovans in the EU, these people hope for a better life in Moldova. But they often fall into the network of human traffickers: in 2023, the first major case of foreign victims on Moldovan territory was recorded.
More than 50 people from Bangladesh and India came to Moldova through false promises from employment agents. They had to pay up to 5000 euros for the mediation. "They sold their apartments, houses to pay for it," says Elena Botezatu, director of the NGO "La Strada".
In Moldova, they had to surrender their passports and were forced to work in a sewing factory that supplied the European market. They did not receive their salary for months.
"People think they are coming to the EU and that they will earn well here," says Tatyana Fomina. "They don't know that Moldova is not part of the EU and what awaits them here." The Moldovan government, international expert groups and NGOs are watching with concern as the number of such cases continues to grow.
Risk factor – war in Ukraine
Another cause for concern is the war in neighboring Ukraine. Around two million Ukrainians have fled since 2022, primarily to Moldova, a country of 2,5 million people. To protect them from human traffickers, the Moldovan government, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the IOM have formed a special working group, and numerous international NGOs have dedicated themselves to protecting refugees. Today, around 140.000 Ukrainians live in the country.
“Over time, international support has become less and less. But the risk of human trafficking is still high,” says Fomina. She fears that the number of unreported cases, at a time when the police and border guards were working at the limit of their capacities, is significantly higher.
One case in particular stuck in her memory. Immediately after the outbreak of war, the organization received a call from the airport. The man was on his way to Istanbul with a Ukrainian woman. The woman seemed disoriented – could an expert from the NGO "La Strada" check on the situation? When he arrived at the airport, the man had disappeared without a trace – the Ukrainian woman was still there.
"She was completely drugged. When she woke up the next day, she didn't remember anything." What the man planned with the young woman, Fomina doesn't know – he was never caught. So the case never entered the official statistics.
Timely interview – before going abroad
"In the end," says Tatyana Fomina, "it's always about inequality. If I'm born into a good family, I probably won't become a victim of human trafficking. But if I'm born into a poor family with problems like alcoholism, domestic violence, and unemployment, the situation is completely different."
One of the most important fields of their NGO's work is therefore prevention, adds "La Strada" director Elena Botezatu. The organization's team tries to identify vulnerable groups - and to enter into a conversation with them.
She had just returned from an information event at a vocational high school. The young men she met there were learning construction trades. Many dream of working abroad, where salaries are much higher than in Moldova. But they haven't yet learned how it works and what the risks are, says Botezatu.
"At first they didn't think I could teach them anything, but that quickly changed," she says with a laugh. Botezatu explained to them why they always need a passport, how important it is to have a visa, and what to look for when they get offers to work abroad. "I hope they don't fall for false promises."
Fewer registered cases do not mean fewer victims
The Moldovan government has signed and ratified the most important international agreements in this area. However, the Council of Europe's expert group GRETA, in this year's report, calls on the government to do significantly more to combat trafficking in human beings. In particular, children from the Roma minority, as well as minors living on the streets or in state institutions, need to be better protected. Experts in identifying trafficking in human beings should be given more powers and better training.
Tatyana Fomina also notes that there is often a lack of expertise. This is especially evident in rural areas in Moldova:
"Police officers say it's too complicated to investigate these cases and they'd rather focus on something else." Although there is a specially established center that coordinates anti-human trafficking investigations in the country, that very center was "restructured" by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2023 and significantly reduced.
From 2020 to 2024, 935 cases of human trafficking were recorded in Moldova – significantly fewer than in the previous four years. But for the Council of Europe expert group, this is not a reason to rejoice. On the contrary: it criticizes that the decline in the number of cases is primarily due to “a reduction in the capacity of the police to combat human trafficking” and calls for urgent measures.
If she has learned anything over the years, says Tatjana Fomina, it is that fewer recorded cases do not mean fewer victims.
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