Two Little Girls 

MOLDOVA

Moldova is primarily a source country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. Moldovan victims are often subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour within Moldova and in Russia, Turkey, the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” Greece, United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Thailand, Germany, Denmark, and Czech Republic. Women and minors are subjected to sex trafficking in Moldova in brothels, saunas, and massage parlours.

Moldovan men are subjected to forced labour in agriculture and construction in Ukraine and Russia. Moldovan women are subjected to forced labour in agriculture in Ukraine. Traffickers use fraud, debt bondage, and withholding of documents and wages to compel victims into sex trafficking and forced labour in other countries. Boys were subjected to sex trafficking in Moldova, and girls were subjected to sex trafficking both within the country and transnationally. Foreign tourists, including those from Norway, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand, Australia, Israel, and the United States, subjected Moldovan children to commercial sexual exploitation, using the Internet as a tool for recruitment and exploitation.

Moldova is rated as a Tier 2 Country by the US Department of State’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report indicating that the Government of Moldova does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  

“The film was part of a three month concentrated campaign on rural television and seen twice daily before or after the news.”

MEDIA CAMPAIGN MANAGED BY IREX AND AICI TV KEY CAMPAIGN ACHIEVEMENTS:

  • An estimated 38,000 people have seen Two Little Girls through an extensive media campaign in Moldova conducted over the course of four months
  • The TV network AICI produced and broadcast five news items on trafficking between January and March 2010 as part of the Two Little Girls media campaign: two cases of trafficking in people and three news items to test the people’s reaction to the TLG film, to inform the public about the phenomenon of trafficking, and to advertise the hotline available
  • AICI TV Network (covering 30% of Moldovan population and territory) organised an intense anti-trafficking campaign through frequent broadcast of the TLG film in Romanian and Russian, the production of relevant news on the subject and 2 talk shows. 
  • Each TV station member of the AICI Network broadcast the film 102 times (56 times in Russian and 45 times in Romanian). 
  • Through this campaign the media became more aware of the issue of human trafficking and more careful in their coverage and as a result more human trafficking is covered more frequently as a result. 
  • The TLG film has been used by La Strada Moldova in workshops with some of Macedonia’s most vulnerable children who are identified to attend summer camps run by the organization.