VZCZCXRO5867
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHCH #0898/01 3271212
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231212Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY CHISINAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8595
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHISINAU 000898 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, EUR/UMB, DRL/AE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KTIP KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG MD
SUBJECT: MOLDOVA INTERIM TIP ASSESSMENT 2009 
 
REFS:  A. STATE 109948  B. Chisinau 0877 
 
CHISINAU 00000898  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Moldova's new government (GOM), 
in place only since late September, has moved 
quickly to push reforms and address the problem of 
trafficking in persons (TIP).  Per ref B, Prime 
Minister Vlad Filat chaired the GOM's first 
meeting of the National Committee for Combating 
Trafficking in Persons (NCCTIP) on November 9, 
which included cabinet ministers in charge of 
social, legal, and judicial matters.  The Prime 
Minister demanded concrete action in investigating 
and opening cases against traffickers, and 
appointed Deputy Prime Minister Iurie Leanca to 
chair the NCCTIP.  The newly appointed NCCTIP 
includes heavy-hitters such as the Ministers of 
Labor, Social Protection, and Family; Interior, 
Justice; Culture, Health; Security and Information 
and Communication; and Education, as well as the 
Prosecutor General, the Director of the Security 
and Information Service, the Director General of 
the Frontier Guards, and the Director of the 
Center for Combating Trafficking in Persons 
(CCTIP).  Thus, the GOM's anti-TIP effort promises 
to be higher-profile and better coordinated, as it 
is a clear priority of the Prime Minister, is 
headed by a senior cabinet member, and includes 
all relevant ministers.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Post's response to questions in ref A are 
given below. 
 
Summarize the progress the Government of Moldova 
has made in: 
 
(a) Continuing to investigate and prosecute 
officials, complicity in trafficking, and seeking 
punishment for such officials. 
 
According to a November 12 response of the CCTIP, 
the CCTIP director recently requested the 
Prosecutor General to "revisit" the case of Ion 
Bejan, former Deputy Director of the CCTIP.  This 
request reflects Prime Minister Filat's statement 
(ref B) at the November 9 NCCTIP meeting:  "It is 
not enough to identify important persons; they 
must be sanctioned as well," and suggests that the 
new government will take firmer action on 
prosecutions than the previous government.  (Note: 
Bejan has been investigated before.  Investigators 
noted then that they were unable to proceed with 
the case, mostly because of non-cooperation of 
witnesses, or retraction of accusations.  End 
note.) 
 
At the November 9 meeting of the NCCTIP, the 
Minister of Justice reported that 434 TIP-related 
cases were opened in the first ten months of 2009 
and that courts convicted 57.  (Note:  These 57 
cases convicted were not necessarily from cases 
opened this year, and given the length of time 
necessary to prosecute a case, were more likely 
cases from previous years.  The judgments were 
final, and not subject to appeal.  Some cases can 
include more than one individual; the 57 decisions 
include acquittals, jail sentences, and fines, but 
there are no breakdowns available from the 
Ministry.  End note.) 
 
(b)  Improving data collection on investigations, 
prosecutions, convictions, and sentences for 
trafficking offenders. 
 
The CCTIP report noted that data coordination 
between CCTIP (which has data only on cases 
initiated) and the Prosecutor General Office (PGO, 
which has information on convictions) will soon be 
improved by an Embassy-installed secure IT system 
at the CCTIP, which will be accessed by a 
prosecutorial unit located at the CCTIP.  CCTIP 
expected the new system to be completed by 
December 2009. 
 
The CCTIP report also noted the long periods of 
time required to bring TIP cases from initial 
investigation to conviction and penalty.  This 
means that judicial decisions do not reflect a 
real-time percentage of cases opened in the 
current year; for example, the case of the Turkish 
trafficker sentenced to 23 years in 2008 was 
 
CHISINAU 00000898  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
opened in 2004. 
 
The problem of separate systems of data collection 
remains:  the CCTIP keeps statistics on cases 
opened and transmitted to prosecutors and courts; 
the Prosecutor's office keeps stats on 
judgments/decisions delivered by courts (which may 
later be subject to appeal); the Ministry of 
Justice keeps stats on judgments executed.  This 
reflects the organization of the national criminal 
justice system, but can cause some confusion when 
reviewing numbers.  We have requested the GOM to 
work on a system which would create a seamless 
presentation of these as yet disparate statistics. 
 
(c)  Increasing anti-trafficking law enforcement 
efforts. 
 
The CCTIP report noted an improvement in the 
quality of cases:  in the first ten months of 
2009, 68.8 percent of the TIP cases opened 
exclusively by the CCTIP were accepted for further 
action by judicial authorities, as opposed to 13.3 
percent in the same period in 2008.  In Moldova as 
a whole, and including all TIP cases referred to 
judicial authorities by law enforcement, 51.2 
percent of referrals were accepted for further 
action.  In addition, the collection and analysis 
of statistics regarding current cases have 
improved, giving the GOM a better picture of the 
results of its efforts.  The report analyzes the 
results of 167 anti-trafficking cases brought to 
court against 207 persons (some of whom had cases 
dating from earlier years) in the first ten months 
of 2009: 
 
--47 (tried)/60 (accused) for trafficking 
offenses; 
--4/4 for trafficking in children; 
--77/93 for pimping; 
--29/37 for organization of illegal migration; 
--7/10 for taking children out of the country 
illegally; and 
--3/3 for organizing begging. 
 
Of the 207, 186 were convicted, 15 cases were 
suspended, and six were acquitted.  Of the 186 
convicted, 45 were sentenced to prison (no further 
information on length of sentences or numbers 
actually imprisoned), 33 received suspended 
sentences, and 108 were fined. 
 
(d)  Continuing to disburse resources for victim 
assistance and protection. 
 
The GOM is providing financial assistance to aid 
victims.  A November 11 report from the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) 
noted that the GOM had increased its financing of 
the Chisinau Assistance and Protection Center from 
512,000 lei (USD 46,500) in 2008 to 680,000 lei 
(USD 61,800) in 2009.  On November 10, the NGO La 
Strada reported that the GOM provided free 
issuance of national ID and health insurance and 
free access to vocational training programs to TIP 
victims and other vulnerable elements of the 
population. 
 
(e) Boosting proactive efforts to identify and 
protect trafficking victims, including child 
victims and victims trafficked within Moldova. 
 
According to the IOM, the National Referral 
System, which counters trafficking by providing 
job training and health/psychological counseling 
to at-risk individuals (children of single 
parents, victims of domestic violence and persons 
with poor education from rural areas), increased 
its presence in Moldova from 12 to 23 raions 
(districts) in right-bank Moldova, and established 
three centers in the Transnistrian region.  Since 
the NRS was established in 2006, it has assisted 
555 persons Q 204 victims, and 351 at-risk cases. 
 
The CCTIP reported that it ensured the security of 
TIP victims returning to the country; provided 
psychological and pedagogical counselors for 
victims (including children) who were being 
interviewed at La Strada; referred victims, "from 
the moment of identification," to competent state 
 
CHISINAU 00000898  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
authorities for assistance; and minimized the 
number of hearings in which a victim must 
participate.  The CCTIP further stated that, as a 
result of these measures, the number of victims 
accepting help from Moldovan law enforcement 
bodies grew from 102 in the first ten months of 
2008 to 182 in the same period in 2009. 
 
In its November 10 report, La Strada noted its 
concerns that the police still tended to downgrade 
an unidentified number of trafficking cases to 
pimping or illegal migration.  The downgrading to 
pimping often occurred when a woman mentioned 
consent to provision of sexual services.  Cases of 
men trafficked for exploitative labor were often 
downgraded to illegal migration.  La Strada also 
noted that Moldovan law enforcement continued to 
rely almost exclusively on victims' testimonies 
and confrontations with the alleged trafficker. 
Under such circumstances, La Strada noted, victims 
are subject to subtle or direct threats against 
themselves and their families. 
 
La Strada also expressed concerns about children 
victims, noting that no special protection 
measures have been extended to children; no 
special interviewing rooms exist; children were 
often interviewed as many as ten times, often 
being confronted by the alleged trafficker; 
interviews were often carried out by police with 
no special training, on ad hoc schedules, often 
for several hours, and without the presence of 
legal counsel. 
 
La Strada concluded by stating that risk 
assessment for minors had to be performed by NGOs 
and that NGO recommendations for protection of 
victim-witnesses were "randomly and rarely 
considered."  We will contact La Strada in the 
near future to check on GOP response to these 
criticisms. 
 
The Center for Temporary Placement of Minors in 
Chisinau has 39 employees (security, psychological 
and educational), who deal with 1,800 cases a year 
of lost, abandoned, repatriated, or arrested 
children aged three to 18, and children who run 
away from orphanages.  It has beds for 24 
children.  In addition to the Center, 27 smaller 
centers, capable of housing up to ten children, 
operate in municipalities.  On a cases-by-case 
basis, the Center reunites children with their 
biological families, places them in orphanages, or 
returns them to orphanages.  It provides full-time 
education to those who stay at the Center (a stay 
can last from several hours to six months), and 
provides a valuable service for vulnerable young 
people who would otherwise be on the streets. 
 
(f)  Considering prevention activities 
specifically targeted at reducing the demand for 
human trafficking in Moldova. Please report on any 
other significant developments. 
 
La Strada reported that the GOM demand reduction 
was focused on prostitution:  raiding saunas and 
hotels, and checking the identification of purpose 
of visit of foreigners, especially those 
accompanying women after ten P.M. 
 
Comment: 
-------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The GOM, despite being nearly non- 
functional from the beginning of the parliamentary 
election campaign season (beginning in February 
2009) through the establishing of the new, interim 
government after September, nevertheless continued 
efforts to combat TIP.  Furthermore, we and others 
in the international and NGO communities believe 
that the change in GOM leadership has brought new 
momentum to address the country's problems with 
trafficking.  The Prime Minister's recent 
statements and the composition of the new NCCTIP 
is a strong, top-down testimony to GOM commitment 
to tackle the issue. 
 
 
CHAUDHRY