(Article of DECA-press Agency)
A father and his two songs aged 18 and, respectively, 22 years old, from the commune of Vasiliuti, Rascani, were exploited through labour in Russia. After having been forced to work from early morning till night and live in bad conditions, they came back to Moldova without any money, with debts and health problems.

Poverty made them go to Russia
The men decided to go abroad at the beginning of the current year because of the fact they had two children of pre-school age with the second and third degree of invalidity, who needed special medical care. The head of the family had to provide the necessary medical assistance to his children. This is the reason because of which he accepted very easily the proposal of an acquaintance to go abroad. Moreover, Leonid, the children’s father, decided to take with him his elder sons. He thought that the money they will gain together will be helpful for purchasing the necessary medicines.
Without analyzing the consequences of this decision in details, the family borrowed money for making the necessary documents and, soon, they left for Russia, where they had to work on a building ground. When they left Moldova, they were promised accommodation, food and decent salary. The reality turned to be different.
The underground, the salves’ house
As soon as they reached Russia in winter, they were housed together with other workers in a cold basement. They were forced to work from early morning till night, and their feeding was quite poor.
At the end of each month, the men were asking about the remuneration, but everything was in vain. They were promised they would be paid after three months of work. Despite the fact it was hard for them to live without any money in the pocket, the men hoped that in this way, they would save some money and their help for children will be more significant. These three months have hardly passed, and men’s health got worse due to the bad conditions they lived in.
„Do not disturb”
After three months, the owner told them it was the time they went back to Moldova. He bought them a ticket to the train and promised to send them the money soon. They came back home, hoping that they will receive the money they had worked for very much, but everything was in vain. The owner didn’t send them anything. When they tried to call him to Russia, the boss asked them not to disturb him.
Support comes from „Medecins du Monde”
This family was visited by a mobile team from the Association „Medecins du Monde” (Doctor of the World), which implements in the Republic of Moldova the project “Preventing human trafficking and assisting victims of trafficking”.
At the first visit of the mobile team, all the family was deeply disappointed.
„Except the youngest children’s health problems, except the debts we had, now were have got other problems. I used to be very optimist when my husband together with my elder children decided to go to Russia and gain money. I hoped that in a way, we will manage to improve the health status of our younger children, but everything was just a hope. Now, the situation is very complicate. My husband and my elder songs came back from Russia with health problems. All my hopes relied on them, now, I don’t know anymore whom I can trust to and how I could trust people”, Elena, the children’s mother, confesses.
The social assistant of the French Association „Medecins du Monde”, Tatiana Puteac, said that the Association facilitated that five members of this family be provided medical consultations. At the same time, the family has been given medicines for the necessary medical treatments. Elena has been offered psychological consultation and in the following few months, other members of the family will be also provided psychological consultation.
Now, the elder sons are searching for a job in Moldova and remember with much sadness about the grief and humiliation they have passed through in Russia. “We have worked hard, we were responsible for the provided work, but someone gain some money on our account. I, together with my father and my brother, suffered a lot in Russia. We came home without money and with health problems, and someone took our money”, Viorel, the elder brother says.
Trafficking of men, a new tendency in the human trafficking phenomenon
Statistics offered by the International Centre for Protection and Promotion of Women’s Rights „La Strada” show that, if in 2005, of the total number of cases of traffic, the exploitation of women prevailed, in 2007-2008, men proved to catch with women. In most of the cases, men are exploited through work, in constructions, as well as in agricultural work.
The vice-president of the Centre „La Strada”, Daniela Misail-Nichitin, says that men are often exploited in constructions and manipulated by different means: they are promised they would be paid the salary when they finish their work or they are proposed to go home with the promise that their money would be transferred on a bank account or by means of some other persons who come to Moldova. In case they try to object, they are threatened they will be told to the police. In other cases, men are threatened with death or with the physical liquidation of their close persons, Daniela Misail-Nichitin asserts.
At the beginning of the last year, the percentage of cases when men are victims of trafficking covered 13%, and at the end of the year 2007 and the beginning of the current year, the number of men calling the hot line of the Centre „La Strada” constitutes over 40% of the total number of phone calls. // DECA-Press



Publication date: 25 April 2008   

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