The OSCE supported the first national simulation exercise that united the entire Moldovan anti-human trafficking community. During a five-day simulated exercise, 80 practitioners from law enforcement agencies, social welfare officials, prosecutors, magistrates, and civil society organizations worked together in a single simulated exercise to identify and assist victims of trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation and to detain and prepare judicial cases against traffickers.
"You practiced coordinating and prioritizing your load of work to find trafficking victims, and keep them safe and away from the traffickers who had enslaved them. You overcame those irritating daily obstacles to work together to find and prosecute those international criminals who imprison people in sexual or labor slavery. You showed trafficking criminals that there are no gaps in Moldova's anti-trafficking community and that the criminals will have a hard time moving trafficked people through Moldova. You showed current and potential victims that Moldova will take care of them. If anyone wondered whether Moldova has the advanced tools to fight trafficking, let them wonder no longer. You've shown us that together, yes, you can fight the most despicable, pernicious of traffickers," said Ambassador Kelly Keiderling, Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova.
Participants highly appreciated this innovative simulation-based training, which gave them the possibility to turn their knowledge into practice and to enhance the co-operation between the institutions for the benefit of the victims of trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation.
The OSCE Mission to Moldova organized this 18-22 September exercise in co-operation with the Moldovan State Chancellery and the OSCE Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. This simulation exercise was hosted by the Ștefan cel Mare Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and organized within the framework of the Mission's project "Ending trafficking in human-beings by fostering multi-agency collaboration and strengthening the civil society organizations capacity across both banks of the Dniester/Nistru River", aimed at enhancing of co-ordination mechanisms to prevent and respond in an integrated manner to trafficking in human beings.
