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Issue � 3, April 2007 Contents A few words about the issue .................................................................1

I. TERMINOLOGY ISSUES .................................................................3II. (RE)INTEGRATION, AS ONE OF THE STAGES

IN RENDERING ASSISTANCE TO THE TRAFFICKED PERSONS .......................................................8

III. STRUCTURES RENDERING ASSISTANCE IN REHABILITATION AND (RE)INTEGRATION OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS ........................................................12

IV. GUIDING APPROACHES AND PRINCIPLES OF RENDERING REHABILITATION & (RE)INTEGRATION ASSISTANCE TO TRAFFICKED PERSONS ...............................14

V. IMPACT OF PSYCHICAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH ONTO THE PROCESS OF (RE)INTEGRATION OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS .........................................................19

VI. FACTORS UNDERLYING SUCCESS OF (RE)INTEGRATION. ASSESSMENT OF RISKS AND PLANNING ARRANGEMENTS FOR CLEARING SUCH ..............................22

• Aid programme for the victims of human traf� cking backed up by the efforts contributed by the specialists

• Individual abilities and motivation of the bene� ciary • Assistance rendered by close environment• Public sentiment• Risks assessment

VII. INDIVIDUAL PLAN OF (RE)INTEGRATION OF THE TRAFFICKED PERSONS ...............................................31

VIII. ASSESSMENT OF SUCCESS IN THE PROCESS OF (RE)INTEGRATION OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS ..................35

Conclusions ............................................................................................37

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Issue � 3, April 2007

A few words about the issueHerewith presented topical issue is the third one in the range of “LA STRADA EXPRESS” issues planned by the Inter-national Centre “La Strada” with the scope of spotlighting the issue of hu-man traf� cking, searching and sub-jecting to thorough analysis the ad-vanced experience available in this domain as well as rule-making for solv-ing this problem in our country. Same as previous issues, this maga-zine is dedicated to one topic within the framework of herewith outlined pressing issues. Making the subject of our � rst publication were the issues of setting up in Moldova the mechanism of referral for the traf� cked persons; the second publication comprised the topic of location (identi� cation) of the traf� cked persons. We decid-ed to dedicate the present publica-tion to the research of such topic as (re)integration of the traf� cked per-sons, which is closely related to and furthering the topics highlighted in the previous issues of “LA STRADA EX-PRESS”. We are deeming this topic as one of the prime importance since (re)integration of the traf� cked per-sons is targeted towards recovery of victims’ capacity for the responsible life. (Re)integration is adding together the efforts contributed by the special-ists of different pro� les taking part in the process of identi� cation of the traf-� cked persons, rendered assistance in releasing victims from exploitation and helping them in returning back to their country as well as other required assistance and protection. From the standpoint of the result achieved, (re)integration is highly dependent on the efforts contributed by the victims

themselves as well as by their close and far environment. Meanwhile, it is known among professionals that not always the (re)integration of traf� cked persons is successful. In such cases, the ef� ciency of consuming time, la-bor and other resources of the society equals to zero. Therefore it is extremely important to study in depth the prob-lems underlying (re)integration of traf-� cked persons and framing the meas-ures for surmounting such. To our opinion, the mere notion of (re)integration requires conceptu-alization. This is a very complex notion since (re)integration is both the target of rendering assistance to the traf-� cked persons and the result provided the preset objective is achieved. At the same time, (re)integration is also interpreted as one of the complex processes within the system of render-ing assistance to traf� cked persons and hence, as a package of certain services for the bene� ciaries. Besides, since the assistance to the traf� cked persons is rendered following certain succession, the (re)integration is also one of the phases (completion) in ren-dering assistance to these persons. It is also worth mentioning that the specialists experience certain dif� cul-ties in using term (re)integration and associated terminology in the � eld of human traf� cking. For example, used in the Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 241-XVI dated 20 October 2005 on Prevention and Combating Traf� cking in Persons are such terms as: “psycho-logical rehabilitation”, “professional rehabilitation”, “social rehabilitation” and “professional integration” while no de� nition of these terms is provided for by the law. Yet serving as another

The notion of reintegration is a very complex one. Re-integration is interpreted as:

1) the objective of render-ing protection and as-sistance to the traf� cked persons;

2) the complex pro-cesses within the system of rendering assistance to traf� cked persons;

3) the package of certain services for the bene� -ciaries;

4) the � nal phase in ren-dering assistance to these persons;

5) the � nal result of pro-vided assistance (achieve-ment of the preset objective).


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example could be the National Plan of Action for Prevention and Com-bating Human Traf� cking for 2005-2006 approved by the Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Moldova No. 903 dated 26 August 2005, which includes such measures as “social assistance and protection of victims”, “reintegration”, and “so-cial integration” but all these notions bear the same meaning. We believe that all these terms need to be clearly de� ned. Working out uni� ed and scienti� cally founded approach to the terminol-

ogy in the � eld of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons, determining stages of rendering assistance to the victims of human traf� cking, and as-sessing the achieved results will allow, besides proper setting up assistance and enhancing ef� ciency of the pro-cess of (re)integration and other stag-es of rendering assistance to delimit competencies and responsibilities of different structures taking part in this process, which serves as important prerequisite for the making and func-tioning of the National Referral System designed for the traf� cked persons1.

The present publication is our � rst step towards conceptualization of such notions as (re)integration and rehabili-tation of the victims of human traf� ck-ing as well as working out approaches to determining stages of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons and indicators for evaluating success of each stage and of the process in general. Within the frameworks of this publication we do not consider the speci� cs of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons cooperating

with the criminal proceedings as well as to children victims of traf� cking. We hope that information compiled and analyzed by the staff of “La Stra-da” Center with the scope of includ-ing it in the present issue will be helpful to the specialists in pouring light onto some issues in this domain and serve as the grounds for discussions and fur-ther research as well as for working out general approaches to solving problems of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons.

It is also worth noticing that until now no standard operational procedures were developed in Moldova for rendering (re)integration assistance and no criteria/indi-cators to evaluate the success of (re)integration. Same problem seems to persist in many other countries: “Although the return of traf� cked persons to their countries of origin is seen as the main assistance tool by governments of destination countries and by international agencies, policy makers and implementing agencies in SEE countries have still not developed clear standards or even an understanding of what should and could be done to ensure “reintegration” (or: social inclusion) of returned victims of traf� cking, neither do they make it obligatory for governments of countries of origin to provide returning victims with the possibility of social inclusion...”2

Problems in reintegration of traf� cked persons:a) the notion of reintegra-tion requires conceptuali-zation;

b) the specialists experi-ence certain dif� culties in using term reintegration and associated terminol-ogy in the � eld of human traf� cking;

c) uni� ed and scienti� -cally founded approach to the stages of rendering assistance to the victims of human traf� cking and assessing the achieved results, were not deter-mined;

d) the standard ope-rational procedures on rende ring (re)integration assis tance to traf� cked persons were not elabo-rated;

e) criteria/indicators to evaluate the success of reintegration were not developed.

1 Same as the National Referral Mechanism. Many amongst service providers contributing to the process of counteracting human traf� cking displaying their activity in Moldova believe that arising from the existing tradi-tions within the national system of law created in the country should be the National Referral System for the victims of human traf� cking as opposed to the National Referral Mechanism. The terms “system” or “the national system” are often used in the legislation of the Republic of Moldova (the National System of Social Insurance, Health Care System, Pension System, etc.).2 Challenging Traf� cking in Persons: Theoretical Debate and Practical Approaches. 2005, p. 30.

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I. TERMINOLOGY ISSUES The notion of “reintegration” is often in the references when talking about assistance to the victims of human traf� cking along with such terms as “integration”, “rehabilitation” and “social rehabilitation” of the traf-� cked persons. Thereat it is worth noticing that presently besides lack of of� cial de� nition of these terms in relation to the traf� cked persons

there is also no common approach to using these terms amongst the specialists engaged in this domain themselves. Let us get into the sense of each term and interrelation between these no-tions. To that end, let us � rst search in dictionaries and glossaries for the de� -nition of terms “integration” and “re-integration”:

Table 1. De� nition of terms (re)integration and integrationavailable in different sources

Source TermsThe Concise Oxford Diction-ary of Current English3

Integrate (adj. latin Integrare, integrat – “make whole”): bring or come into equal participation in the membership of society. Integration – the combination of the diverse elements of perception etc. in a personality. Reintegration – integrate back into society

Explanatory Dictionary of the Romanian Language4

Reintegration – restore somebody’s rights, to form into whole, to homogenize; to include, to blend

English-Russian Dictionary(http://www.multitran.ru)

Integration – to form a whole; the process and result of blending into a whole; harmonious interrelation of the parts with and within a whole

English-Russian Dictionary5 Integration – blending into wholeThe Social Work Dictionary 6 Integration – psychologically, an individual’s internal con-

nection of values, ideas, knowledge, motor responces, and relevant social norms; sociologically, the process of bringing together diverse social or ethnic groups and achieving harmonious relations

Arising from the above de� nitions it is worth highlighting that reintegra-tion is actually repeated integration into the community. Besides, analy-sis of the aforementioned de� nitions allows one to conclude that the in-

tegration and reintegration shall be deemed as: a) Certain integrated measures or a process, and alsob) The result of arrangements or process.

3 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English . Oxford, 1995, p. 707, p. 1158.4 Dictionar Explicativ al Limbii Române. Bucure�ti, 1998, p. 911. 5 English-Russian Dictionary. St. Petersburg, 1996, p. 400.6 Robert L.Barker. The Social Work Dictionary. 3rd Edition, USA, 1995, p. 190.

In special sources concerning (re)integration the most frequently cited are the terms used by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (�CRE). The �CRE uses the no-tion of “reintegration” in regard to the refugees returning back to the country of their origin. In ECRE’s de� nition reintegration is “…the process of inclusion and rebuilding


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relationships within a community in the country of origin at four levels: physical, socio-economical, socio-political and cultural. This involves:��the resettlement of the returnees in a concrete territorial space within the jurisdiction of the country of origin; ��the achievement of a reasonable standard of living in terms of dignity similar to the local population and within the economic context of the country of origin; ��the participation of the returnees in a democratic way in the decision making proc-ess affecting their lives at local and national level; �� the adaptation of both populations to living together again taking into account that different life processes may have resulted in different ways of interpreting reality and cultural paradigms”.7

De� nition of reintegra-tion used in regard to the refugees with some amendments could be applied to reintegration of the traf� cked persons since the latter end up be-ing pulled out for a certain period of time from their habitual environment and subsequently experience dif� culties in arranging their life upon return to the country of origin. Of course, there are certain differences between the process of (re)integration of refugees and that of the traf� cked persons. For example, the special literature on the issue of human traf� cking makes reference to the fact that “…most importantly it incorporates the notion of social acceptance and the reclaiming of dignity for the women”9. Besides, in the event of reintegra-tion of the traf� cked persons it is not necessar-ily binding to talk about resettlement of a person to another place in the territory of a country.

(See also: Manjima Bhat-tacharjya. Traf� cking in South Asia. A Conceptual Clarity Workshop. July 29-August 1998, New Delhi, p. 13.)

The aforementioned de� nition is rather complex and includes the notion of adaptation, which by it-self requires explanation. Adapta-tion originates from the Latin word “adaptatio” adaptation and means adaptation of an entity to the con-ditions of natural and social envi-ronment. In this case we are talking more about social adaptation or the process of conceptual learning and active reproduction of social norms, abilities and stereotypes accepted in the given society behavioral and communication norms, customs, tra-ditions and life style. The term “integration” is more fre-quently used in regard to the persons moving to another country for per-manent residence. Thus, for example, the research conducted at the end of 2003 by Novib/Humanitas in six Eu-ropean host countries for the victims of traf� cking in human beings8, shows that the process of integration “…as such, begins when an individual has settled or decides to settle in a host country”. In this research paper the notion of reintegration of the traf-� cked persons is linked with building

new ties with the society in the host countries. However, the traf� cked per-sons are not given too many chances to get settled in the host countries. In the majority of cases they return to their country of origin where they have to reestablish old relations, i.e. starting the process of their repeated integration or reintegration. However, when we speak about re-integration in the countries of origin, there appears the following ques-tion: would it be right to suggest that some of the traf� cked persons were integrated into the social life in these countries prior to leaving for abroad if they had no educational, profes-sional or employment background? De� nitely, this was not the case. Once they return back to their coun-ties of origin there will appear the issue of primary integration rather than repeated integration and in this case the problem gets further aggra-vated due to surviving through trau-mas. Therefore, it is advisable to use the complex term of (re)integration when describing both the problems primary and repeated integration of traf� ked persons.

7 See: International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 13, Oxford University Press, 2001. Cited in: Alliance news. GAATW Newsletter, Issue 19-20, July/December 2003. 8 Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. Novib/Hu-manitas, November 2003, �. 8.

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It is also worth noticing that the �CRE considers integration as a process of changes that could bear the following features;9 a) Dynamic and two-way: it places demands on receiving societies as well as on the individuals and/or the communities concerned. From a refugee perspective, inte-gration requires a preparedness to adapt to the lifestyle of the host society without having to lose one’s own cultural identity. From the point of view of the host society, it requires a willingness to adapt public institutions to changes in the population pro� le, accept refugees as part of the national community, and take action to facilitate ac-cess to resources and decision-making processes. b) Long term: from a psychological perspective, it often starts at the time of arrival in the country of � nal destination and is concluded when a refugee becomes an ac-tive member of that society from a legal, social, economic, educational and cultural perspective. c) Multi-dimensional: it relates both to the conditions for and actual participation in all aspects of the economic, social, cultural, civil, and political life of the country of durable asylum as well as to refugees’ own perception of acceptance by and mem-bership in the host society.10

The main distinguishing feature of the process of (re)integration of the traf-� cked persons from (re)integration related to other categories of popu-lation lies with the problem of favor-able acceptance of these persons by the society upon their return to the country of origin in view of disap-proval of the nature of their activity abroad and hardships encountered by the traf� cked persons when trying

to restore their old connections in the community due to explicit psychologi-cal trauma, health problems, loss of orientation in the system of cultural values, etc. In relation to the term “rehabilitation”, it is worth noticing that we did not manage to � nd as many de� nitions in the dictionaries for this term as we did for the terms “reintegration” and “integration”.

The majority of dictionaries de� ne “rehabilitation” as recovery of physical and psy-chological health of a person. For example, the Social Work Dictionary11 de� nes the term “rehabilitation” as “restoring to a healthy condition or useful capacity to the ex-tent possible”. Besides, the term “rehabilitation” is closely linked to its synonym “abil-ity”12, which is being interpreted as “aptitude to deal in a certain type of activity.”13

In practice, rehabilitation of the traf-� cked persons is also understood as a complex of measures taken at the incipient stage of rendering assist-ance to the victims targeted towards rehabilitation of physical and psychi-cal health. This stage serves as prepa-ration and a passport to success for the subsequent stage of rehabilitation

of social ties and building normal life-style with the victim, much longer and multidimensional – (re)integration. As a matter of fact – these are different stages within the system of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons. At the same time, the special litera-ture has � rmly hosted such term as “social rehabilitation”, which brings

9 Good Practice Guide on the Integration of Refugees in the European Union, p. 29.10 See: International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 13, Oxford University Press, 2001. Cited in: Alliance news. GAATW Newsletter, Issue 19-20, July/December 2003. 11 Robert L.Barker. The Social Work Dictionary. 3rd Edition, USA, 1995, p. 319.12 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. Oxford, 1995, p. 609.13 Russian-English Dictionary: www.multitran.ru


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the notion of rehabilitation outside the frameworks of solving problems of just physical and psychological health. Let us give as an example one of the de� nitions of the term “social reha-bilitation” appearing in the books on specialized subject: “Social rehabilitation is a complex of measures targeted towards rehabilita-tion of a man in his rights, social status, health and capacity to act. This pro-cess is targeted not only towards re-habilitation of man’s vital activity but also of the social environment itself, conditions for vital activity that were infringed or restricted due to some or the other reasons.”14

Thus, according to herewith cited de� nition the social rehabilitation as a process of rendering assistance to the traf� cked person is partially intersect-ing with the notion of (re)integration. The social rehabilitation comprises not only the stage of rehabilitation of health and capacity to act but also restoration of rights and social ties, i.e. includes certain elements of the (re)integration stage. Highlighted in the de� nition of “social rehabilitation”, same as in the notion of (re)integration is a special role of social medium in rehabilitation of victim, that the reha-bilitation is not only the scope to be

pursued by the victims but also by the society, which is obliged to create fa-vorable condition for the case. At the same time, herewith mentioned no-tion of social rehabilitation differs from the notion of (re)integration, since it does not include such processes as rehabilitation of economic status, po-litical status, cultural tides, etc. In practice, the specialists experience certain dif� culties in using terms “so-cial rehabilitation” and “reintegra-tion”, due to impossibility to draw time border between the two. The Law of the Republic of Moldova on Prevention and Combating Traf-� cking in Persons is also using the term “social rehabilitation”. Pursuant to provisions set forth by Article 16 of the law: “Social rehabilitation of the victims of human traf� cking is done with the scope of bringing them back to normal life and includes ren-dering them legal and material as-sistance, psychological, medial and professional rehabilitation as well as employment and housing”15. Thus, pursuant to the national legislation, the social rehabilitation of the traf-� cked persons as a process includes the rehabilitation and (re)integration and as a result, it coincides with (re)integration.

Also tightly linked with the notion of rehabilitation and (re)integration is such notion as crisis intervention. Once freed from the exploitation, the victims of human traf� ck-ing, as a rule, � nd themselves in a crisis. They could experience grave physical and psychological traumas; they have no roof over their head, food, clothing, money, etc., which in assembly is a serious threat to the life of a sufferer. In this case the crisis intervention is the � rst step in rendering assistance to the victims as it includes emergency measures in overcoming crisis, i.e. threat to the life. Then the traf� cked person is rendered assistance in rehabilitation, i.e. recovery his physical and psycho-logical health, after which comes (re)integration, i.e. restoring all other aspects of normal vital activity of a man. Thus, the crisis intervention is preceding rehabilitation and (re)integration of a victim.

14 V.I. Kurbatova Social work. Rostov-na-Donu, 2000, c. 307.15 The Law No. 241-�VI dated 20.10.2005, Of� cial Gazette of the Republic of Moldova No. 164-167/812 dated 09.12.2005.

The analysis shows exis-tence of certain dif� cul-ties in using terminology in the � eld of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons. These dif� culties are due to the fact that the notions of rehabilita-tion and (re)integration are multidimensional in the sense that they are at the same time the goals and results of rendering assistance, processes and stages as well as packages of measures. In order to improve the arrangements of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons it is important to introduce such terminol-ogy that would clearly determine the stages of rendering assistance as well as the goals and objective of each stage. This will allow for more accurate planning of each stage, monitoring of the quality of services rendered to the traf� cked persons at each stage and evaluating the success of each stage and process of assistance in general.

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Taking into account the aforemen-tioned a conclusion could be drawn that the notion of (re)integration is closely linked with the sequence of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons as well as with the stages of rendering such. Without prior de� ning these stages and scopes of each stage it will be impossible to give proper de� -nition to the notion of (re)integration.


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II. (RE)INTEGRATION AS ONE OF THE STAGES IN RENDE RING ASSISTANCE TO THE TRAFICKED PERSONS

Pursuant to the international stan-dards and in line with the effective legislation of the Republic of Moldo-va, each traf� cked person is entitled for a package of free assistance. The need of rendering free assistance to the traf� cked persons is conditioned by the fact that the period of exploi-tation, as a rule, causes grave nega-tive consequences for the physical and psychological health of the victim. In the majority of cases, such people are unable to go back to normal lifestyle independently; to do that they need time and support of the society. Usually, the more time a person stays in slavery the more time it takes to bring him back to normal condition. It is worth noticing that the package of services rendered to the traf� cked persons depends on the individual de-mands of the bene� ciary, resources available in the country and with non-governmental organizations engaged in rendering such assistance. None-theless, each of the bene� ciaries shall be granted assess to the standard package of services; the composition of the latter shall be set forth under a regulatory act passed in our country. Presently, every traf� cked person is

entitled for the following types of as-sistance: �� temporary refugee in a safe place (shelter);��material aid (food, personal hygiene items, drugs, garments, etc.); ��medical assistance (rehabilitation of general state of health and treatment of chronic illnesses); �� psychological assistance (group and individual counseling, counseling fa mily members); �� legal assistance (re-issuance of do-cuments, solving family and housing disputes and other such assistance);��access to mandatory general edu-cation; �� access to vocational education (professional carrier guidance and getting trade demanded in the labor market, traineeship); �� assistance in developing potential capacities of a personality (participa-tion in support units, groups of psycho- and social counseling, counseling family members and other); ��assistance in employment or support in developing entrepreneurial activity; ��other.

The aforementioned types of assistance are rendered following preset succession depending on the overriding necessities experienced by the survivor. As a rule, care is taken to provide for his safety, then for rehabilitation of his health and last for his tides with the community. Therefore the whole period of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons could be conventionally broken down into three stages: I. Crisis intervention implies granting a package of emergency measures targeted

towards covering the immediate needs experienced by the traf� cked persons and/or eliminating threat to life;

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II. Rehabilitation implies granting a package of measures on rehabilitation of physical and psychological health of the survivor. Applies whenever necessary to eliminate the consequences of physical and psychological traumas and stabilize condition of a survivor. Serves as the foundation for subsequent (re)integration; III. (Re)integration implies a package of measures targeted towards restoring victim’s rights, social status and health, helping him in regaining vital activity/capacity for vital activity that was infringed or restricted due to some or the other reasons. It in-cludes measures on restoring/building friendly relations in the family, vocational train-ing and employment, regaining the feeling of full-� edged members of the society, feeling of self-respect and other ethic feelings related to system of practical values and in� uencing personal interrelations. (Re)integration is the concluding stage of an integrated system of rendering assistance to the identi� ed traf� cked persons and the result of such.

The measures of assistance granted to the traf� cked persons at different stages are pursuing different scopes; require involvement of different stake-holders and resources as well as the use of different approaches to the as-sessment of the success of attempted measures. Therefore we � nd it feasible to break down the whole process of rehabilitation of the traf� cked persons onto the three stages as stated above. The like approach is already formed with many organizations rendering as-sistance to the traf� cked persons and displaying their activity in the Republic of Moldova and in other countries. It is worth noticing that this breaking down by stages is rather conventional. Trau-mas of exploitation never go traceless and could manifest themselves at any stage of survivor’s lifetime. Therefore at certain instances the crisis inter-vention could apply at the stage of (re)integration as well. On the other side getting into human trafficking situation could be rather short and it will not take long for the survivor to recover his health. In this case

the survivor may not need any re-habilitation assistance and it will be possible to go straight to the stage of (re)integration/integration. Some specialists distinguish the fol-lowing stages of rendering assistance: crisis intervention, medium- and long-term assistance or (re)integration. We believe that breaking down the assist-ance for medium- and long-term as-sistance will trigger additional dif� cul-ties when determining the duration of rendering such. Besides, in case of such classi� cation it is hard to de� ne the scopes and objectives pursued by each stage as well as to assess suc-cess indicators of such.It is highly probable that the majority of specialists in the � eld of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons will agree that there is a pressing need for working out the uni� ed ter-minology along with common ap-proach to de� ning stages of render-ing assistance to the survivors as well as scopes and objectives pursued by such.

It is worth noticing that until nowadays no uni� ed approaches were worked out in regard to the stages of rendering assistance and to the package of services rendered:

“There are myriad com-ponents to reintegration – from the development of security and family assessment protocols to a comprehensive package of services – and not all components are equally well developed or imple-mented”.

(Evaluation Anti-traf� ck-ing Victim Assistance in Southeastern Europe: a Strategic Planning Paper for the King Baudouin Foundation. Assessment undertaken on behalf of the King Baudouin Foun-dation, Belgium. February, 2006, p. 7).

To our opinion, breaking down assistance rendered to the traf� cked persons into certain stages and de� ning objectives pursued by each stage bears very important practical value and allows for the following: ��improve planning of rendering assistance; ��develop specialization in rendering services;


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��establish a system of success indicators for each stage; ��set up monitoring of rendered assistance; ��enhance ef� ciency of rendering assistance to traf� cked persons.

For instance, these stages could be encountered for when planning ac-tion-oriented measures of assistance to the traf� cked persons, comparing

identi� ed needs of the survivors with the speci� c objectives set by the spe-cialists rendering services to these (see Table 2).

Table 2. The process of recovery of the traf� cked personsStages

of assis-tance

Scopes Main objective pur-sued by each stage

Types of assistance/service

Goals pursued by the service sup-pliers

Crisi

s int

erve

ntio

n Satisfying im-mediate needs experienced by the traf� cked persons and/or eliminating threat to their life

Rendering emergen-cy assistance so as to eliminate real threats to the life and health status of the traf� cked persons

Emergency medical aid

Eliminating crisis problems with health

Crisis intervention

psychologist/psychia-trist

Bringing out of the condition of psy-chological crisis

Accommodation at a safe shelter

Rendering assistance in recovery/re-gaining feeling/perception of safety

Reha

bilita

tion

Recovery of physical and mental health of the survivor

Eliminating conse-quences of mental and physical traumas. Stabilization of body state and well-being

Accommodation at a shelter

Rendering assistance in recovery/re-gaining feeling/perception of safety

Material aid Providing for required clothing and meals/personal hygiene items

Legal assistance Preparing for recovery/realization of legal rights (re-issuance of ID and other documents), informing on ba-sic human rights (as per the Constitu-tion of the Republic of Moldova) and special rights of the victim of human traf� cking

Medical assistance Diagnostics and treatment of chronic diseases, recovery of general state of health

Psychotherapy

(treating post-trau-matic stress disorder syndrome)

Identifying and eliminating such syn-dromes as:

-recurrent thoughts/memories of ter-rifying events

-less interest in important daily activi-ties (study, work, etc.)

-feeling detached/withdrawn

-limited emotional response

-failure to see perspective/future

-trouble sleeping

-symptoms of depression

-symptoms of anxiety

-symptoms of hostility

(Re)

inte

grat

ion

Recovery of the system of vital values and per-ception of the world

Internal barrier adap-tation

Counseling and moni-toring of a psychologist (work on recovery/ad-aptation to the system of values and percep-tion of world)

Assistance in recovery of the feeling of stability, calmness, balanced out in-ternal position and its self-conception perceived from the position of other individuals, trust in own forces; sup-port of desire to achieve a harmony, adaptation to own new perceptions, thoughts and feelings

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(Re)

inte

grat

ion

Family (re)integration

Building reciprocally supporting tides within family as grounds for successful building of tides with the mem-bers of community

Counseling of a psy-chologist (individual and with family mem-bers), social monitoring

Assistance in building or recovery of amiable relations with the members of family and/or supporting desire to create new family

Counseling of a psy-chologist (individual and in pair)

Supporting desire to build and/or maintain amiable relations with the parents

(Re)integration in the life of the community

Recovery/building so-cial tides

Professional assist-ance granted by the members of multidisci-plinary group (social assistants, psychologist, pedagogues, repre-sentatives of local ad-ministration, etc.)

Rendering assistance facilitating socialization, creating the feeling of social importance, trust, kindness and love to the close ones Rendering assistance stipulating cre-ation of relations in new social environ-ment (including in cases of changing place of residence following unsuc-cessful attempt of reintegration)

Cultivation of tolerant attitude to the victims of human traf� cking on be-half of the community

Conducting social campaigns for eradication of marginalization of the victims of human traf� cking

Economic (re)integration

Assistance in regaining economic indepen-dence, strengthening faith in own forces and future

a) integration in the labor marketCarrier guidance Rendering assistance in choosing

trade matching abilities, interests and demanded in the labor market

Vocational training Rendering support until the issuance of quali� cation certi� cate (providing access to free education, supply of required instruments, literature, cov-ering expenses incurred with trans-portation, accommodation, etc.)

Job placement Rendering assistance in searching for a job, traineeship

b) integration in production/commodity exchange market Training in small business Rendering assistance in getting quali-

� ed skills in managing business, coun-seling support

Offering grants for the development of small business

Rendering counseling assistance, ac-cess to grants

Culture (re)integration (language, tradi-tions)

Recovery of the feel-ing of full � edged member of the com-munity

Counseling of peda-gogues, culture workers, social assistants

Assistance in � nding out one’s cultural identity (assistance in learning lan-guage, getting accustomed to tradi-tions, support in cultural leisure time with elements of socialization, etc.)

Religion (re)integration (as desired by the survivor)

Regaining feeling of peace/humbleness, eliminating feeling of guilt, receiving support from coworkers from the same confession

Moral support and coun-seling of spiritual leaders of different cults

Informing on existing religious orga-nizations

Recovery/realization of legal rights

Recovery and realiza-tion of rights (basic hu-man rights pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and special rights of the traf� cked persons, stipulated by the na-tional and interna-tional law)

Legal and social assis-tance rendered by the members of the multidis-ciplinary group acting in the region of residence of the bene� ciary

Making provisions for realization of the following rights:-right for access to justice (including the right for compensation of moral and material prejudices); -right for protection;-right for education;-right for health care;-right for social assistance and pro-tection;-protection of family and orphans;-protection of mothers, children and youths; -protection of persons with physical, mental and psychical de� ciencies; -other.


12

III. STRUCTURES RENDERING ASSISTANCE IN REHABILITA-TION AND (RE)INTEGRATION OF THE TRAFFICKED PERSONS The Law of the Republic of Moldova

on Prevention and Combating Traf-� cking in Persons de� ned the structures responsible for rendering assistance to the victims of human traf� cking and established their objectives and com-petencies in this domain. Pursuant to the law a victim of human traf� cking is deemed as socially vul-nerable person eligible for standard package of assistance guaranteed by the state. The structures authorized by the state are obliged to take immedi-ate actions targeted towards identi� -cation of the victims of human traf� ck-ing and ensure referral of the survivor to the facility where she/he could get protection and assistance ser vices.

Nongovernmental organizations are also entitled to render assistance to the traf� cked persons at the expense of funds obtained from the state or spon-sors and almsgivers from our country as well as from other countries and in-ternational community. Presently, due to economic hardships experienced by our country, services are basically rendered to the traf� cked persons by the nongovernmental organizations at the expense of external funding. Sub-sequently, in line with improvement of the economic situation in the country the share of services rendered by the state structures will grow as well as the share of services rendered by the NGO � nanced at the expense of state funds.

Article 12 of the Law of the Republic of Moldova on Prevention and Combat-ing Traf� cking in Persons stipulates the following competencies enjoyed by the nongovernmental organizations in the � eld of counteracting traf� cking in human beings:

“1) …the nongovernmen-tal organizations active in herewith considered � eld are entitled to cooperate with the public admin-istration authorities and other competent bodies, in compliance with such provisions as set forth by their charters and regulations and organize informational campaigns on the issues of traf� cking in human beings and the risks threatening the vic-tims of traf� cking in human beings.

(2) The non-governmental organizations are entitled to set up centres for pro-tection and assistance of the victims of traf� cking in human beings.

The structure that has identi� ed traf� cked person is obliged, besides covering the needs of the survivor within the limits of its capacities, shall undertake to provide ac-cess to required protection and assistance rendered by other organizations-partici-pants of counteracting human traf� cking in Moldova acting at the place of residence of the survivor. Therefore, it is important to develop all kinds of forms of cooperation between the counterparts, such as:��exchange of information between contact persons and experts; building informal relations;��creation of multidisciplinary groups, including mobile ones comprising specialists from different structures;��signing agreements of cooperation between the counterparts and other such ac-tions.

Lately, we observe a steady increase of the counterparts engaged in the process of counteracting traf� cking in human beings; this event is especially marked at the local level. Therefore there is a pressing need in coordi-nation of actions attempted by the counterparts.

All types of activity on preventing and combating human traf� cking in the country is coordinated by the National Committee for Combating Human Traf� cking. This specially cre-ated interdepartmental body is also serving to facilitate development of corporation between public adminis-

13


(3) The non-governmental organizations are entitled to carry out activities of identi� cation of the victims of traf� cking in human be-ings and secure legal and other types of protection and assistance to such; take other measures and actions in order to prevent and counteract traf� ck-ing in human beings in compliance with such provisions as set forth by their charters. “

tration bo dies and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations as well as with other representatives of civil society. Coordination of activity at the national level in the � eld of assis-tance and protection of the traf� cked persons exclusively is also referred to the objectives pursued by the perma-nently acting Expert group C, one of the 4 permanent expert groups cre-ated by the National Committee. The territorial commissions for com-bating human traf� cking are obliged to carry out organization and general coordination of the activity on protec-tion and assistance for the victims of human traf� cking at local level. Lately at this level we observe creation of multidisciplinary coordination groups

in order to ensure proper coordination of current activity bound to rendering assistance to speci� c persons. Mak-ing part of such group are the repre-sentatives of different state structures of district level (directions for social as-sistance and family protection, police commissariat, employment agency, etc.) and specialized NGO. Deemed as equally important is the ongoing development of speciali-zation with the organizations/par-ticipants in rendering services to the victims of human traf� cking which shall allow to enhance the overall level of professionalism of the staff and quality of services and to create prerequisites for further development of cooperation.


14

�. ApproachesObservance of the basic human rights in case of the traf� cked per-sonsThe specialists that come in contact with the identi� ed or presumed victims of traf� cking shall � rst of all notify them on their rights. Such an approach is provided for by Article 20 part (5) of the Law of the Republic of Moldova on Prevention and Combating Traf-� cking in Persons, reading as follows: “the competent authorities of public administration are obliged to notify the victims of human traf� cking on their rights, on the authorities, organi-zations and agencies entrusted with the competencies for preventing and counteracting traf� cking in human be-ings as well as on securing protection to the victims of human traf� cking”. Human traf� ckers are gravely violat-ing the rights of each of the sufferers. Therefore it is of prime importance for the staff of the organizations-partici-pants of the process of counteracting human traf� cking to make the rights of the sufferers their main priority. It is equally important that the staff is aware of the rights of the sufferers and of the principles of working with such and be able to notify the traf� cked persons on their rights while facilitating protection of such. The specialist contacting with the pre-sumed victim of human traf� c king is obliged to notify this person on her/his

rights. Such an approach provides for realization of sufferer’s rights for ac-cess to required assistance and pro-tection and thus helping said person to regain control over her/his life. It is very important that the victim gets ample information on accessible serv-ices, on the scope pursued by each type of services, especially in regard to medical assistance and on possible consequences of refusing to take the required measures. The survivor shall be aware of the fact that access to assistance and protection is not con-ditioned by her/his agreement to co-operate with police and that informa-tion on what happened to her/him cannot be divulged without her/his consent as well as on other rights. Existence of psychological traumas with the survivors could trigger inad-equate response on suggested assist-ance, for example fright, and make them reject services offered to them. Therefore it is important to insist on tak-ing immediate decision. To protect their rights it is necessary to work out a special information lea� et with de-scription of the types of services and contact data of the respective or-ganizations where they could seek for assistance and make sure such lea� et is handed over to the presumed vic-tim of human traf� cking. This will offer an extra chance to such a person to become familiar with the information included in the lea� et when feeling calm and call in for assistance later on

One could specify the fol-lowing basic approaches to rendering assistance and protection to the vic-tims of human traf� cking:

��Observance of the basic human rights in case of the traf� cked persons;��Responsibility of the state;��Civil society participa-tion;��Interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach;��Development of coop-eration between countries.

IV. GUIDING APPROACHES AND PRINCIPLES OF RENDERING REHABILITATION & (RE)INTEGRATION ASSISTANCE TO TRAFFICKED PERSONS

15


at her/his convenience. If the identi� -cation is done in the host country it is important that such information leaf-let contains list of services available in the home country as well as contact phones. Responsibility of the state and civil society participation As stated earlier, the majority of serv-ices rendered to the traf� cked per-sons are made available by the non-governmental organizations. On the one side such state of things facilitates best protection of interests of the suf-ferers and realization of the principle of civil society participation while on the other side it makes the system of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons rather unstable. The duration of projects implemented by the non-governmental organizations is usually one or two years. In order to provide the stability of assistance in reha-bilitation and (re)integration it will be necessary to ensure it’s phased out integration into the state-supported system designed for socially vulner-able categories of population. Do-ing it in a phased out manner is very important as it will allow for keeping the quality of services rendered at the same level. At the incipient stage the state could assume responsibi-lity for coordination and monitoring of current activity displayed by both governmental and nongovernmental organizations when rendering ser vices to a speci� c person. Besides, the state shall gradually enhance its support to the national nongovernmental or-ganizations rendering services to the traf� cked persons. This could be done through earmarked � nancing of pro-grams, placing social mandate for carrying out works/rendering services on tender basis, etc. By so doing it will be possible to combine the principles of “state commitment” and “civil so-

ciety participation” in rendering assist-ance to the traf� cked persons. The state has already recognized its responsibility of rendering assistance and protection to the traf� cked per-sons by passing the Law on Prevention and Combating Human Traf� cking. Follow up steps are required so as to ensure that provisions stipulated by the law become practically realizable. Interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach Rehabilitation and (re)integration of the traf� cked persons is a complex process requiring participation of dif-ferent structures and specialists. The interdisciplinary approach means that the knowledge and experience gained through different disciplines as well as the respective types of as-sistance are combining in order to set up measures targeted towards reha-bilitation and (re)integration (legal in-struments, educational methods, ren-dering psychological, medical and social assistance in developing labor or entrepreneurial skills, etc.) The no-tion “cross-sectoral” implies that the arrangements shall be designed and implemented in such a way as to co-ver all aspects of the society (justice, education, labor market, etc.). Development of cooperation between countriesDevelopment of cooperation bet-ween home and host countries plays a rather important role in the process of rendering assistance to the traf-� cked persons. Often, the process of rehabilitation starts back in host coun-try. In this case capacities of rendering assistance in home country shall be prior agreed on with the bene� ciary. Cooperation between organizations-providers of services for the traf� cked persons in different countries allows for identi� cation of risks bound with return


16

of victims, covering post-repatriation needs, and � nding required resources. In case when a traf� cked person wish-es to use its right for seeking shelter in host country there often appears the need for assistance on behalf of the home country extending legal assist-ance for family reunion. B. PrinciplesSurvivor’s informed consent for the re-ceipt of assistance and protection All the assistance in regard to (re)integration shall be rendered to the traf� cked persons with their voluntary consent based on written application. The victims of human traf� cking shall be fully aware of the information on availa-ble/possible assistance, policy pursued by the organization and procedures. They should give their informed consent to any attempted measures. Exclusion of discriminationPursuant to Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Moldova on Prevention and Combating Traf� cking in Persons, “implementation of the provisions… to protect the rights of the victims of traf-� cking shall be ensured without dis-crimination by such criteria as gender, race, language, religion, political and other convictions, social or national origin, association with a ethnical mi-nority, etc.” Any discrimination should be excluded while providing rehabili-tation (re)integration assistance to the traf� cked persons or their family mem-bers. This obligation shall be compul-sorily observed by every organisation taking part in the referral of the traf-� cked persons providing for assistance and protection. Providing access to assistance ir-respective of victim’s agreement or disagreement to cooperate with the police Despite of the fact that the testimony given by the traf� cked persons is very

important for combating human traf-� cking offenses, the survivors are en-titled to refuse cooperation with law enforcement bodies. Free access to justice shall be perceived as the right rather than obligation of the survivors. Organizations providing assistance to such persons shall respect the decision taken by the survivors and provide un-conditional access to the subsequent assistance. This principle is fully pro-vided for by the legislation: “Providing of protection and assistance services shall not be conditioned by the willing-ness of the victims to make statements and to participate in the prosecution of traf� ckers”, stipulates Article 20 para 4 of the Law on Prevention and Combating Traf� cking in Persons.

Con� dentiality of information and privacy granted to the traf� cked personsThe principle of con� dentiality of data and privacy granted to the traf� cked persons is provided for by Article 21 of the aforementioned law:(2) Divulging information on the pri-vate life and personality of the victims of human traf� cking as well as on the conditions of these persons’ traf� cking is inadmissible; (4) Observance of the con� dentiality of the information shall be the obligation of all persons, including those involved in activities of prevention and combat-ing of traf� cking in human beings, pro-tection and assistance of the victims, of the law enforcement authorities, courts, centres and social assistants; (6) Disclosure of information on safety measures attempted in regard of the victims of traf� cking in human beings, as well as on the criminal prosecu-tion and of the measures of protec-tion, applied to the participants of the criminal proceedings implies criminal and administrative responsibility”.

The following could be referred to the main principles of rendering assistance in rehabilitation and (re)integration of the traf� cked persons:

��Survivor’s informed consent for the receipt of assistance and protection; ��Exclusion of discrimina-tion;��Providing access to assistance irrespective of victim’s agreement or disagreement to cooper-ate with the police; ��Con� dentiality of information and privacy granted to the traf� cked persons;��Individual approach; ��Self-determination – choosing one’s own course of life; ��Priority of special rights and best interest of a child.

17


Assisting personnel should be assured that personal information regarding the person and the particular case will be kept con� dential. No information should be released without written consent of the respective bene� ciary. This provision especially applies to the victims of sexual exploitation so as to avoid any risk of disclosure of infor-mation at the place of survivor’s resi-dence and possible stigmatization. It is very important that the principle of con� dentiality is observed in the course of referral of the traf� cked person from one organization to another. To our opinion, the prob-lem of granting con� dentiality to the traf� cked persons in conditions of Moldova, require special atten-tion. Our country is a small one with compact habitat of the population; many people know each other and therefore it does not take long for the information to spread around. Meanwhile, sometimes engaged in the process of identi� cation and ren-dering assistance to a single victim of human traf� cking could be tenths of different organizations of local, dis-trict and republican level. It is neces-sary to work out explicit mechanism of transferring information about traf-� cked persons and cut down to mini-mum transfer of con� dential data. Individual approachVictims of human traf� cking need indi-vidual care and assistance. The size of assistance and the degree of protec-tion shall be de� ned on the basis of individual needs experienced by the bene� ciary, speci� city of her/his prob-lems as well as by the speci� city of certain circumstances and events of her/his life restricting her/his participa-tion in the life of the community, which makes her/his socially vulnerable.

Self-determination – choosing one’s own course of lifeThe following was stated in a Study Re-port (2003) on the research conduct-ed by Swedish organization Stiftelsen Kvinnoforum commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs16:

“Working from an empowerment and rights-based approach means facili-tating the processes where traf� cked persons cease to be victims and start being agents in control of their own lives. In order for this to be possible the traf� cked persons need to be treated as agents, capable of making deci-sions for their future. It also means that the traf� cked persons her/himself must be the one identifying her/his needs and wishes and be given time to do so. These needs, wishes and the hu-man rights of the individual victims hence need to be at the center of all initiatives of recovery, return and integration... An empowerment and rights-based perspective includes pro-viding non-prejudice services and ac-tively countering negative attitude...”

Thus, the process of (re)integrational assistance shall mandatory include di-rect active participation of the survivor while strictly observing his right for free choice of her/his own course of life. The bene � ciaries – traf� cked persons shall be engaged into decision making pro-cess concerning their future; they have the right to make their own choice and decisions as well as the right to reject the assistance. Conditions of total law-lessness during exploitation leave an imprint of traumatic consequences in the psychics of a victim. She/he gets used to the fact that somebody else is making decisions for her/him and fears to accept responsibility for her/his own life. She/he � nds it dif� cult to take in-dependent decision even on the least

16 European Good Practice on Recovery, Return and Integration of traf� cked persons. A Study Report Commis-sioned by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Stiftelsen Kvinnoforum, 2003, p. 23.


18

complicated issue. Therefore the most important objective pursued by the self-determination process is making the victim to regain self-esteem, indepen-dence, responsibility for her/his own self and control over her/his life and future. Priority of special rights and best interest of the childThe principle of priority of child’s special rights and interests is stipulated by Article 25 of the Law on Prevention and Com-bating Traf� cking in Persons: “…in the Republic of Moldova care, assis tance and protection of a child-victim of traf� cking in human beings constitutes political, social and economic preoc-cupation of paramount consideration” (Art. 25 para (1)). The basic rights of the child are stipulated by the UN Conven-tion on the rights of the child and by the Law of the Republic of Moldova on the Rights of the Child No. 338-XIII dated 15 December 1994. Pursuant to the legislation of the Re-public of Moldova recognized as the child is a person since birth and up to reaching the age 18 years. In cases when the age of the traf� cked person is unknown but judging by his appear-ance one could suggest that she/he is a child, applicable to the latter shall be special measures of protection and assistance until such time when the age of the sufferer is accurately established. Activity displayed by all the organiza-tions engaged in counteracting traf� ck-ing in human beings shall be targeted towards observance of vital rights and interests of the child. Upon reaching the age of 10 years any child has the right to express her/his own opinion on all the actions attempted in relation to her/him. This opinion is taken into considera-tion with due account for the degree of child’s evolution, maturity of judgment and her/his vital interests.

In view of the fact that children are the most vulnerable category of per-sons, indeed, special measures of as-sistance and protection as well as re-sources are required in order to ensure their rehabilitation and (re)integration. Pursuant to the legislation of the Re-public of Moldova the child has the right for using the most advanced technologies of curing and recover-ing health. Any child shall have ac-cess to free education; adequate conditions shall be created to ac-custom the child to cultural values and provide for evolution of her/his cre ative capacities. Every child has the right to take part in games and recreational activities suiting her/his age, deal in � ne arts etc. Taking into account child age psychology all the decisions in regard to children shall be taken with utmost promptness without any delays. The child shall not be left for long in the state of uncertainty as this is detrimental to her/his mind. It is worth noticing that protection of children left without parental care is the paramount consideration of the special state service – the guardian-ship authorities. Pursuant to provisions set forth by Article 112 of the Family Code of the Republic of Moldova No. 1316-XIV of 26 October 2000, the state guardianship authorities proceed to identify children left without parental care, register them, choose the form of arrangement with the scope of pro-tection and carry out systematic con-trol over the conditions of up-keeping, education and schooling. Displaying activity in this domain by any other governmental and nongovernmental structures or natural persons is banned by the law. Therefore all measures of assistance meant for the victims of traf� cking in children shall be done with due consent of their parents or guardianship authorities.

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V. IMPACT OF PSYCHICAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH ONTO THE PROCESS OF (RE)INTEGRATION OF THE TRAFFICKED PERSONS

Part of the traf� cked persons is being identi� ed in the host countries. Assis-tance rendered to the identi� ed victims of child traf� cking on behalf of differ-ent organizations in the host countries is basically concentrated on rende-ring emergency medical assistance and taking care of the procedure of repatriation. Lacking knowledge of language or feeling mistrust, victims of child traf� cking often have no chance to communicate with a psychologist until the moment of repatriation. Their return home is often accompanied by crisis outbreak of their psycho-emo-tional sphere. To ensure recovery of the victims one needs to take prompt measures of crisis intervention followed by rehabilitation and (re)integration. Some of the victims of child traf� cking � nd their way of returning back home independently. Part of such children gets identi� ed by the specialized or-ganizations in their home country and they also need assistance in rehabilita-tion and (re)integration and sometimes in crisis intervention. Thus, the major part of services imply-ing assistance and protection to the traf� cked person are rendered by the specialized organizations in their home countries. The authorized staff of these organizations shall have the capa city to assess general well-being of the victim, identify her/his problems and needs and make out a list of meas-ures required to cover such needs arising from the resources available

with their own and other organizations rendering services to the survivors. This information is entered into the indivi-dual plan of rendering assistance and protection to the victim. The plan shall provide for the successive stages of rendering assistance and protection. Transition to next stage shall only be done if the previous one, implement-ed according to the plan, was a suc-cess. It especially applies to the stage of rehabilitation – recovery of psychi-cal and physical health of the victims of human traf� cking.Every person is a personality and therefore it takes different amount of time with each victim to recover. A lot depends on the graveness of trauma as well as on the quality of recovery services. It could take one person two months to restore physical and men-tal health while with another person it could take half a year or more. Some will never be able to recover. In 2003-2004 the London School of Hy-giene and Tropical Medicine conduc-ted a research in 14 countries, which allowed the researchers to � nd out the consequences of suffered experience of exploitation for mental and physi-cal health of women victims of human traf� cking as well as to outline the de-velopment of health recovery in the course of special programs of render-ing assistance to the traf� cked persons. The following reference is made in a publication dedicated to the results of herewith mentioned research:


20

“What differentiates traf� cking and its consequences from the effects of singular traumatic events is that traf� cking involves prolonged and repeated trauma, or “chronic trau-ma”. “Health outcomes largely de-pend on the degree and duration of the coercion, and the individual’s capacity to cope (which is often strongly in� uenced by the quality of support available).”17

Assessment of health condition with the traf� cked persons within the frameworks of the aforementioned re-search was done by interviewing 207 survivors. Thereat, identi� ed were 26 indicators – symptoms testifying exist-ence of problems with physical health and 17 symptoms indicating problems with mental health. These indicators are summarized in Table 3:

Table 3. Symptoms indicating existence of problems with physical and mental health identi� ed with the traf� cked persons

Problems Symptoms of different illnesses and problems Physical health problems 1) Easily tired

2) Weight loss 3) Loss of appetite4) Headaches5) Dizzy spells6) Dif� culty remembering7) Fainting � ts/loss of consciousness8) Stomach or abdominal pain9) Upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea etc. 10) Heart pain11) Breathing dif� culty12) Back pain13) Fractures/sprains14) Joint or muscular pain15) Tooth pain16) Facial injures17) Vision problems/ eye pain 18) Ear Pain19) Cold, � u and sinus infections 20) Symptoms of cutaneous diseases (rash, itching etc.)21) Urination pain22) Pelvic pain23) Vaginal discharge/pain24) Vaginal bleeding25) Gynaecological infections26) Other gynecological problems

Mental health problems Symptoms of depression:1) No interest in things2) Hopelessness about the future3) Worthlessness feelings 4) Loneliness5) Depression/deep sadness6) Suicidal thoughts Anxiety symptoms:1) Fearfulness2) Tense or keyed up 3) Terror/panic spells 4) Restlessness5) Scared suddenly without reason6) Nervousness or shakiness inside

17 Zimmerman, C., Yun, K., Shvab, I., etc. The Health risks and consequences of traf� cking in women and adoles-cents. Funding from a European study. London: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. 2003, P.24.

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Hostility symptoms:1) Urges to beat, injure or hurt someone 2) Urges to break or smash things 3) Frequent arguments4) Annoyed/irritated easily5) Uncontrolled temper outbursts

Interviewing the survivors in the course of the aforementioned research was conducted three times at different stages of rendering rehabilitation assist-ance, which allowed the researchers to identify the dynamics of physical and mental recovery in victims of traf� cked persons since they were � rst included in the assistance programme granted to the victims of human traf� cking. The in-terviews was conducted as follows: ��1st interview – within 0 to 14 days from the date of � rst inclusion into the as-

sistance programme (crisis interven-tion);��2nd interview – within 28 to 56 days from the date of � rst inclusion into the programme;��3rd interview – upon expiry of 90 days and more from the date of � rst inclu-sion into the programme. In the course of each interview record was taken of the existence with the re-spondents symptoms of physical and mental health problems. The outcome of the interview is summarized in Table 4:

Table 4. Dynamics of rehabilitation of women – victims of human traf� cking experiencing physical and mental health problems

Periodicity of conduct-ing interviews since the date of inclusion into the programme

Existence of symptoms of physical and mental health problemsPhysical health Mental health

12-26

symptoms of problems

0-11


10-17


0-9


0-14 days: 57% 43% 71% 29%28-56 days: 7% 93% 52% 48%90 days and more 6% 94% 19% 81%

Thus, the results of herewith mentioned research show that many symptoms linked to physical and mental health with the survivors tend to persist for long after the latter are freed from

the slavery. With the absolute majo rity of the respondents 0 to 11 different physical and mental symptoms were registered even 90 days after release from the places of exploitation.

In the report of the Lon-don School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine conducted a research in 14 countries in 2003-2004, has been mentioned the following:

“Not only are physi-cal health symptoms lifeimpinging, but they also have the potential to negatively impact women’s participation in administrative, legal or other procedures that require intellectual functioning. Some of the most prevalent symptoms, headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and memory loss, caused women consider-able pain. Alleviating this pain should be a priority.”

(Zimmerman, C., Yun, K., Shvab, I., etc. The Health risks and consequences of traf� cking in women and adolescents. Funding from a European study. London: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medi-cine. 2003, p.14.)

Meanwhile, the programmes of rehabilitation assistance developed for the victims of human traf� cking are often short-term (30 days). As it follows from herewith stated results, in the majority of cases it is impossible to achieve rehabilitation within one month. If the programme for the survivor includes vocational training or some other programme of (re)integration, then the risk that the survivor will not be able to master it with success is very high. It is necessary to develop in Moldova such rehabilita-tion programmes with a duration of 3 months and more, preferably at the place of residence as well as such scheduled for long-term (1 year and more) (re)integration assistance.


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VI. FACTORS UNDERLYING SUC-CESS OF (RE)INTEGRATION. ASSESS-MENT OF RISKS AND PLANNING AR-RANGEMENTS FOR CLEARING SUCH

(Re)integration of the victims of hu-man traf� cking is a very complex and lengthy process with a number of fac-tors in� uencing its success: “Refugees face a number of barriers to integration resulting from their experi-ences problems of adaptation during the � rst years and physical and men-tal health problems relating to past trauma and possibly torture. They also encounter a range of disadvantages relating both to social and economic factors reception phase conditions and the shortcomings in some policies and practices of service providers.”18

The specialists of the organizations rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons are aware of the cases when the victim of human traf� cking is sud-denly quitting with the programme and gets repeatedly engaged in hu-man traf� cking. In order to exclude such cases and providing for the suc-cessful (re)integration of the victim it is important to identify from the start all possible factors that could in� uence negatively achievement of the objec-tives pursued by the (re)integration assistance and work out preventive measures.

18 Good Practice Guide on the Integration of Refugees in the European Union, p. 48.

Depending on the source of in� uence, the factors affecting the process of (re)integration of the traf� cked persons could be combined into 4 main groups:

� Quality, intensity and duration of assistance programmes as well as the efforts con-tributed by the staff of the specialized organizations rendering assistance;

� Individual capacities and motivation of the survivor;

� Assistance rendered by survivor’s close environment;

� Preparedness of the receiving environment (society).

Assistance programmes for the traf� cked persons and efforts con-tributed by the specialistsThe quality of programmes designed to assist to (re)integration is decisive for the entire process. The intensity and duration of a programme shall be se-lected individually depending on the problems and needs experienced by the survivor. It is necessary to take into account the term of bene� ciary’s stay in conditions of exploitation. The long-er the bene� ciary stays in full subordi-nation of another man suffering from

humiliation and fear and being un-able to dispose of her/his destiny, the more effort it will take to bring her/him back to normal condition and make her/him independent and full-� edged member of the society. Needless to say that in� uencing the shape of the assistance programmes are not only such efforts as contributed by the or-ganizations directly engaged in the process of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons (their maneuver be-ing capped by the available resourc-es) but also by the entire nationwide system of granting such assistance,

23


which implies attitude of the govern-ment and also the size of international assistance and hence – the attitude of the international community. Still, a specialized organization could do a lot for more ef� cient use of the avail-able resources. As proven by the practice, chances for the success of (re)integration are growing substantially in case when a specialist of an organization ren-dering assistance to the traf� cked persons manages to establish good con� dential relations with the bene� -ciary. One of the risks in the process of (re)integration programme implemen-tation lies with mistrust on behalf of the bene� ciaries towards the specialists of the specialized organizations rendering (re)integration assistance. As stated in the report on the research conducted by the Swedish organization Stiftelsen Kvinnoforum commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Internal Affairs:19

“Severe abuse and deceit that vic-tims of traf� cking are often subject to may render victims unable or with dif-� culties to trust other people as well as themselves. Therefore they may need to re-learn to trust other peo-ple, make friends and have healthy relationships.”

Besides, establishing good personal relations with the bene� ciary alone allows to identify all of her/his prob-lems and needs, work our individual programme or plan for rendering as-sistance as well as to prevent possible risks of failing successful (re)integration. When identifying the problems, it is necessary to pay immediate atten-tion to the problems experienced by the bene� ciary in the past at the mo-

ment of being approached by the human traf� ckers and accepting their dubious offer:

“Needless to say, when the factors that led to traf� cking in the � rst place have not been resolved there is a considerable risk of repeated traf-� cking or of the person returning to the environment of exploitation…”20

Most often, traf� cked persons are ex-periencing problems in their relations with parents or other members of the family. These problems serve as pow-erful exclusion factor, which makes them take a risk and seek for happi-ness away from their own home. Individual abilities and motivation of the bene� ciary The success of (re)integration does not depend only on the quality and duration of services rendered. In re-ality, half of the battle in the process of (re)integration lies with motivation of the traf� cked persons. A series of possible risks/impediments for the successful (re)integration is bound to personal qualities of the bene� ciaries themselves while the work on remov-ing such risks is one of the key objec-tives pursued by the organization-supplier of services for (re)integration assistance. This is achieved by estab-lishing con� dential relations with the bene� ciary as well as by way of em-powerment of the bene� ciaries in the process of (re)integration. The �CRE papers suggest the following descrip-tion of the empowerment:

“… process through which a person could develop capacity to be self-de-termined, take independent decisions and take control of his own life.”21

19 European Good Practice on Recovery, Return and Integration of traf� cked persons. A Study Report Commis-sioned by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Stiftelsen Kvinnoforum, 2003, p. 16.20 Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. BLinN-Novib/Humanitas. 2003, p. 55.21 See: Good Practice Guide on the Integration of Refugees in the European Union.


24

As it has been already noticed, � rst of all, the measures targeted onto em-powerment envisage inclusion of the survivor into decision making process. This applies especially to the women victims of human traf� cking:

“It is important to bear in mind that empowerment is a process rather than an end in itself. NGOs can assist the women, but must involve them in making decisions which affect their lives and especially not to treat them as passive victims. They must be given possibilities to develop their autonomy and personal capacities to the full.”22

Amongst different types of arrange-ments that could facilitate empower-ment of the bene� ciaries, one could mention such as working meetings and focus groups conducted at different stages of (re)integration. The scopes underlying such working meetings and focus groups are linked to enhancing self-concept and vital activity, deve-lopment of potential, etc. As a rule, these meetings comprise such topics as prevention of violence in relation to women, raising awareness about human and civil rights, health life and other related topics. The specialists of the nongovernmental organiza-tion SOLWODI from Germany (Mainz) have stated that:

“The aim of these [focus] groups is also to include the active participa-tion of women that were victims of traf� cking in developing activities and services and to empower them by working on training, changing of attitudes, values and making deci-sions. You work under this concept to break established preconceptions as

to what it means to be a victim, how this is perceived, the treatment given and the produced effect.”23

Assistance rendered by close environment As it has been already noticed, the success of (re)integration of the traf-� cked persons depends at large on the relations with the close ones. It is a proven fact that the traf� cked persons accepted and supported by the fam-ily have more chances for successful (re)integration into the society:

“In the families in which the trau-matic experience lived through by the victims of human traf� cking was adequately understood and conceived, care about each other facilitates enhanced rehabilitation and (re)integration. All this allows victims of traf� cking feel protected in all spheres of vital activity, resolving independently emerging problems, making choice, taking decisions, ad-dressing, if necessary, to the social assistant.”24

And quite the contrary, psychologi-cal rejection of the traf� cked persons by their families or physical violence in the family could in� ict repeated trauma to the victim, return into crisis condition and even disrupt the pro-gramme of (re)integration. With the scope of preventing problems emerg-ing in relations with the family of the survivor, personnel of the specialized organizations shall timely and prefera-bly at the stage of rehabilitation of the traf� cked person, conduct an analysis of relations of the survivor with her/his fa mily. At victim’s solicitation she/he needs to be rendered assistance in es-tablishing contact with her/his fa mily.

“Talk about empower-ment often conjures up images of persons who are powerless. However this is not the case for many women that are victims of traf� cking. Those who originally chose to migrate are searching for better economic opportunities for themselves and their families; they have proved to have the incentive and motivation to become the primary actors of change. Before coming into con-tact with organization that provide assistance, many are able to use their own resources and personal capacities to � nd solutions to their own problems. They must be encouraged to do so”.

(Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. BLinN-Novib/Hu-manitas. 2003, p. 9.)

22 (Utterances by Cristina Talena and Cecile Landman). Alliance News. Issue 19-20, July/December 2003. Theme: The Process of Recovery from Traf� cking. GAATW, p. 12.23 Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. BLinN-Novib/Humanitas. 2003, p. 16.24 The social assistance to victims of human traf� cking, especially women. Guide of good practices for the social assistants and psychologists. Chisinau, 2005, c. 81.

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“Although the environment plays an important role in creating the conditions for re-integration, it is the individual that will determine how the process develops. This de-pends on personal character-istics and social background, personality, age, education, religion and culture as well as the motivation to stabilize the situation.”.

(Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. BLinN-Novib/Humanitas. 2003, p. 12.)

If the bene� ciary in order to attend the programme of (re)integration has to re-turn to unfavorable family environment from which she/he tried to escape before and if thereat her/his psycho-emotional condition is unstable then chances are that she/he would make repeated attempt to change place of residence even by way of returning back to conditions of exploitation. When establishing contacts with the family it is important to take into ac-count the fact that the traf� cked person could have been detached from her/his family for long. During this time relations in the family could have changed dramatically. It is necessary to analyze possible response of the members of victim’s family on the de-tails of the events that happened to the survivor and outline measures of working with the family members. Work with the family could be con-� ned to rendering social assistance and counseling adult members of the family on the problems of bene� ciary’s (re)integration in the family. It could also be con� ned to rendering assist-ance in reestablishing relations with children. This is especially important if a small child – victim of traf� cking was found for long in care of other mem-ber of the family, relative or acquaint-ance. As a rule, this results in cooling down of mother-to-child relationship. Proven in the practice is the fact that during the � rst months after victim’s return back home there takes place building of skills to take care of her/himself and then of the close ones. The social assistant from the organization rendering assistance shall pay special attention to resuming mother-to-child relations with the scope of preventing the risk of neglecting by these women their maternal obligations. In each

case the social assistant shall apply different techniques.If a family is prepared to accept the traf� cked person but does not know how to help her then the social assist-ance shall be rendered to both the victim and her family. Members of vic-tim’s family shall be prepared from the psychological standpoint to accept the victim; they have to learn through discussions and psycho-pedagogic counseling to understand, share and give them fair hearing rather than to condemn. But, as already mentioned, this work could only be done if the family members are willing to accept the assistance and if so desired by the victim. If the family does not accept and condemns the survivor, then the social assistant should take care of � nding for the person new place in life, occu-pation and residence. The social as-sistant should also help in recovering victim’s physical and mental health and extend emotional support. Often, recovery of survivor’s personal life and emotional state could lead to her/his reunion with the family. Public sentimentIt goes without saying that employ-ment of the traf� cked person is the main scope pursued by the process of (re)integration:

“Women who return to their home countries will need to have viable long-term economic options, not only for their survival but also in many cases for the welfare of their families. Estab-lishing some kind of economic stability, therefore, plays an important role for a woman and her family dependants in the process of reintegration.”25

The bene� ciaries are usually asking for a chance to master new trade; very

25 Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. BLinN-Novib/Humanitas. 2003, p. 57.


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often they would seek for a fancy one hoping that the new occupa-tion in the labor market or industry will change their life to better. However, the specialist of the organization ren-dering assistance in the process of (re)integration of the traf� cked per-sons shall assess the chances of sub-sequent employment of the bene� -ciary. Carrier guidance shall be based not only on the desires and abilities of the bene� ciary but also on the de-mand for selected trade in the labor market. This is especially important in

conditions of Moldova where the un-employment rate is very high. In the ��RE materials it is stated that “lack of access to labor market is a serious im-pediment to the successful long-term integration.”26 Unemployment forces traf� cked persons to search new op-portunities of employment abroad and as such, heightens the risk of re-peatedly getting caught in the toils of human traf� ckers; on the other side, long lasting unemployment facilitates development of dependence on the social welfare.

When integration children-victims of human traf� ck-ing into their biological families one should bear in mind that:

“Children need to be reintegrated into their families if the family situ-ation allows for this. If the environment in the original family is not suitable for a normal prospering of the child e.g. is unstable or violent, cannot support the child economically, possibilities can be sought in the extended family e.g. grandparents, aunts and uncles. If there are no such possibilities or in cases where the child does not wish to be repat-riated, he or she needs to be integrated into a new foster family”

(European Good Practice on Recovery, Return and Integration of traf� cked persons. A Study Report Commissioned by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Stiftelsen Kvinnofo-rum, 2003, p. 18).

Referred to serious risks in successful (re)integration of the traf� cked persons is mar-ginalization of the victims of sexual exploitation. The sociological notion of margi-nalization comes from Late Latin “marginalis”, i.e. found on the edge of and means intermediacy of position between certain social groups. This notion appeared in the 20th of the last century to describe the phenomenon of non-adaptation of the immi-grants to the new social conditions.

In regard of the victims of human traf-� cking marginalization implies that they start keeping aloof from people in response to negative attitude taken by the society. As it has been stated by Stefano Volpicelli:“once back home, freed from exploi-tation, all victims are considered pros-titutes… Clearly, this makes rehabili-tation even harder since it increases their chances of marginalization. In many cases they have to hide out somewhere else with a new identity in order to reintegrate themselves in their country of origin.”27 The effect of marginalization could be further ampli� ed by low self-as-sessment of the bene� ciaries which is commonly observed with the victims of sexual exploitation:

“Individuals may experience rejec-tion when their ideas, presence, or requests are not accepted by a re-levant other. Social workers � nd that some of their clients with low self-es-teem or poor self-con� dence believe they are experiencing rejection or not being given what they want.”28

Marginalization of the victims of sexu-al exploitation is a pressing problem, which requires more serious approach on behalf of all organizations rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons. Ac-cording to the data available with the International Centre “La Strada” Moldo-va, about 70 % of women-victims of ex-ploitation in sex industry experienced signi� cant dif� culties or were unable to (re)integrate into their own family while about 80 % of them commented on re-jection on behalf of the society.

It is necessary to distinguish between marginalization and stigmatization of the traf-� cked persons. The notion of stigmatization comes from the Greek word “stigma” – a

26 Good Practice Guide on the Integration of Refugees in the European Union, p. 32.27 Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. BLinN-Novib/Humanitas. 2003, p. 58.28 Robert L.Barker. The Social Work Dictionary. 3rd Edition, USA, 1995, p. 320.

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mark or sign of shame, disgrace or disapproval and means socio-psychological dis-crimination of certain category of people by certain distinguishing feature. If, to a certain extent, marginalization depends on the response of the survivor, then stigma-tization of the traf� cked persons is fully dependent on the society:

“Public opinion can be a strong force and condemn a victim of traf-� cking, especially when there are noticeable changes in her behavior. Stigmatization is one of the greatest problems for victims of traf� cking. Victims of traf� cking are regarded as immoral when it is known that they were involved in prostitution and rarely seen as victims. The reaction of the community and family will there-fore have serious repercussion on the reintegration process. If a woman is stigmatized she may feel isolated and rejected, leading her to leave her community and putting her at greater risk of being traf� cked once again.”29

One of the possible factors affecting the success of (re)integration could also be the difference in the models of socialization. This factor could trigger internal con� icts with the traf� cked persons taking part in the long-lasting programmes of rehabilitation avail-able in the host countries and then continued in their home country upon their return. “A strong internal con� ict that arises after having learned new models of-ten stand in contrast with those of the country of origin. The survivor may have appreciated certain elements of social models in the country of des-tination and � nd it dif� cult to reconcile them with her life at home. The helper may not understand that some of the survivor’s issues stem from feeling al-ienated from her own culture.”30

Due to differences in the economic development and culture of the so-ciety existing between home and host countries the traf� cked persons could cherish unrealistic expecta-tions in regard to the nature and size of assistance granted by the organi-zations-suppliers of services in their home country or overestimate the goodwill of the community. To avoid such situations use could be made of the tripartite contact between service supplier in host country (pre-paring the survivor to repatriation), service supplier in home country and the traf� cked person established pri-or to bene� ciary’s return to his native country. Risks assessmentOften referred to in the literature on human traf� cking is the need of as-sessing potential risks or impediments. However in practice, it is very dif� cult to distinguish in what way the risks differ from factors of in� uence or problems. When a specialist is making out an in-dividual plan of rendering assistance and protection she/he should iden-tify all the problems experienced by the bene� ciary, i.e. impediments on the way of her/his full (re)integration and give a thought to the measures of overcoming such. Each problem that remains unidenti� ed by the spe-cialist or such a problem that could not be resolved under given condi-tions is automatically converted into a negative factor of in� uence or risk for (re)integration.

29 Good practices on (re)integration of victims of traf� cking in human beings in six European countries. BLinN-Novib/Humanitas. 2003, p. 59.30 Stefano Volpicelli. Understanding and counteracting Traf� cking in Persons. Rome, 2004, p. 43.


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Thus, analysis shows that basically perceived as risks is a special group of negative factors of in� uence onto the process of (re)integration or problems that due to all sorts of reasons remained unidenti� ed and/or seem to be rather dif� cult to overcome:�) problems that existed at the moment of drafting assistance and protection plan but for the variety of reasons were not identi� ed (for example, traf� cked person con-cealed some of the problems or the specialist failed to pay attention to certain prob-lem and missed working out a plan for overcoming such); b) problems with housing (dif� cult to solve due to high cost of housing); �) new problems that could manifest themselves in the future (for example, chronic disease could subsequently take an acute form); d) alcohol or drugs addiction; e) extraneous factors of in� uence beyond control of the bene� ciary or of the organi-zation rendering services (for example, high rate of unemployment in the country);f) other.

In any case, a specialist working with the traf� cked persons should be aware of the list of possible problems experi-enced by the bene� ciaries or factors of in� uence on the (re)integration, be able to identify all the problems of a speci� c bene� ciary and make out a plan for overcoming such. Thereat,

especially complicated problems – risks shall be highlighted by a special line in the plan and kept under spe-cial control. Table 5 gives an approximate (al-though not exhaustive) list of risks for successful (re)integration of the traf-� cked persons:

Table 5. Basic risks (impediments) for successful (re)integration of the traf� cked persons

Possible risks Possible methods of clearing risks 1. Suicidal attempts ��Psychological counseling of the family with the

scope of preventing physical/psychological vio-lence;

��Long-lasting psychotherapy sessions;

�� Preventing alcohol consumption/assisting to medical care;

��Preventing potential contact between the victim of human traf� cking-witness and offenders

2. Chronic illness of the traf� cked per-son, impeding her/him from normal labor activity and/or health insuf� -ciencies with near environment

��Assistance in conducting timely diagnostics and providing access to free medical services/ rende-ring timely assistance

3. Alcohol addiction, smoking, drugs addiction

��Access to medical care;

��Legal protection of right of the victims of human traf� cking;

��Preventing marginalization 4. Lack of permanent residence and/

or living in conditions un� t for resi-dence;

Sharing residence with persons drink-ing alcohol/ using drugs

��Rendering assistance in long-term accommoda-tion in shelters;

��Rendering assistance in job placement, pro bably in another inhabited localities where there is a chance to get salary suf� cient for covering cost of renting housing and other required expenses

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5. Physical and sexual violence in the family

��Bringing out of violent environment;

��Psychological counseling of family members with the scope of preventing repeated violence;

��Rendering legal assistance in the process of di-vorce and division of property

6. Physical mutilation of the traf� cked persons

��Providing access to social assistance rendered by the state;

��Social monitoring;

��Psychological and legal assistance 7. Physical mutilation of a child or other

close person in need for permanent care

��Providing access to long-term social assistance services rendered by the state as well as to the such services as rendered by other organizations;

��Social monitoring

8. Lagging behind in mental devel-opment or suffering from mental di-sease

��Long-term social monitoring

��Providing access to long-term social assistance services

9. Unrealistic expectations in regard to the nature and size of assistance rendered by the staff of the respec-tive organizations in victim’s home country

�� Informing the bene� ciary prior to his return to home country on the available services to assist in (re)integration with active participation of the staff of specialized organizations in home and host countries, handing over hard copies of information materials;

��Taking stock of resources available in the home country and reality of economic and social life

10. Unemployment ��Counseling in the � eld of carrier guidance;

��Rendering support in obtaining vocational edu-cation;

��Training in and developing entrepreneurial skills;

��Supporting development of small business;

�� Psycho-social counseling with the scope of re-moving feeling of dependence, exposure/instabi-lity, empowerment

The aforementioned list of risks for (re)integration of the traf� cked per-sons is not an exhaustive one. Ad-ditional research is needed so as to identify the full spectrum of possible risks. While commenting on the aforemen-tioned list of risks it is worth drawing at-tention to the problem of access for the traf� cked persons to free medical assistance services available in our country for curing chronic illnesses, which shall be deemed as one of the possible types of risk of recurrent crisis conditions requiring subsequent psy-chological and physiological rehabili-

tation. As a rule, victims of human traf-� cking have no health insurance and access to medical services becomes possible following interference of law-yers and social assistants into their � ght for the right for social assistance and protection. Very often the main impediment for the success of economic (re)integration as well as for employment of the vic-tims of human traf� cking lies with exist-ence in the family of dependent small child or other member of the family with physical mutilation who needs permanent care. Therefore the stra-tegy of rendering assistance and pro-

The ECRE also considers that

“limited or no access to health provisions together with lack of adequate and healthy reception conditions during the initial stage of arrival can seri-ously undermine refugee long term health and integration prospects”..

(Good Practice Guide on the Integration of Refugees in the European Union, p. 33.)


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tection shall take into account both the need of the bene� ciary and such experienced by her/his dependent or other persons playing the key role in regaining feeling of protection and balanced out internal condition of the survivor. If such a bene� ciary is offered assistance in mastering blue-collar job it is also necessary to give a thought on how to help her/him in � nding suf� -cient time for study/training within the frameworks of rendered assistance. One of the speci� c types of risk for the success of (re)integration lies with risk taking behavior manifested by the bene� ciary. Sometimes, the bene� -ciaries are neglecting advice given to them by service providers and hide their problems. As it has been already mentioned, these problems could be resolved by establishing con� dential relations with the bene� ciary and em-powering.

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VII. INDIVIDUAL PLAN OF (RE)INTEGRATION OF THE TRAFFICKED PERSONS

It is worth noticing from the start that when we speak about the Plan of (re)integration of the traf� cked persons we actually imply the ultimate purpose of rendering assistance to the bene-� ciary. Care shall be taken so that the bene� ciary while rendered assist-ance does not fall into dependence on the service providers; instead she/he should be able to recover her/his health, regain economic independ-ence and become full-� edged mem-ber of the community. Talking about the Plan from the standpoint of succes-sion of rendering services it would be more appropriate to call it the Plan of rendering assistance and protection, since this Plan besides measures of (re)integration may contain provisions for crisis intervention as well as such for rehabilitation of the traf� cked persons. The Plan of rendering assistance and protection to the traf� cked persons shall be the individual one, i.e. it should be made out for a speci� c person with due account of her/his needs and de-sires. Nonetheless, since the problems experienced by the traf� cked persons have similar traces it looks rather feasi-ble to develop a standard pattern of Plan based on the experience gained by different service providers. The Plan of rendering assistance and protection shall be targeted towards (re)integration of the traf� cked per-sons and therefore needs to be made out in the target country in the soci-ety of which the victim of traf� cking intends to (re)integrate. The Plan shall be made out with immediate partici-pation of the bene� ciary. When mak-

ing out the Plan for the minor victims of human traf� cking, care shall be taken to engage child’s parents or her/his legal representatives into the process. Working out of the Plan shall start with due assessment of the needs and problems experienced by the speci� c bene� ciary. Besides, it is necessary to take into account underlying moti-vation and desires of the bene� ciary as well as all factors of in� uence and possible risks that could impede imple-mentation of the Plan. The package of scheduled services, duration and succession of such shall be selected arising from the condition and needs of every speci� c bene� ciary. Thereat, it is advisable to � rst identify all the needs experienced by the bene� ciary and then determine required resour-ces and service providers at whose expense these need will be covered. It is important that the specialist con-ducting assessment of the needs ex-perienced by the bene� ciary also accounts for the needs of her/his de-pendent persons. For example, if the traf� cked person is a single mother it is necessary to identify the needs of her child and make provisions for cover-ing such. If necessary, the Plan worked out could be subsequently amended. Despite of the fact that the individual Plan of (re)integration could be changed and amended in the process of rendering assistance it is extremely important to have this Plan drafted in writing so as to allow for external control for its im-plementation.


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Complexity of making out and imple-menting the Plan lies with the fact that each of the identi� ed founded need experienced by the bene� ciary could not always be covered at the expense of resources available with the com-munity. Much to our regret these re-sources in our country are very scarce. At times, the bene� ciary needs long-

term and costly assistance while there are no suf� cient resources to provide for such. Uncovered needs could pose signi� cant risk in pursuing the scope of (re)integration. Therefore, service provider shall do its best in locating re-quired resources both nationally and internationally so as to cover the needs experienced by the bene� ciary.

To our opinion, the standard strategy of rendering assistance and protection to the traf� cked persons could comprise three main components envisaging measures to provide for the following: I. Crisis intervention;II. Rehabilitation;III. (Re)integration. In order to ensure for a comprehensive (re)integration of the bene� ciary it is im-portant that the third component of the strategy contains subcomponents with ar-rangements targeted towards achievement of the main scopes of (re)integration. It means that these subcomponents shall correspond to the following basic scopes of (re)integration:1) integration/recovery of the system of own vital values and perceptions of the world;2) family (re)integration;3) (re)integration into the life of the community;4) economic (re)integration;5) culture (re)integration;6) religion (re)integration (bears non-mandatory nature and left at the discretion of the bene� ciary); 7) recovery/implementation of legal rights. Besides, the structure of each subcomponent of the strategy of (re)integration shall mirror the succession of the actions outlined for the achievement of the respective scope of (re)integration: ��assessment of problems/needs experienced by the bene� ciary; ��assessment of the needs experienced by the bene� ciary’s dependent persons; ��determining respective objectives to be pursued by the specialist(s); ��making out list of required types of assistance or services; ��assessment of possible extra risks; ��selected methods of clearing the risks; ��comments on receipt of assistance/services; ��comments on changes in the condition of the bene� ciary and on the achievement of success indicators; ��other than speci� ed.

Case manager shall be able to establish reliable contact with the bene� -ciary and involve him in the process of implemen-tation of Plan, helping her/him to determine her/his own capacity in solving problems. Thereat, it is im-portant that the bene� cia-ry gets clear idea about the size and duration of assistance rendered to her/him. As it has been already noticed, the Plan of rendering assistance and protection could be changed on founded grounds. Still, the ben-e� ciary is entitled to be informed on any changes in her/his individual plan and to take active part in Plan implementation.

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Such structure of the Plan shall allow for using individual plan of rendering assistance and protection as an in-strument of monitoring, analysis and assessment of the ef� ciency of con-ducted arrangements. The analysis and assessment of the con-dition of bene� ciary as well as marking dynamics of changes are important tasks to be observed by the specialists rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons. Therefore, the structure of the Plan shall envisage possibility of sub-sequent inclusion of such information as dates and number of conducted arrangements, comments of the spe-cialists, point of view expressed by the bene� ciary, description of emerging problems having relation to the pro-cess of (re)integration as well as other relevant information. The bene� ciaries shall be admitted to arrangements in-cluded in the third component of the Plan of (re)integration only after they get positive references of the special-ists on passing the period of rehabilita-tion. In cases when the bene� ciaries reveal symptoms of grave problems with their health, such as for example, depression, insomnia, hostility, apathy and other, such could create impedi-ments for successful (re)integration of the victims.Usually, there is a specially assigned case manager – representative of one of the nongovernmental organi-zations rendering major volume of services to the speci� c bene� ciary who is responsible for working out and implementation of the Plan. As a rule, her/his responsibilities are con� ned to the following: ��establishing contacts with the range of required specialists (social service, medical personnel, teachers, employ-ment agency, territorial department for documentation of the population,

specialized nongovernmental organi-zations, representatives of local ad-ministration etc.); ��lining up arrangements on rendering assistance and protection to the survi-vors at the expense of provider’s own reserves as well as at the expense of referring the bene� ciaries to the spe-cialists of other organizations; ��observing con� dentiality of informa-tion about private life of the traf� cked persons;�� monitoring the quality of services rendered with due account for the opinion shared by the bene� ciary; ��analysis and assessment of the con-dition of bene� ciary, her/his readiness for the next stage of assistance, i.e. assessment of the ef� ciency of meas-ures on physical and mental health of the survivor; ��adjusting the Plan (if necessary);�� informing the survivor on the subse-quent opportunities and principles of rendering assistance, including such as handing over hard copies of infor-mation materials; ��if necessary, conduct personal refer-ral of the bene� ciary to the new case administrator complete with transfer of assistance and protection Plan and personal recommendations. Relations between case manager and traf� cked person shall not lead to development of a syndrome of helplessness with the latter and shall be primarily targeted onto develop-ment of her/his own abilities to solve the problems, which in the � nal analy-sis allows for achieving the main ob-jective – full-� edged (re)integration of the traf� cked person.Until presently no solution was found in our country to the issue of external monitoring of the activity displayed

The Regulation statute on organization and functioning of the centers for rendering assistance and protection to the traf� cked persons, ap-proved by the Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Moldova No. 1362 dated 29 November 2006, provides for the new procedure of making out plans of assistance and protection for the victims of human traf� cking. Pursuant to Article 16 of the herewith mentioned Resolution:

“Assistance to each victim shall be granted on the basis of an individual plan… developed by the social assistant-coordi-nator of the given case appointed by the Center for rehabilitation of the victims of human traf� ck-ing, OIM Chisinau or by the specialist-coordinator of multifunctional task force acting at local level. The plan shall be agreed on with all members of the multifunctional task force. Revision of the individual plan of intervention shall be done by the multifun-ctional task force acting at the local level”.

(The Of� cial Gazette of the Republic of Moldova, 2006, No. 186 – 188, p. 1457.)


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by the case manager while imple-menting the Plan of assistance and protection of the traf� cked persons. As a rule, such monitoring is done only by the personnel of nongovernmen-tal organization rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons, which is not quite correct. The traf� cked persons are referred to one of the most socially vulnerable categories of population in our country eligible for assistance and protection rendered by the state. If we want to make the newly created system sustainable it is necessary to make sure that assistance and protec-tion rendered to the traf� cked persons shall not exist and be developed in isolation from the general state system of social assistance for socially vulne-rable categories of population. However, it is most likely that in the nearby future development and monitoring of the strategy of render-ing assistance and protection to the traf� cked persons will become the competency of the multidisciplinary groups designed to render assistance to these persons created at district level and composed from the specia-lists representing different governmen-tal structures.Certainly, involvement of the govern-mental structures acting at the local level into the process of rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons, monitoring and coordination of ac-tions shall be phased out without de-terioration of quality of the services rendered to the bene� ciaries.

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VIII. ASSESSMENT OF SUCCESS IN THE PROCESS OF (RE)INTEGRATION OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS

Lately, the specialists seem to raise more often such issues as: “When does the process of rehabilitation end and when the process of (re)integration starts?”, “What are the indica-tors of successful rehabilitation and (re)integration?”, “How could one de-termine the ef� ciency of programmes of assistance rendered to the victims of human traf� cking?” and other.To our opinion, in order to answer these questions it will be necessary � rst apply systemic approach to rehabilitation of the traf� cked persons and work out uni� ed standards in this domain. It is also necessary to develop commonly agreed terminology in this domain, de-termine standard package of services rendered to traf� cked persons, stages of rendering assistance and protec-tion as well as requirements to making out individual Plan. Yet another issue of prime importance is to generalize the experience gained by different service providers rendering assistance to the traf� cked persons and to work out a standard strategy of rendering services to these persons, which shall be applied by all service providers acting in this domain. To our opinion, it is very impor-tant to make sure that when working out each individual Plan of rendering

services and protection, a specialist en-gaged in the process does not restrict her/him to rendering standard services alone but from the onset takes into con-sideration individual abilities of a person and sets clear target – (re)integration of the bene� ciary. Besides, it is important to establish who and in what manner will carry out control and assessment of the implementation of the individual plan and use success indicators. This be-ing done, one could cross over to de-termining the methodology of assessing the process of (re)integration and the list of respective indicators. Determining the methodology of assess-ing the process of (re)integration and uni-� ed qualitative and/or quantitative indi-cators of the success of (re)integration is a very important and pressing chal-lenge for the providers of services to the traf� cked persons in the Republic of Moldova. This methodology of assess-ment shall be scienti� cally founded and allow for multilateral assessment of the success of arrangements conducted with the scope of (re)integration. At the same time, the methodology of assess-ing (re)integration process shall not be very complicated otherwise it will turn into an impediment in its practical ap-plication.

Introduction of uni� ed success indicators for (re)integration arrangements shall allow for the following:��set up monitoring over the process of rendering assistance and protection at all stages of (re)integration;�� identify the most ef� cient methods of working with the survivor and improve (re)integration activity, including at the expense of avoiding repeated mistakes;��enhance the ef� ciency of using available material, labor and � nancial resources.


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At this moment it is still hard to give spe-ci� c recommendations on the quanti-ty and composition of success indica-tors in the process of (re)integration. The only thing possible so far is to out-line the general approach to solving this problem. In our opinion, the methodology of assessing (re)integration needs to be worked out for a number of categories of bene� ciaries with due account of the fact that certain categories of the bene� ciaries are getting paid special types of bene� ts or larger size of such bene� ts (traf� cked persons – disabled, victims-witnesses, children-victims vic-tims of human traf� cking etc.).Besides, the methodology of the assess-ment shall be worked out for each of the three stages of rendering assistance: crisis intervention, rehabilitation and (re)integration assistance. The indicators shall be used for the success assessment at each stage and be set depending on the objectives pursued in the course of each stage. Once the established in-dicators of the success of this stage are reached, the bene� ciary is entitled to cross over to the next stage. Success indicators for the � rst two stag-es will refer more to recovery of physi-cal and mental health, while such for the third stage of rendering assistance for (re)integration shall take into ac-count all six basic objectives pursued by (re)integration:��recovery of the system of vital values and perceptions of the world;

��family (re)integration; �� (re)integration into the life of the community;��economic (re)integration;�� recovery/implementation of legal rights; �� culture (re)integration (language, traditions).For example, one of the general in-dicators of success of economic (re)integration could serve develop-ment of self-determination with the be-ne� ciaries or “having self-government, the freedom of thought and action, independently of others and without in� uence from outside.”31 The success indicators of (re)integration in the family lies with regaining the capacity of tak-ing care of the close ones.Working out success indicators for the measures of (re)integration shall be based not only on the results of com-plex research across different meth-ods and approaches used by different providers of services to the traf� cked persons but also on the research of the bene� ciaries attitude to various aspects of rendered assistance. We hope that future research will allow to shad the light onto such pressing topic as the methodology of assessing the success of (re)integration of the traf-� cked persons. In view of complexity of this problem, the authors of this ma-terial intend to include it in one of the follow up publications of the present topical issue.

“Taking care means to establish bonds and re-lationships that provide the conditions for the free expression of one’s subjectivity; a frame-work in which each and everyone can exist/ac-knowledge oneself as being both an active and a passive subject at the same time.”.

(Alliance News. Issue 19-20, July/December 2003. Theme: The Process of Recoveryfrom Traf� cking. GAATW, p. 11.)

31 Alliance News. Issue 19-20, July/December 2003. Theme: The Process of Recovery from Traf� cking. GAATW, p. 10.

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ConclusionsSummarizing this topical issue, it is ne-cessary to note that despite the impor-tance of the problem of (re)integration of traf� cked persons in Moldova a number of theoretical and practical aspects in this domain remain unclear. There is a pressing need for conceptu-alization of such notions as “rehabilita-tion” and “(re)integration” of the traf-� cked persons, agreeing on standard procedures of rendering services and standard packages of services for dif-ferent categories of the bene� ciaries, working out standard plan of render-ing assistance and protection as well as uni� ed methodology for evaluation of (re)integration.To ensure ef� cient building of work on rehabilitation and (re)integration of the traf� cked persons in our country it will be necessary to proceed as follows:�� develop commonly agreed termi-nology used by professionals while de-scribing all stages of assistance starting from the identi� cation to reintegration of traf� cked persons;

�� undertake to develop commonly agreed criteria for assessing the qua-lity and effectiveness of (re)integration intervention;�� service providers should be trained in the consequences of physical and psychological trauma on the reintegra-tion process of traf� cked persons, and it should be acknowledged that inter-ventions might be necessary at a later stage of the (re)integration process;�� secure long-term health provisions, facilitate access/unconditioned re-

ceipt of health insurance at the ex-pense of the state (including cases of lack of residence registration and job place); ��traf� cked persons should be actively involved in the design, implementa-tion and evaluation of reintegration programmes;�� reintegration plans should be con-ceived not only on the basis of serv-ices providing, but also on bene� cia-ries empowerment; facilitate victims’ capacity to solve their own problems and help their children and also � nd internal resources in order to over-come complex vital problems;�� improve the quality of services ren-dered to secure (re)integration assis-tance; work out standards of render-ing services to the traf� cked persons;��carry out follow up research in the � eld of (re)integration of traf� cked persons with the scope of working out proposals on improving the exis ting procedure of rendering services to these persons; �� strengthen cooperation between service providers in countries of origin and destination including for such pur-pose as joint assessment of possible risks, informing survivors on available rehabilitation/(re)integration services (risks assessment and creating reha-bilitation/reintegration plan effective up to repatriation and other); ��development of a tolerant inclusive society is a key prerequisite to the suc-cessful (re)integration of traf� cked persons.

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