May 19, 2011. Words by Anna Dodridge. Posted under Articles / Culture / Featured Content / Interviews / The Industry

This article is part of a series we’re brought out detailing Marie and Anna’s experiences in Moldova.

Read Part One

Read Part Two

Read Part Three

February 2011

After nearly 20 months I contacted Vladimir Ubeivolk to find out how the situtation in Moldova had changed. The following is a short interview I conducted with him.

Anna: When I came to Chisinau 18 months ago you had just voted out the Communist Party, amongst some quite violent street protests and a controversial election which had to be re-run. How has Chisinau and Moldova changed since the Communist Party lost political control?

Vladimir: The political situation is still controversial. There [has been] no president in the country for more than 18 months now. Political world is divided on 2 parts: pro-communist and pro-liberal. Pro-liberal world is also divided in itself; there is a constant confrontation among different forces. There were 3 Parliament elections [in the] last 1.5 years, 3 Parliaments were dissolved.

Because of this crisis there is an economic stagnation and recession. There [has been] a fast inflation for last 6 months, many people [have] lost their jobs. Freedom of speech is one of the positive results for last period of time.

Anna: When I was in Chisinau I heard a lot about how so many young people were leaving Moldova in order to find a new opportunity in Europe. Are young people still flooding out of Moldova in order to find a new life? Do young people see any opportunities and hope for their future in Moldova?

Vladimir: The answer is – NO. Young people still [don't] stay in Moldova. Most of them are not involved in political life, but they are very sensitive to the economic situation. Most of them cannot find a job in Moldova, and if they do, the salaries are very low.

Anna: We heard about how there was a lot of corruption in Moldova, in politics, in the police and other authorities. You told us about how difficult and rare it was to see traffickers prosecuted or brought to justice. Has the change of government made any difference to this? Do you see less corruption now?

Vladimir: If we will talk about [the] general situation, then we can see a few criminal investigations, which were opened last year against some people in the police, customs and courts. In most cases these people don’t have high positions… [F]rom non-official sources we know there are people in [the] new Parliament, who made their “first million” on human trafficking. They are very well known in business circles as people who sold people. They send a full bus of the girls to European Union almost every week 10 years ago. They have some connections with mafia until today, and they have very high position in the Parliament.

Anna: How has the Beginning of Life Foundation grown? What do you see as the most important thing you do? Do you believe that more people are aware of the trafficking problem now? Have you received more support to tackle this problem?

Vladimir: Talking about Beginning of Life, I would like to underline 4 main points, which are successful from our perspective. First – we publish the youth magazine Escape…Using this tool we inform teenagers about human trafficking and illegal migration. Around 20,000 high school students received a copy of Escape magazine for last year…

Second – we combined our human resources from the Escape team and the school department, and began a youth movement with the same name ‘Escape’. This movement consists of young people, who have for their country  moral standards and social responsibility. We opened youth groups in the South, North and Center of Moldova.

Third – rehabilitation and reintegration. 25 girls went through our rehabilitation center now. We developed a program, which has a holistic approach.

Fourth – working with girls from risky families, potential victims of human trafficking, educating them, finding scholarships for them, and finding new job opportunities for them.

Talking about support – we have few very faithful partners, who cover the basics needs of these programs, and we appreciate our partnership with them very much. But we cannot say that we have enough resources for development, beginning from infrastructure, and ending with opening a training center for Eastern Europe. We have few projects, which could be acceptable for other countries of Eastern Europe, and we have enough human resources for writing materials, books, developing web-sites, but we are looking for new partners in that.

Anna: Moldova was looking at the possibilities of joining the EU, and you told us you did not think this would be good for the country. Is Moldova any closer to joining the EU? What do you see as the future for Moldova?

The EU opened the doors for former Yugoslavian countries and Albania, but for at least 10 years has closed them for Moldova. The only conversation which is continuing now is liberalization of visas for Moldavian citizens. This option is still open for Moldovans. Talking about the future for Moldova, we need to underline the general political climate in Europe now. There is no political confrontation between EU and Russia now. Much more, Germany, France and Italy make a lot of steps towards Russia. I don’t see any reason to begin a new cold war between Russia and other European countries. I think that a better future for Moldova is to develop good economic relations with Russia, Ukraine and some other CIS countries, and to find new opportunities for new partners in EU. Moldova should remain independent country, understanding it’s historical characteristics, that there are at least 5 nations, living here, and creating equal opportunities for all of them.