Barriers to Access to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Exploitation: Legal Framework and Insights from Professionals in the Criminal Justice System in Moldova ECPAT International is a global network of civil society organisations working together to end sexual exploitatin of children. We aim to ensure that children everywhere enjoy their fundamental rights free and secure from all forms of sexual exploitation. This publication was made possible with the generous financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). This support from the donor does not contritute endorsement of the opinions expressed. April, 2017 Copyright © ECPAT International 2017 Written by: Rebecca Rittenhouse Overall project coordination by: Mariana Yevsyukova and Sheila Varadan Design and Layout by: Manida Naebklang Illustrated by: Vicky Yang Published by: ECPAT International 328/1 Phaya Thai Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand Tel: +66 2 215 3388, Fax: +66 2 215 8272 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ecpat.org ISBN: e-book: BN-60-144598 facebook.com/ecpat twitter.com/ECPAT youtube.com/watch?v=mA-6h63lezo Barriers to Access to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Exploitation: Legal Framework and Insights from Professionals in the Criminal Justice System in Moldova Access to Justice and Right to Remedies for Child Victims of Sexual Exploitation Research Project is a multi-country initiative focusing on child survivors’ experiences in accessing judicial remedies and other reparations for sexual exploitation. With its unique focus and prioritization of the voice of the child survivor, the Project empowers children to be active agents in their protection, strengthening access to judicial remedies; identifying the specific recovery and reintegration needs of child victims of sexual exploitation; and improving the opportunity of monetary relief for victims to rebuild their lives. The Research findings and recommendations are pre-sented in thematic papers and reports focusing on Access to Criminal Justice; Access to Recovery and Reintegration; Access to Compensation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Forword 1 Acknowledgements 3 Glossary 4 Acronyms 11 Executive Summary 12 Introduction 19 1. The Sexual Exploitation of Children 19 2. International and Regional Legal Frameworks 21 2.1 A child’s right to live free from sexual exploitation 21 2.2 The right of sexually exploited children to access justice 21 2.3 The right of sexually exploited children to legal remedy 22 2.4 The obligation to provide sexually exploited children with access to justice 23 Methodology 30 Findings 32 Country Context 33 National Legal Framework 34 Vulnerability Factors Leading to SEC 37 Barriers to Entering the Justice System 39 I. Challenges in identifying SEC victims 39 II. Reluctance of victims to report exploitation 44 III. Potential criminal liability for SEC offences 45 IV. Statute of limitations 47 Barriers to Securing Justice Once in the System 48 V. Disincentives to filing SEC complaints 49 VI. The right to be informed 51 VII The right to support, care and protection 53 VIII. The right to be heard 65 IX. The right to privacy and safety 66 X. The right to protection from hardship 69 XI. The right to reparation 76 Conclusion and Recommendations 81 Bibliography 86 Annexes # 1 92 Annexes # 2 96 FOREWORD Although the First World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) drew attention to the victimization of children over 20 years ago, current studies demonstrate that children still constitute approximately one-third of all human trafficking victims worldwide; with the majority of victims being trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Meanwhile, the explosion of internet and mobile technologies not only afford perpetrators both unprecedented anonymity and hidden pathways for grooming and seducing children via social media, but also provide offenders easier access to sexual abuse materials and images. Likewise, the expanding sectors of travel and tourism services such as home-stays, volun-tourism and the sharing economy, increase anonymity and heighten children’s vulnerability to abusers. Together, changing avenues therefore increasingly contribute to demand for both child sexual abuse materials and direct-contact offenses. However, significant progress was also made since the 1996, First World Congress in Stockholm. For example, twenty years later, recognizing that “sexual violence is one of the most unsettling of children’s rights violations”, world leaders developed the Sustainable Development Goals and approved global targets to eliminate the sexual exploitation of children. Under international law, a child who is subjected to sexual exploitation is entitled to seek and obtain a remedy for that violation under international law. However, many child victims of sexual exploitation are often revictimized when the justice system in place fails to adequately address and compensate the trauma they have endured. Pursuant to the 2013 report on “Access to justice for children” by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,1 “access to justice refers to the ability to obtain a just and timely remedy for violations of rights as put forth in national and international norms and standards, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In order to gain a better understanding of the experience of sexually exploited children in the criminal justice system, ECPAT International conducted this study as way to identify the special challenges child victims of sexual exploitation face when seeking access to justice and remedies. Within the context of Moldova, the study highlighted both the successes and improvements to be made in order to ensure not only access to the criminal justice system, but more specifically, to a child-friendly justice system; one that balances the rights of child victims and witnesses with those of the accused offenders and takes into account the child’s individual needs and views. The findings demonstrate that Moldova has a strong legal framework when it comes to enabling victims of SEC to access justice. However, this is no way guarantees its effective implementation, due in large part to the lack of knowledge of the law amongst professionals in the justice system, in addition to a lack of substantial human and financial resources. 1 Human Rights Council, “Access to justice for children”, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/25/35, 16 December 2013, para. 4. ECPAT International ‘Access To Justice’ Logo Barriers to Access to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Exploitation: 1 Legal Framework and Insights from Professionals in the Criminal Justice System in Moldova This report strives at not only presenting access to justice in the context of Moldova, but to learn from its findings and conclusions as a mean to improve access to justice beyond Moldovan’s borders. SEC has been shown to transcend national and regional borders, and thus, the experience of one country’s criminal justice system, including both successes and failures, may guide the efforts of other national legislations. Although the findings and recommendations in this report were made in the context of Moldova, ultimately, SEC is a global issue ECPAT continues to fight against, notably through encouraging collaborative efforts are made and lessons are drawn from country and region-specific experiences. It is our hope that the findings and recommendations included in this report will inspire national governments to enact legislations in order to achieve child-friendly justice. Junita Upadhyay, Deputy Executive Director, Programmes ECPAT International Secretariat ECPAT International ‘Access To Justice’ Logo Barriers to Access to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Exploitation: 2 Legal Framework and Insights from Professionals in the Criminal Justice System in Moldova ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their generous contributions to this report: The prosecutors, judges, and other criminal justice professionals who work with sexually exploited children in Moldova’s justice system and provided valuable insight into the challenges that they and the children face every day. Members of the report’s research team, including: yInternational Center “La Strada”, the NGO responsible for organising and conducting the interviews with the criminal justice professionals and who also contributed the case studies on survivors of SEC and enabled us to learn from these survivors’ experiences. yDarlene C. Lynch, independent legal consultant responsible for the literature review of national legislation. Independent consultant and external reviewer, Catherine Beaulieu ECPAT International’s Secretariat, including: yJunita Upadhyay, Deputy Executive Director, Programmes yMariana Yevsyukova, Global Coordinator for Children’s Participation yAndrea Varrella, Research Associate yMoustapha Assahraoui, Legal Intern yLinda Benkaiouche, Programme Associate ECPAT International ‘Access To Justice’ Logo Barriers to Access to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Exploitation: 3 Legal Framework and Insights from Professionals in the Criminal Justice System in Moldova GLOSSARY Access to justice Pursuant to the 2013 report on “Access to Justice for Children” by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,1 “access to justice refers to the ability to obtain a just and timely remedy for violations of rights as put forth in national and international norms and standards, including the Convention