U.S. Department of State Grant: Enhancing Moldova’s Efforts Against COSESA

To support further progress in Moldova in countering online child sexual exploitation and abuse, the U.S. Department of State has allocated $200,000 USD for a project, “Strengthening Moldova’s Capacity to Address Child Online Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (COSESA).”  The project necessity and context derives from the following national context:

–      Increasing number of reported and identified TIP trafficking cases and COSESA;

–      Insufficient national response thus far to COSESA;

–      Lack of relevant information on COSESA available to Moldovan legal professionals;

–      Recent institutional reform in the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) assigning COSESA responsibility to the PGO’s Anti-TIP Unit;

–      Legal initiatives in combating sexual violence against women and girls aimed at aligning national law with international standards (defined in the CoE Conventions);

–      Successful partnership developed between law enforcement, judiciary and civil society for advancing the fight against sexual violence against women and girls;

–      Need to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to investigate online child trafficking and conducting special investigations of child pornography cases.