On 17 March 2022, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Moldova Ana Revenco met with ICMPD and its Member States. They discussed the challenges and needs related to the current unprecedented influx to the Republic of Moldova of Ukrainians and third country nationals from Ukraine in reaction to the Russian invasion.
During the meeting, the ICMPD Member States learned more about the huge pressure the humanitarian crisis and security threats pose to the internal affairs system of Moldova. Among others those include the raised attempts for unauthorised border crossings, and more critically, the risks for trafficking in persons.
On the same occasion attendees also found out more about the most immediate needs for assistance. At the top of the list is operational, informational, and technical support for border control and surveillance, risk analysis and profiling, international police cooperation, equipment and tools for proactive and flexible approaches to help the country handle the influx of people while also staying security resilient.
Between 24 February and 22 March over 367,000 people entered Moldova from Ukraine. Over 101,000 stay in the Republic of Moldova, of whom almost 50,000 are minors. Women make up 80% of the adult population of refugees and over 5.400 asylum applications have been submitted. The situation represents a challenge for the country as the number of arrivals equals about 4% of Moldova’s population.