Eesti in brief - 2011-09-01

The women’s sections of the Social Democrat parties of Estonia and Finland have held a joint seminar, discussing opportunities for fighting violence against women and human trafficking, reports National Broadcasting. “Prostitution, promoting prostitution and human trafficking are serious crimes that are characterized by the lack of human rights,” said the president of the women’s section of the Estonian Social Democrat Party, Reet Laja. To prevent these, the parties emphasize the need for efficient domestic and international laws. “Estonian laws do not deal with the purchasing and selling of sexual services, while the definition of human trafficking is altogether missing,” said Laja. She stressed that criminalizing the purchase of sexual services would be necessary in order to fight against prostitution. Laja added that Estonia needs to become a member of the Council of Europe’s Convention for Prevention and Fight Against Violence Against Women, as Finland has already done.

In southern Estonia, a mass grave was recently uncovered by forensic researchers and historians, containing bodies from the post-World War II period, reports National Broadcasting. The burial site contains the bodies of 10 men, who all died from either gunshots or blunt-force trauma. These men are believed to have been members of the anti-Soviet resistance, probably killed by NKVD, the Soviet secret police that operated during the Stalin era. The Estonian resistance movement fought against the Soviet occupation until the late 1940s and early 1950s. The mass grave was near the site of one of the last big battles in 1953, and since the NKVD issued orders to bury resistance fighters in secret graves, researchers believe that they have uncovered a decades-old murder scene. “These facts make it rather highly probable that this is a secret burial ground in the forest,” said military historian Arnold Unt.