Human Trafficking in [Romania Street Children in [Romania] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Romania] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early
years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Romania.htm
Romania is a source, transit, and destination country for
men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual
exploitation and forced labor. Romanian men, women, and children are
trafficked to Spain, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Germany for
commercial sexual exploitation, forced begging, and forced labor in the
agriculture, construction, and service sectors. Men and women from Romania
are trafficked to Cyprus, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal,
Belgium, and Turkey, Sweden, Hungary, and Denmark for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Romanian men, women, and
children are trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation
and forced labor including forced begging and petty theft. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Romania. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their
authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Revealed: kept in a dungeon ready to be sold as slaves David Harrison in [accessed 19 December 2010] The women, aged 18 to 24, are from
across eastern Europe, lured from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria,
with promises of good jobs as waitresses, au pairs and dancers. Instead,
they have been forced into modern-day slavery in western Macedonia, locked in
the dirty cellar and only summoned upstairs by their masters to perform
sexual services for customers who are usually drunk and often violent.
When they were found, the victims, some of whom had been "broken
in" as prostitutes in other countries on the way to Macedonia, barely
knew where they were. They had no idea what the future held but knew that it
was beyond their control. Freedom at Midnight: Human Trafficking in Paul Cristian Radu, Central Romanian Investigative
Journalism CRJI, January 10, 2003 www.crji.org/articles.php?id=4023 [accessed 2 May 2012] UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION REVEALS
HOW YOUNG GIRLS ARE BEING BEATEN, ABUSED AND SOLD FOR A FEW HUNDRED OF
DOLLARS IN "Can I be sure you're not
giving me back to them?" Diana whispered from the backseat of the car.
"I'm scared." The trembling
figure, huddled in a blanket against a cold Bucharest night, had only minutes
earlier been just one of the legion of girls for sale in Romania's
human-trafficking market. Driven by
fear, her words tumbled out, "They hit me. He stabbed me with a knife.
You want to see the wound? I'm hungry. Do you like me? You want sex with
me? Can I have your kids
afterwards? "I'll be a good wife.
Do you want to marry me? You know, they starved me. Do you want me to take
off my blouse? I need to eat
something! Promise I will never be starved ever again? I want to smoke, too. And don't forget to
buy me chocolate." Diana - her
name has been changed for the purposes of this story - cost us 400 US
dollars. As part of a joint investigation
by IWPR and the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism, RCIJ, we had
just purchased her from a trafficker. A few days before, she had passed New
Years Eve chained and freezing in a dog cage. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/romania.htm [accessed 19 December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are indications that Romanian teenage boys and girls are
involved in the sex trade in the countries of Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61670.htm [accessed 19 December 2010] TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – The IOM reported assisting 100
trafficking victims, of whom all were female and 26 were minors. A number of
NGOs believed that many girls from orphanages were at particular risk of
being trafficked because they lacked the job skills and training necessary to
support themselves independently. Most victims were women trafficked for
sexual exploitation who had been recruited by persons they knew or by
newspaper advertisements. A friend or relative made the initial offer, often
telling the victim that she would obtain a job as a baby sitter or waitress.
According to IOM, most women were unaware that they would be forced into
prostitution. A minority of trafficked women was sold into prostitution by
parents or husbands or kidnapped by trafficking rings. There were reports of
young Romani women and girls being sold into marriage, a traditional custom
in Romani communities. Trafficking
victims endured poor, cramped living conditions. Traffickers ensured the
victims' compliance through threats, violence, and the confiscation of travel
documents. Human Rights Reports » 2004
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41703.htm [accessed 19 December 2010] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – As of
June, the country had approximately 34,000 children in orphanages, some of
which reportedly paid insufficient attention to the dangers of girls being
trafficked from their facilities. Persons forced out of orphanages between
the ages of 16 and 18 often had no identity documents, very little education,
and few, if any, job skills. NGOs believed that many girls from orphanages
were unaware of the danger and fell victim to trafficking networks. Women were frequently recruited by
persons they knew or by newspaper advertisements. A friend or relative would
make the initial offer, often telling the victim that she would obtain a job
as a baby sitter or waitress. According to the IOM, most women were unaware
that they would be forced into prostitution. A minority of trafficked women
were sold into prostitution by parents or husbands or kidnapped by
trafficking rings. Government officials reported that trafficking rings
appeared to be operated primarily by citizens; several domestic prostitution
rings were active in trafficking Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 31 January 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/romania2003.html [accessed 19 December 2010] [58] The Committee notes the
establishment in 2001 of a national Task Force on Trafficking, the adoption
of a national plan of action on trafficking, as well as the increased efforts
of the State party to cooperate in regional programs to prevent trafficking
and assist victims. Nevertheless, the Committee is concerned that Romania
continues to be a country of origin, of transit and, to a lesser extent, of
destination for trafficked children. Organ trafficking: a fast-expanding black market IHS Jane's, 05 March 2008 www.janes.com/news/publicsafety/jid/jid080305_1_n.shtml [accessed 19 December 2010] Community leaders in Reuters, 28 August 2007 www.humantrafficking.org/updates/706 [accessed 19 December 2010] Children with at least one parent
working abroad are considered at risk by the local authorities. These
children fall victim to trafficking more easily due to neglect and weakened
family relationships. Young men and women who leave foster care centres are also at risk, as many of them are unprepared
to live independently and have not been taught how to make wise decisions. Teenagers coming from vocational
schools are in danger of being trafficked. The majority of these students has
a lower level of education and comes from families with little to no economic
opportunity. With few life prospects, they commonly seek work abroad, which
puts them at risk of being trafficked. New Center in www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=201344 [accessed 19 December 2010] WHY v
The number of missing children reported missing in Romania has
steadily increased from 244 in 2003, to 660 in 2004, to 750 in 2005. v
There are an estimated 100,000 homeless children throughout Eastern
Europe, including 2,000 in Romania. Child trafficking and child prostitution
are problems in Romania and represent a large threat throughout Eastern
Europe. Homeless or "street" children are frequent victims. An
estimated 5 percent of the homeless children in Romania are forced into child
prostitution. v
An estimated 30% of sex workers in Bucharest are under 18 years of
age. Romania, and in particular Bucharest, is one of the key travel
destinations in Europe for child sex offenders. v
Romania is a country of origin and transit for women and girls who are
internationally trafficked from Moldova, Ukraine, and other parts of the
former Soviet Union to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Romanian Police Break Up Human Trafficking Ring dalje.com/en-world/romanian-police-break-up-human-trafficking-ring/30589 [accessed 19 December 2010] Romanian authorities have
dismantled a human trafficking ring that transported women to Police said the six-person gang
recruited women in bars in villages in west Romania by promising them
well-paid jobs abroad. They took them out of the country legally and sold them
to Turks in the German towns of Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg. Human Trafficking Epidemic In Reuters, 27 Dec 2006 www.makewaypartners.org/Humantraffickingepidemicinbulgaria.htm [accessed 19 December 2010] Human trafficking and drug
smuggling were epidemic in Expert on Human Trafficking to Visit the Christian Newswire, At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 11 September 2011] The organization Reaching Out
operates a safe house in Dark side of migration Ana Maria Smadeanu and Michael
Bird, The Diplomat, 03 Oct 2006 www.mail-archive.com/romania_eu_list@yahoogroups.com/msg18419.html [accessed 19 December 2010] "I kidnap girls from
traffickers. That's my biggest pleasure,” says Iana
Matei, who runs Reaching Out, a programme
that shelters victims of human traffic.
“The traffickers don't know what's hit them. They're so used to people
being afraid of them. I take the girls from under their nose. In Romania, Matei
finds out where a girl is being kept against her will. Then she calls up the
girl on her mobile, which the trafficked girls keep for clients, and together
they work out a free moment when the girl will not be under the supervision
of the trafficker. Then she plans the
swoop. Reuters, uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL2864579420070228 [accessed 19 December 2010] Romanian authorities are planning
to legalise prostitution as a way to help fight
human trafficking and sex slavery, police say. Smuggler's Prey – [PDF] www.selfconnection.ca/Descriptions/9780143012597.pdf [accessed 19 December 2010] Every day, scores of young women
throughout the former East Bloc are lured by job offers that lead to a
hellish journey of sexual slavery and violence. Despite the barrage of
warnings on radio and TV, in newspapers and on billboards, desperate women
continue to line up with their naiveté and applications in hand, hoping that,
this time, they might just be in luck. Revealed: kept in a dungeon ready to be sold as slaves David Harrison in [accessed 19 December 2010] The women, aged 18 to 24, are from
across eastern Europe, lured from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria,
with promises of good jobs as waitresses, au pairs and dancers. Instead, they have been forced into
modern-day slavery in western Mine for £1,300: Ileana, the teenage sex slave ready to
work in David Harrison. The Telegraph, 06 Nov 2005 [accessed 19 December 2010] This is no ordinary business deal.
I have just agreed to buy Ileana Petrescu, a
19-year-old Romanian woman. Ileana was forced into prostitution two years
ago. I am to be her third "owner" and the first to take her out of
her home country. Freedom at Midnight: Human Trafficking in Paul Cristian Radu, Central Romanian Investigative Journalism CRJI,
January 10, 2003 www.crji.org/articles.php?id=4023 [accessed 2 May 2012] UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION REVEALS
HOW YOUNG GIRLS ARE BEING BEATEN, ABUSED AND SOLD FOR A FEW HUNDRED OF
DOLLARS IN BUCHAREST’S BACKSTREETS. "Can I be sure you're not
giving me back to them?" Diana whispered from the backseat of the car.
"I'm scared." The trembling
figure, huddled in a blanket against a cold Bucharest night, had only minutes
earlier been just one of the legion of girls for sale in Romania's
human-trafficking market. Driven by
fear, her words tumbled out, "They hit me. He stabbed me with a knife.
You want to see the wound? I'm hungry. Do you like me? You want sex with
me? Can I have your kids
afterwards? "I'll be a good wife.
Do you want to marry me? You know, they starved me. Do you want me to take
off my blouse? I need to eat
something! Promise I will never be starved ever again? I want to smoke, too. And don't forget to buy
me chocolate." Diana - her name
has been changed for the purposes of this story - cost us 400 US
dollars. As part of a joint
investigation by IWPR and the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism,
RCIJ, we had just purchased her from a trafficker. A few days before, she had
passed New Years Eve chained and freezing in a dog cage. Balkans Urged To Curb Trafficking Imogen Foulkes,
BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4397497.stm [accessed 19 December 2010] Countries in Rescued from Sex Slavery - 48 Hours goes undercover Rebecca Leung, CBS Broadcasting, Feb. 23, 2005 www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/23/48hours/main675913.shtml [accessed 19 December 2010] In a matter of hours, Van Sant encounters a husband and wife who claim to have a 17-year-old girl for sale. The girl is introduced as "Nicoleta" and touted by her owners as a highly skilled and profitable sex slave. Van Sant makes it clear he does not want to simply rent Nicoleta for the night, "You understand that if we come to terms, the girl is mine. She is mine. I will own her." The trafficker replies, "Yes, and then you can do whatever you want with her." Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 2 Civil Liberties: 2 Status: Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2009&country=7688 [accessed 19 December 2010] Human Rights Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/europecentral-asia/romania [accessed 19 December 2010] Stop Violence Against Women – Country Page The Advocates for Human Rights, 24 November 2008 [accessed 19 December 2010] Library of Congress Call Number DR205 .R613 1990 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/rotoc.html [accessed 19 December 2010] Red light on human traffic Emma Nicholson MEP, Guardian, 1 July 2004 www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/jul/01/adoptionandfostering.europeanunion [accessed 19 December 2010] As this international trade in
children grew, so too did the power of the criminal gangs at the centre.
Impoverished families were coerced and deceived into giving up their children
who were then effectively sold on to Western couples under the guise of
international adoption. Children from neighbouring
countries were also torn from their families as Romania became a regional
focal point for this inhumane trade. Joint East West Research on Trafficking in Children for
Sexual Purposes in Edited by: Muireann O’Briain, Anke van den Borne
& Theo Noten, ECPAT Europe Law Enforcement
Group, Amsterdam 2004 www.childcentre.info/projects/traffickin/dbaFile11169.pdf [accessed 19 December 2010] [page 34]
The Romanian report says that depending on the position of the
trafficker within the criminal network, the price that each receives for
‘selling’ a girl will vary. On the first sale, the trafficker will receive
from €100 to €400 (usually the transaction is made at the border). The
trafficker who sells a girl outside the country usually receives up to
€1,000. After this, the prices that the traffickers get will increase with
each sale. Some traffickers tend to look for children that are already
exploited in prostitution in their own country. Then they can just buy the
minors from the local pimps and sell them outside the country. Shopping for Romanian babies BBC News, 3 March 2000 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/664916.stm [accessed 19 December 2010] She gives me three to chose from - Andrei, Nico, or Liviu - the ones she knows she can easily get permission
for from their impoverished parents. "I can forge their signatures if
necessary," she says. The sum of
$20,000 is mentioned and she says she can get the baby delivered, all papers
intact (her daughter is a lawyer) to my home in north London. Romania cracks down on trade of orphan babies to the West Allan Hall, The Scotsman, 04 October 2004 news.scotsman.com/world/Romania-cracks-down-on-trade.2569163.jp [accessed 19 December 2010] Romanian authorities have confirmed
that scores of people, including at least three British couples, are being
investigated for allegedly using a legal loophole to buy babies from In an effort to enforce the ban,
the government recently authorised tough penalties
of up to seven years in jail for families who accept money or other goods in
exchange for giving up a child. Sex and slavery John Gibb, The Observer, 23 February 2003 www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2003/feb/23/features.magazine67 [accessed 19 December 2010] This is what she told me: 'I am
from The outreach worker, a tall,
angular woman in jeans and an English football jersey smiles, 'You mean you
were selling black-market cigarettes?' 'Yes. Some men came while I was
there and they forced me to get into their car. They were Albanians and they
drove me to a hotel in Montenegro. After a while, an Albanian man arrived and
bought me. He took me to the border with Albania. He drove me to a place
called Shiak, where he sold me to another Albanian
for 3,000 Lek (£150). Human Trade, Slave Markets, The Buying And Selling Of
People [PDF] Amnesty International, October 5, 2005 www.csuchico.edu/stop/pdfs/AIUSA%20Summary%20info.pdf [accessed 28 August 2011] VIOLENCE AND THREATS – For most of these women and
girls, as soon as their journey begins, so does the systematic abuse of their
rights, in a strategy that reduces them to dependency on their trafficker,
and later their “owner”. The realization grows that the work they have been
offered is not what was promised; their documents are taken away from them;
they may be beaten; they will—almost certainly if they start to protest—be
raped. Although some women are not aware
until they reach their destination that they have been sold, other have seen money change hands, or have been raped by buyers
when they “try the merchandise”. Women are often sold several times before
reaching their destination. Escape is almost impossible. Without her travel
documents, a woman is likely to be arrested for immigration or other offences.
But probably more pertinently, trafficked women are usually trapped by
threats, coercion, or literally being locked inside. “We worked from 9am to 11pm. After
that he said, ‘You do what you like’, but we were locked. When we asked to go
out he said no, that we had to be here. We slept in a room together, me and
another girl. All the windows had bars.” – Romanian girl trafficked into
Kosovo. Trafficking of Women Olivera Simic,
University for Peace, Peace and Conflict Monitor, November 16, 2004 www.monitor.upeace.org/innerpg.cfm?id_article=219 [accessed 19 December 2010] BiH has become one of the main
destination countries for women mainly from All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
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Human Trafficking in [Romania Street Children in [Romania] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Romania] [other countries]