Human Trafficking in [Romania] [other countries]Street Children in [Romania Child Prostitution in [Romania] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children Romania [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] |
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in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** In the sewer’s dim recesses, filthy
children huddle with adults — all considered "street kids" — and
breathe in the dizzying narcotic fumes of a solvent-based glue through
plastic bags clutched to their mouths.
For Gabi, 31, who resorted to sewer life when he ran away from a state
orphanage at age 14, the fumes kill his hunger pangs, or in the plain English
he’s learned in an Internet cafe, are used "instead of meals." Gabi and some of his 14 other
sewer mates — either orphans or abused runaways — acknowledge in their native
Romanian tongue conveyed through a translator that life should have more to
offer than stealing or begging. They
then regroup on a rank mattress to inhale more glue. Laurenteu, 33, who spent the last 15 years
in the sewers following his release from a state orphanage, does not have
much faith in the government. Nearby in the Grozavesti-Metrou
neighborhood, Elena, 18, covers dozens of intravenous drug scars with a
jacket and then crawls out of a sewer to breastfeed her daughter,
one-year-old Bianca. Unlike Laurenteu, the runaway
said she wants to believe in the government’s promises and Booth’s commitment
to help street kids because she wants to finish night classes. ***
ARCHIVES *** UNICEF - The Big Picture U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Street children, children in urban areas, and Roma children are the
most vulnerable to the worst forms of child labor. Street children are found begging, washing
cars, selling merchandise, performing household work, collecting waste
products, loading and unloading merchandise, stealing, and engaging in
prostitution. It is estimated that
about 30 percent of sex workers in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - While the government did not
have official statistics on the scope of homeless children living on the
streets, police, social workers, and NGOs estimated that between three
thousand and five thousand children lived on the streets, depending on the
season. According to a UNICEF report, issued in November in conjunction with
the ministry of health and the former national authority for child
protection, about nine thousand children were abandoned every year, with most
going to institutions and foster homes. SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
An international report released in November estimated that 3.9 million of
the 5.6 million children in the country were "economically active."
Over 300 thousand (approximately 7 percent) were "child laborers,"
working without any contractual arrangements in agriculture or low-skilled
jobs, while 900 thousand (19 percent) worked in their own households,
especially in rural areas. Approximately 300 thousand (6 percent) were
engaged in physically demanding work, while 70 thousand (approximately 1
percent) were victims of the "worst forms of child labor,"
including hazardous work, sexual exploitation, forced labor, trafficking, or
criminal activity. This last category included more than 3 thousand
"street children," the majority of whom lived in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices - 2004 CHILDREN - A number of impoverished and
apparently homeless children were visible on the streets of larger cities.
While the Government did not have statistics on scope of the problem, police
reports and social workers' estimates have placed the number of street
children nationwide at 1,500. This number was lower than had been estimated
in the past and questionable, given that street children were extremely
difficult to count. Approximately half of the children
remaining in the large childcare institutions were between the ages of 14 and
18. Without changes to the system, a significant number were likely to leave
these institutions with no skills and employment and no ability to earn a
living or obtain housing. There was no systematic provision of labor market
information, skills training, or job placement services for such persons and
there was a high probability that they would gravitate to the streets,
engaging in prostitution or crime. Although independent living programs were
more widespread, a growing number of young persons were in need of these
services. The law requires the National
Agency for Employment to provide up to 75 percent of the median national
salary to employers for hiring persons between 16 and 25 years who are at
risk of social exclusion. Effective January 2005, the new law provides that
youth leaving the state institutional system may receive state assistance for
an additional 2 years, during which they would receive skills training for
independent living. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2003 [52] The Committee notes the
initiatives to launch special programs and provide free textbooks and school
materials, as well as meals to encourage school enrolment and attendance.
However, the Committee is concerned that:
(a) The number of children from rural areas and the percentage of
girls dropping out of school are disproportionately high; (d) Children belonging to certain
categories do not benefit from equal opportunities as concerns education
(i.e. children from less favored families, children with disabilities,
children affected by HIV/AIDS, children living in the streets and the Roma
and refugee children). [56] The Committee is encouraged
by the ongoing efforts of the Special Representative, in cooperation with ILO
and others, aimed at addressing the problem of child labor in [60] The Committee is encouraged
by the ongoing initiatives to decrease the number of street children,
including the " Home Again" campaign.
However it is concerned that there remain large numbers of children living on
the street in urban areas, and in particular that: (a) They are vulnerable to, among other
things, sexual abuse, violence, including from the police, lack of access to
education, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS and
malnutrition; (b) Institutionalization
is frequently resorted to; (c) There
is a lack of services, including recovery and reintegration services,
specialized personnel and shelters Film
Notes: Three Romanian Movies The general banning of abortion in
Romania is also responsible for engendering an entire population of street
children, who spend their time living underground in the sewage system, or
gathering in railway stations. They live under the effect of hallucinatory
substances, mainly a local chemical originally designed to clean the
parquetry. Called “Aurolac,” this substance lends
its name to its young consumers; Romanians call street children “Aurolaci.” Edet Belzberg’s
Oscar-nominated documentary Children Underground (2000) addresses the
issue of street children, a topic the Romanian citizens and authorities are
still uncomfortable to talk about. Show
support for Romanian street kids The eye-opening experience showed
them just how tough life is for the street children. "There’s no such thing as a social
welfare system to start off with so they’ve got to earn a dollar," Jenny
says. "There are two-thirds more
boys than girls on the streets but it’s very difficult for girls. They are
basically sent out as prostitutes," she says. Many of the boys turn to begging to
survive. New Center in
Romania to Aid Missing and Exploited Children WHY ROMANIA? 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. In the sewer’s dim recesses,
filthy children huddle with adults — all considered "street kids" —
and breathe in the dizzying narcotic fumes of a solvent-based glue through
plastic bags clutched to their mouths.
For Gabi, 31, who resorted to sewer life when he ran away from a state
orphanage at age 14, the fumes kill his hunger pangs, or in the plain English
he’s learned in an Internet cafe, are used "instead of meals." Gabi and some of his 14 other
sewer mates — either orphans or abused runaways — acknowledge in their native
Romanian tongue conveyed through a translator that life should have more to
offer than stealing or begging. They
then regroup on a rank mattress to inhale more glue. Laurenteu, 33, who spent the last 15 years
in the sewers following his release from a state orphanage, does not have
much faith in the government. Nearby in the Grozavesti-Metrou
neighborhood, Elena, 18, covers dozens of intravenous drug scars with a
jacket and then crawls out of a sewer to breastfeed her daughter, one-year-old
Bianca. Unlike Laurenteu, the runaway said she
wants to believe in the government’s promises and Booth’s commitment to help
street kids because she wants to finish night classes. Just neighborhoods away from where
Booth’s orphans fondly call Archway "Casa Nostra," or "Our
House," scores of other children — dismissed as sub-class Gypsies —
crawl through sewers and fend off stray dogs for food scraps. Instead of identification papers to help
obtain jobs, they bear cheap tattoos depicting the names of honored, lost and
dead loved ones. Rather than home-cooked meals, they huff on the narcotic
fumes of Aurolac, an industrial paint, or
solvent-based glue. Dark lives of the tunnel children As my eyes became accustomed to
the gloom, I saw the hand again. A little boy of 11 named Vlad
was gesturing to me to follow him into a Dickensian underworld that hundreds
of children call home. It was the heat that had drawn
them underground. While the temperature at pavement level touched freezing,
the tunnel was warm enough to stand in without a coat. But the humidity was
stifling; the stench of rotting rubbish and excrement almost overpowering. According to Nallia,
who visits the country one to three times each year, the street children are
escapees from the countrys poor orphanage system,
or sent away by parents unable to care for them, or runaways from
abusers. He said many of them slip
into the sex industry, either as prostitutes or are sold to pedophiles as a
way to make money. He said the children often form gang-like groups known as
"surviving families" which leads to second and third generations of
street children. The
Street Children in Romania On the streets, the children earn
money by begging, stealing, doing menial tasks or prostitution. They live in
small metal containers or card boxes (1 meter by 1.5 meters) which line some
of the sidewalks in Bucharest, in one of the city's main train stations, the
underground or the sewers. Romania's Blighted
Street Children Their home is in a tunnel running
under the city that forms part of a network carrying hot water pipes. There is no natural light - just a few
candles on the walls. Rubbish is strewn across the floor. And there are children who say they are 16,
but look no older than 10, sniffing glue from bags. These children say this "home" is
their best option. Street Children in Romania - A Graphic Diary of the Lives of Street Children in Romania Imagine for a moment what it would
be like for you. You have no money.
You have no home. Your children are starving. In exhaustion, you huddle
together at the locked door of the metro subway. A sad, pathetic scrap of
rejected humanity. This is the reality
that many people would rather ignore. Currently, there are almost 2.000
street children in Romania's
Street Children Have Kids Of Their Own Police figures show the number of
homeless children has been falling — from 2,500 in 2000 to 1,500 in 2002 —
but the children themselves have been growing up. Many of the homeless children who filled
the Balkan country's streets after the 1989 collapse of communism are now
having kids of their own. "We are
older now. Nobody wants to help
us," Bogdan said. "If you
don't have a place to live, nobody gives you work." ROMANIA -
Report On The Worst Forms Of Child Labour [PDF] OTHER HAZARDOUS CHILD LABOUR - Street Children - A recent survey
on street children found that the main types of work they did was
agriculture, begging, delivery work, loading/unloading goods and
prostitution. Street Children - According to
Romanian Save the Children, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 children in
Bucharest who live on the streets. Yesterday we had a lot of trouble.
Many of the kids were high on 'Auralac' - the solvent they inhale. Some were
fighting and a few were quite aggressive because when they are high they are
not really themselves. We ended up having to put them all out and not give
them any food that day, except to Tatiana, a fifteen year old who is
pregnant. Bitter
winter for Romania's street children By midnight, when the last of the
commuters have hurried home, the Street Children doss down on the cold stone
floor of the Gara de Nord. Others descend into the sewers to seek shelter
from the winter winds swirling around the silent station. THE NEED - Facing extreme poverty, many
parents resort to home-made alcohol. Their children face the resulting
brutality and a life of enforced begging or stealing. More and more children
are running away to escape these hardships.
The children migrate via the railway network and congregate in large
city stations. Most children admitted to our house have a history of abuse at
home. Romania has an estimated 6,000
plus homeless children living on the streets, most having run away from
institutions or family abuse. As The three emerged from the subway
station like tiny mice, furtive and gray with fatigue and dirt. Ages 8, 10,
and 11, they are members of a growing population of homeless and abandoned
children who populate the city's streets and sewers. It's been six years since we first
saw the pictures of 1.1.2.
Trafficking of children There
are also reports of Romanian children and adolescents in All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Romania] [other countries]Street Children in [Romania Child Prostitution in [Romania] [other countries]