The fight against human trafficking

Romania presents the results obtained last year in preventing and combating human trafficking.

Daniela Budu, 21.01.2022, 14:00

The Government of
Romania does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so – wrote the US Embassy’s
2020 Trafficking in Persons Report. In this context, prime minister Nicolae Ciucă and the Romanian authorities made an
analysis of the results obtained by Romania in preventing and combating human
trafficking last year.

According to a government report, numerous activities
were carried out in 2021 to prevent, combat, as well as to monitor and assess
this phenomenon. The report mentions the cooperation with civil society and with
international partners, in particular with the US, the UK and France, as well
as a series of partnerships and projects in the field. According to the Prosecutor
General’s Office, Romania is seeing a drop in the number of reported cases,
while the number of prosecutions and arrests grew compared with the previous
year. Moreover, two thirds of convictions included time in prison.

The authorities are saying that the response of criminal
justice should be reinforced by social and economic measures to protect vulnerable
citizens from the risk of exploitation. In this respect, the eLiberare Association
is conducting an information campaign about how citizens themselves can detect
the signs of human trafficking, trying to help those who may be in such a
situation themselves. The association is making available on online platform and
a hotline where people can report cases of human trafficking. Loredana Urzică
Mirea, the representative of eLiberare, explains:

We’ve known for years that the victims of human trafficking
are hidden in plain sight, because we often see the signs, but we don’t realise
that person is a victim. So, we created this centre in Bucharest to help citizens
who see suspicious signs and want to report them. Maybe some don’t have the
courage to go straight to the police, maybe they’re not sure that what they
suspect is true. Our centre addresses these concerns, by providing a
platform of discussion with the citizens reporting a suspicious case and with
persons who identify themselves as being the subject of exploitation.

According to official data, more than 1,200 people
were indicted and 175 sentenced for human trafficking last year in Romania. Also,
the relevant authorities worked on 723 cross-border cases. The Eurojust 2021
report acknowledges that Romania had the biggest number of joint inquiry teams in
this area among EU members. (CM)