Memorandum submitted by the Embassy of
Romania
GENERAL INFORMATION
Romanian authorities carried out significant
efforts for countering human trafficking (especially women for
sexual exploitation and children for labour exploitation), consisting
of:
— Adoption of a special law against
human trafficking, of a National Strategy and of an Action Plan.
— There are highly specialised judges
in human trafficking issues.
— Establishment of a National Agency
against Human Trafficking (2005), with 15 regional branches. The
Agency coordinates the activity of the structures involved in
countering this kind of criminality, proposes measures for improving
the activity and, inspects and evaluates the activity of the centres
(shelters) for the trafficked victims.
— The Agency organises prevention and
awareness campaigns for the general public on issues related to
human trafficking and administers a free special phone line for
recording the victims' calls.
— In 2007, the Agency dealt with 1,343
human trafficking cases out of which 1,330 persons were prosecuted.
— Actions for the trafficked victims'
protection are often undertaken in co-operation with the NGOs.
The National Agency against Trafficking in
Persons was created in 2005 and has 15 regional centres.
NATP carries out its activity on the basis of
two main instruments—the National Strategy against Trafficking
in Persons 2006-10 and the National Action Plan for the Strategy's
implementation.
As a recent achievements, the national data
base and the methodology for data collection have been finalised
with a view to monitor trafficked victims and to disseminate information
to all institutions involved in combating trafficking in persons.
The centralised data base is linked with the terminals of the
15 regional centres of the Agency and of other institutional partners
with responsibilities in this field.
Taking into account the possibility that Romania
may also become a destination country for victims of trafficking,
the National Mechanism for Victim Identification and Referral
was developed. This mechanism lays down a number of norms for
the immediate identification and referral of victims and responds
to victim's needs for protection and assistance.
In September 2007, the Agency was granted 400,000
RON to implement the National Interest Programme (NIP)
aimed at improving assistance provided to victims.
In October 2007, the Government approved the
National Victim Assistance Standards as reference criteria
for NGOs in applying for funds. Since then, three of the six NGO
projects submitted for financing met the criteria for approval
(a total budget of 50,000 Euros for the final month of 2007).
The aims of the NIP are:
— To ensure quality services adapted
to the specific needs of the trafficked persons, for their recovery
and socio-professional reintegration.
— To prevent re-victimisation of the
trafficked persons through a multi-disciplinary intervention,
adapted to the complexity of trafficking cases.
— To provide assistance and protection
to victims, according to the minimum standards in the field.
Based on this NIP, at least 100 trafficked persons
benefited from assistance and protection, both in specialised
shelters and within their families and communities.
The second National Interest Programme was launched
at the beginning of 2008, with the same objectives, for an eight-month
period of implementation.
In order to create an integrated response, the
Victim/Witness Coordination Programme was launched in Romania
at the end of 2006.
VICTIM-WITNESS
COORDINATION PROGRAMME—STATISTICS
— Out of the total number of 819 victims
initially evaluated by the regional centres, 30 victims (3.6%)
refused to get involved in criminal proceedings, while the rest
(96.4%) accepted to participate as injured parties or witnesses
in trial. According to their status in the trial, 639 (80.9%)
are injured parties and 150 (19.1%) are witnesses for the prosecution
in trafficking cases.
— 557 of the victims involved in criminal
proceedings (76.6%) accepted and requested the support of the
centres' specialists for coordination in all phases of the trial;
the rest (29.4%) declined the services, expressing their wish
to follow through the procedures without any support or counselling.
— 409 coordinated victims (73.4%) are
in the prosecution phase.
— 148 coordinated victims (26.6%) are
in the investigative phase.
— Out of the 557 coordinated victims,
48 (8.6%) did not follow through all procedures.
In 2007 there were 1,343 cases of trafficking
in persons and 1,330 persons were subject to criminal investigations.
According to the national statistics on trafficking
in women, 970 Romanian women were victims of trafficking in
2007 (260 minors and 711 adults). Most of the (624) were recruited
using false promises. 716 were sexually exploited, while 163 were
trafficked for forced labour and 51 were forced to beg (the rest,
49, suffered from other types of exploitation).
Regarding the statistics on minors, there were
218 cases of trafficking in 2007. All victims were trafficked
for sexual purposes.
Romania has signed a partnership declaration
for the implementation of REACT project (Raising Awareness
and Empowerment against Child Trafficking), initiated by Save
the Children Italy. The project has been submitted to the European
Commission for assessment. This 24 month project will be implemented
in Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy and Romania and will be aimed at preventing
child trafficking and exploitation, in particular where the use
of new information technologies is involved, by developing and
implementing awareness raising actions targeting children at risk
and victims of trafficking.
This year Romania will implement the PHARE
project dedicated to improving the institutional capacity
of the agencies involved in the prevention of trafficking. Within
the implementation process a national survey for understanding
the dimensions of the trafficking in children phenomenon will
be carried out.
PREVENTION OF
TRAFFICKING IN
PERSONS: INFORMATION
AND AWARENESS
RISING CAMPAIGNS
Three national campaigns were implemented:
Watch out! There's a price to pay!—national
campaign, initiated in 2006, aimed to raise the awareness about
trafficking issues and to promote the toll-free number to call
for information on victims' rights and assistance services available.
Watch out for PERFECT opportunities for PERFECT
jobs!—campaign launched in July 2007. The main objectives
are to inform the public on the risks of trafficking, strengthen
the self protection capacity against the threats of the trafficking,
to reduce the vulnerability of groups at risk of being trafficked
(particularly unaccompanied, unattended or institutionalised children,
as well as women, persons with disabilities, old people, asylum
seekers). The messages of the campaign target the youngsters and
teenagers, as well as adults in search or tempted by various means
to follow job offers abroad.
"Leave the childhood to the children"—national
campaign against commercial exploitation of children (date of
launching: 12 February 2008).
The Study on the Sexual Exploitation of Children
for Commercial Purposes and the Psycho-social Rehabilitation
of trafficked and involved in hard labour children manual
for professionals were also released. The aim of the campaign
is to raise awareness on the consequences of sexual abuse and
exploitation of children.
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