Most of the victims of human trafficking in Europe come from Romania, according to Mirela Podoiu, president of Usa Deschisa Foundation, which offers assistance and protected shelter in emergency and crisis situations to victims of human trafficking.

She made the statement at a conference marking the 10th European Day Against Human Trafficking.

A European Commission report presented on Tuesday, October 18, also states that Romania is one of the top 5 countries of citizenship of registered human trafficking victims in the EU, alongside Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and the Netherlands.

According to Mirela Podoiu, six of ten human trafficking victims in Romania are women. The number of minor boys who became victims of human trafficking also increased considerably, from 10 in 2014 to 40 in 2015, reports local Agerpres.

“The exploitation methods are varied - sex, begging, committing crimes, forced marriage, organ removal. I would like to abolish some biases that keep us from being vigilant. Human trafficking is not just forced prostitution but also forced labor, exploitation of identity,” said Mirela Podoiu.

Police Commissioner George Eremia, from the National Agency Against Human Trafficking, says that offering well-paid jobs abroad has remained the primary method of luring victims.

“We’ve been having about 830 unidentified victims for three years, we’re staying around this figure, and that doesn’t please us because we are on the first places in all the studies and researches carried out by international bodies. However, we now that Romania is fighting against this crime, because we are talking of an offense of organized crime, and the fight is on all levels,” Eremia said.

Bucharest is one of the top ten regions based on the number of human trafficking victims, with ten times more victims in the last two years, according to data from the National Agency Against Human Trafficking. Timis and Ialomita counties top the ranking, as the number of victims here has doubled or event tripled from year to year.

Usually, the recruiters are generally from the victim’s close group of people. Last year, in 14 cases, the recruiters were grade 1 relatives. Moreover, in 42 other cases, they were the victims’ life partners.

US State Department: Human trafficking, still a problem in Romania

Human traffickers that kept 65 young people slave-like, caught in Romania

Number of Romanian human trafficking victims drops below 1,000 in 2013

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Fundatia Usa Deschisa on Facebook)