Most victims of human trafficking in Europe are from Romania, on Tuesday said Mirela Podoiu, chairman of the Open Door foundation at a conference marking the European Day Against Human Trafficking.
Podoiu said that in Romania 6 in 10 victims are women, and the number of underage male victims considerably increased, from 10 in 2014 to 40 in 2015.
"The smugglers' exploitation methods are varied - sex, begging, various crimes, forced marriage, organ harvesting. Sex industry 'hires' thousands of victims annually exploited in the most and well-known hotels," stressed Podoiu.
The police commissioner George Eremia with the National Agency against Human Trafficking said that the main method of recruiting the victims is the job offer abroad, well paid and with no experience requirements, next to loverboy 'job'.
"We have as many as 830 identified victims, for three years now we go round this figure and this is not pleasing to us because we are truly topping the standing in all studies and researches carried by the international bodies. Romania is fighting this crime, because we are talking of organized crime here and it fights on all levels. The main method we could fight this is under partnerships: public, public-private ones, partnerships with the media. Together we could slash this figure," Eremia said.
According to statistical data provided by the National Agency against Human Trafficking, Bucharest is ranked among the first 10 regions by almost 10 times more victims in the last two years. The counties of Timis and Ialomita are on top, with double and triple number of victims year-on-year.
Eremia added that recruiters are in general known to the victims. Last year, recruiters in 14 cases were next of kin, and in 42 cases they were life partners.
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