Romania: Trendstetter in European Human Trafficking?

Abstract

While most of the national, European, and international reports are often contradictory, mainly due to the hidden nature of the phenomenon, on the numbers of human trafficking victims, they usually have one common conclusion: Romanian victims lead the European statistics. This tendency is identified regardless of the form of exploitation, be it sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, forced begging, forced criminal activities or in cases of rather “unconventional” forms of exploita tion, raising a series of barriers to law enforcement agents. After 20 years since the ratification of the Palermo Protocol, Europe has embraced positive developments on collaborative prevention, victim support, and combatting measures. However, its effects were not always as productive as estimated. The authors have analyzed the way Romania, its organized crime groups, and victims have contributed, during the past 20 years, to the European legislative framework development in the prevention and the consequences on behalf of the victim support service which had to con stantly retailor the assistance mechanisms to avoid the risk of secondary victimiza tion. The chapter leads the readers through a series of unperceived trends and effects of Romanian human trafficking within Europe.