The Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies, Oana Toiu, declared at the conference "Prevention and Combating Human Trafficking: National Priority", that every day a child becomes a victim of human trafficking, and in every school or residential center there can be a teenage girl in danger.
On the occasion of the European Day against Trafficking in Persons, Oana Toiu, vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, organized the annual conference "Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking: National Priority", together with the ProTECT Platform and Florin Manole, vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies.
The event brought together parliamentarians, representatives of the Embassies of the United States of America, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Switzerland in Romania, representatives of institutions with attributions in the field, experts, as well as representatives of civil society in Romania to discuss Romania's solutions to combat this scourge.
"Every day, a child becomes a victim of human trafficking, in every school or residential center there can be a teenage girl in danger, 88% of the victims are girls and women, 50% are under 18 years old. The phenomenon has been ignored for too many years, but just as no one can ignore a huge building illuminated in blue, so one cannot ignore the large number of victims and the organized networks that traffic them, and it is important that every case be reported to the Police and every victim protected", said Oana Toiu within the event, according to a press release.
The USR deputy pointed out that neither society nor the political factor should tolerate any more deviations.
"When we initiated the law of consent to make prison the only option for rapists of minor girls, Romania already had a conviction at the European Court of Human Rights, because the courts had invoked that girls who do not immediately tell their parents are not, in fact, victims, and the rapists, some of them pimps, often get away with suspended sentence. Today, they can't get away that easily anymore. We also managed to pass a law that allows the reintegration of victims whose identity documents are wrongly stopped by the traffickers' networks but the risks huge in a context in which those investigated for human trafficking are stars on social media. We need prevention, resources for the police, prosecutors and the reintegration of victims. Combating human trafficking must remain a cross-party priority because there are many to be done together with international partners", emphasized Oana Toiu.
Loredana Urzica Mirea, the President of ProTECT, showed that she wants to collaborate closely with the authorities, the private sector and civil society to make Romania a safe place.
"It is essential that we strengthen the legislation and provide a quick and firm response to any crime of trafficking and exploitation. We also need to build a safe and reliable support framework for victims, ensuring them the necessary and prompt assistance so that they can regain their trust in the authorities and receive the help they need to rebuild their lives and it is necessary to improve the mechanisms of identification and intervention to support them. Unfortunately, the statistics from 2023 indicate a decrease of 10% in the number of identified victims, but this fact does not reflect a reduction in human trafficking, but rather the fact that fewer victims were removed from the exploitation situations they were in," said Loredana Urzica Mirea.
On Friday evening, the Palace of the Parliament will be illuminated between 19:00 and 23:00 in blue color, at the request of the vice-presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, Oana Toiu and Petre Florin Manole, to mark the European Day of Combating Human Trafficking and to emphasized the solidarity of Romania and the legislature in this ongoing fight against human trafficking.
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Human trafficking represents one of the most serious violations of human rights, affecting millions of people worldwide. Romania is not only a source country, but also a transit and destination country for victims of human trafficking. They are often attracted by false promises and sexually exploited, exploited through work, forced to beg or commit crimes.
Human trafficking through the "loverboy" method is one of the main tactics used to recruit women and underage girls for sexual exploitation. Traffickers gain the trust of victims, usually on social networks, promising them a better future and using romantic relationships that turn into coercion and forced prostitution. This method is especially effective with vulnerable young women, 40% of sexually exploited victims in 2022 being recruited this way.
At the same time, children, especially girls, are exposed to a high risk of exploitation for the purpose of producing sexual abuse materials, a phenomenon amplified by the increase in online activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the release also mentions.