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 A once vibrant, young Romanian girl with big dreams of going to nursing school to earn an education and better her standard of living now lies on the cold tiles in a dirty, dingy shower of a unfamiliar apartment where she is being whipped by a complete stranger like a caged animal. Her dreams now seem unattainable as she is faced with a new horrifying life of sexual, verbal and psychological abuse. Kidnapped on the streets of London and smuggled into Galway, Ireland she is now faced with days of abusive treatment from her captors and strange men that brutally use her body for their perverse pleasure. This is just one tragic story among many of human trafficking victims around the world.

               

According to the United Nations, in the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children trafficking in persons is defined as, the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat of use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, by fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

     

It is an unfortunate fact that trafficking in persons is a major occurrence inEastern Europe and particularly Romania. It is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children. These people are then exploited for labour in agriculture, hotels, manufacturing and as domestic slaves. The victims are also forced into prostitution, begging and theft. Less frequent instances also occur where the organs of the individuals are removed and sold.

According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, most human trafficking activities are intra-regional and a pattern of flow has developed with victims being transported from poorer areas to the more affluent areas.

Some of the destination countries in which Romanian trafficking victims are sent to are Spain, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Germany for forced labour while European countries such as France, Cyprus, Belgium and Switzerland were destinations for victims being sexually exploited.

Most instances, human trafficking occurs in Romania as a result of poverty, unemployment, lack of socio-economic opportunities, gender – based violence, discrimination and marginalization of specific groups. These factors acted to promote emigration as Romanian citizens sought better standards of living in other countries. This was aided by the fact that barriers to migration had been lessened since Romania became a member of the European Union. As such, Romanians were given the liberty of travelling abroad which lead to citizens being more susceptible or vulnerable in front of seemingly advantageous, lucrative job opportunities which human trafficking networks used as a ruse to trap unsuspecting emigrants. Instead of gaining a higher standard of living from better quality jobs, they enter a dark, dangerous world where human life is of no value and there is no regard for what is lawful and just.Another factor that contributed to human trafficking in Romania was its location. As a result of the country sharing borders with neighbouring countries such as Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria, this makes it a prime destination for trafficking victims whether as a temporary destination or permanently.

The macro effects of human trafficking in Romania includes increased violence in organised criminal groups and also the growth and diversification of these criminal groups. Human trafficking is highly financially interested on the labour exploitation markets, these markets are partially controlled by the local Romanian traffickers along with larger networks that supply the labour. Hence, trafficking networks do not function in isolation, but rather they grow and diversify by forming mutually beneficial relationships with existing organised criminal organisations. Another effect is increasing corruption in the public sector. This is caused by the availability of opportunities for monetary gain within the trafficking network. Also, the Romanian criminal justice system and civil society has experienced corruption due to human trafficking. There has also been evidence of local law enforcement officers and high level officials who have tolerated the presence of trafficked persons within the country. Also, there is evidence of law officials making it easier for traffickers to gain illegal passports and travel documents or turning a blind eye to make it easier for people to be trafficked.

Human trafficking can also have a micro effect, that is the effect on the victims themselves. Some of these include psychological trauma from instances of rape and verbal abuse over extended periods of time. Physiological effects include the spread of diseases as a result of sexual exploitation, malnutrition resulting from starvation and damage to the body from beatings and other abusive treatments. Above all, trafficking in persons is a blatant violation of the human rights of an individual as in most cases freedom is revoked and the trafficked persons are kept in inhumane conditions.

As a result of human trafficking, the Romanian government under the rule of President Traian Besescu established the “National Agency against Trafficking in Persons” and NGOs such as “Not For Sale” both act to combat incidences of human trafficking within Romania. Although the percentage of trafficking in humans has decreased over the years, there is still a need to divert more federal funds to police trafficking activity. Also, there is no institution in Romania that provides psychological rehabilitation to trafficking victims in Romania, therefore, in future this would be a profitable project to undertake.

In the Caribbean, human trafficking is a prevalent but not frequently reported occurrence. In Antigua, female migrants are sexually exploited in brothels and in the Dominican Republic where the sexual exploitation of children is a lucrative business. Also in Barbados men are forced to work in construction and both women and children are sexually exploited. As a result, Caribbean countries have taken measures to combat trafficking such as educating the public in order to decrease vulnerability due to ignorance and also by increasing the law enforcement’s involvement in investigating and eliminating trafficking rings within the region. However, there is need for an organisation within Caribbean countries that are fully equipped to deal with the rehabilitation and re-integration of human trafficking victims back into society.

Although human trafficking may not be frequently mentioned in the media and there are not widespread efforts to combat the offence in many countries, it is occurring worldwide and has the ability to affect every individual greatly. As such it is becoming increasingly important to educate one on the dangers of human trafficking so that the susceptibility of being trafficked is decreased.

References 

•       Ebonie – Marché Jones, Human Trafficking: The Silent Crime of the Caribbean, 2012. 
•       United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (United Nations Publication, Sales No. E. 13. IV. 1, 2012).
•       http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/192368.htm 
•       http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/a-woman-trafficked-into-the-sex-trade-in-ireland-tells-her-story-29760573.html
•   http://ec.europa.eu/antitrafficking/download.action;jsessionid=gLZTSLdTxFpG4DG31ZGS9wJQnyvJ2txNgFnG5T15KfFjhQrTR1DW!760991597?nodePath=/EU+Projects/201103Romanian+Report+GOING+BEYOND.pdf&fileName=2011-03-Romanian+Report+GOING+BEYOND.pdf
•       http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/news/2011/01/24/romania-a-source-transit-site-and-destination-for-the-people-trade/

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