Romania set to become destination country for human traffic
Romania will become a destination country for human trafficking after it joins the European Union, predict local experts on the issue.
Easing of the freedom of movement around Europe means it will be less hard for trafficked people to enter the country. “I anticipate it will be three years until Romania becomes a destination country,” Dumitru Licsandru, president of the National Agency for Combating Human Traffic told The Diplomat.
At present, Romania is a place of source and transit for trafficked people.
The majority of these are girls forced into prostitution, while others are enslaved for work or begging, almost exclusively in western Europe.
“Most of them are coming from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine and to Latin countries as a destination,” says Gabriel Sotirescu - deputy director at the General Directorate for Fighting Against Organised Crime (DGCCO).
Labour traffic is increasing, such as the exploitation of the handicapped to beg on streets and kids for petty crime.
“In future, most probably in labour exploitation, there will be victims from Asia and North Africa coming to Romania,” says Sotirescu. In forced labour, people are often paid small wages and do not see themselves as victims.
But Licsandru estimates that now 70 per cent of the cases are trafficked for sex. There are also growing numbers of people inside Romania who are trafficked from one region to another for prostitution and begging.
In the first semester of this year the authorities convicted 41 people to a term of over five years in prison for trafficking crimes.
(See Feature)
Heading for an imperfect accession
Romania and Bulgaria have won accession to the European Union only three months before the entry date, with a tough package of accompanying measures.
The country must show that measures introduced in its fight against corruption are not irreversible, said the head of the Eurpean Commission Delegation to Romania, Jonathan Scheele. No one, he said, must be perceived “to be above the law”.
He said Romania and Bulgaria’s preparation was not “100 per cent perfect”.
But Romania was praised for efforts to collect and treat dead animals, and for linking up its IT tax systems with EU standards.
“Romanians today have a reason to be proud,” said Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu.
“This enlargement has consolidated peace and brought more prosperity in Europe,” said President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.
In the reform of the judiciary, the Monitoring Report stated that some members of the Superior Council of Magistrates (CSM) continue to face potential conflicts of interests and “individual ethical issues”. In the fight against corruption, the report asked for clear political will to demonstrate “sustainability and irreversibility” in the battle. Corruption also remains a concern at local government level.
The Commission will set up a mechanism to monitor judicial reform, the fight against corruption and organised crime.
But there was still little to praise in Romania’s efforts to treat people with disabilities, in mental healthcare and the protection and integration of minorities.
Scheele, who leaves his mandate at the end of this month, said that 2010 was a target for Romania to enter the open borders of the Schengen area.
When Romania joins the EU, Scheele sais it will be paying about one per cent of its GDP into the EU purse, and receiving seven per cent in return.
Four countries - Belgium, Denmark, Germany and France - still have to fully ratify Romania’s treaty of accession for the nation to enter the EU in 2007.
Precedents in legal system on the table for justice reform
To smash the trend of inconsistent and unpredictable decisions by judges in legal cases, a team of British judges in Bucharest has been discussing with Minister of Justice, Monica Macovei, the idea of introducing binding precedents to Romanian law.
“At the moment it is down to each judge to interpret the legal code,” said Justice Coleman, from the High Court of Justice in London, at a recent meeting by the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce. “This leads to inconsistency and unpredictability of outcome.”
Business people have complained that judges make vastly different decisions on cases which have the same premise.
“Businessmen need to know where they stand,” said Coleman, who has also worked on procedural changes in the justice systems in the Czech and Slovak Republics.
This would make legal decisions part of the common law.
But Justice Coleman acknowledged that introducing a precedent system, where a decision by a high court could be binding for lower courts, is foreign to legal thinking in Romania.
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