Trafficking in Human Beings in Southeastern Europe - Iom

Trafficking in Human Beingsin Southeastern EuropeThe trafficking of children in Albania, both boys and girls, appears to be mainlyfor the purposes of forced labour including begging, drug dealing and activitiessuch as washing car windows. However, there have been some reports of childrenbeing re-sold for prostitution. This is organised by networks of traffickerswho move the children into Greece where there is a lucrative market for thisactivity. Newspaper articles also report children being used for organ donation,but this is unsubstantiated.AlbaniaThese children come from all over Albania but the main areas are Berate,Korce, Fier, Elbasan and Tirana. The children range in age from 0 to 15 years.There are reports from an Albanian NGO that girls as young as 12 years areoften re-trafficked into prostitution from these begging rings, though there islimited information on this.Children generally come from impoverished and dysfunctional families. Typically,these children have either never attended school or have dropped out inorder to work to support the family. These families are known to the traffickersand are groomed to permit their children to travel to Greece to work. Promisesof monetary remittances are made, but cease rapidly after a couple ofmonths.The majority of trafficked children come from the Roma minority in Albania,although there are also children of Albanian origin and the problem cannot beseen as specific to one minority group. There are several categories of childrenwho leave Albania and stay abroad:• Those who leave with their parents who then abandon them;• Those sold by their parents to traffickers in Albania, in exchange fora promise of future income;• Abandoned children who are taken abroad by traffickers;• Those who are sent by the family to earn money.Children are trafficked into Greece either by foot across the mountains, in theback of a lorry or across the border with false documents and with false“mothers”. Again, it appears that the connivance of the authorities in bothGreece and Albania is an implicit part of the problem.In the country of destination, children work on the streets, begging, washingcar windows and selling things. Older children, over 12, are often involved inillegal activities, and prostitution. There are no special provisions for the treatmentof underage illegal migrants in any of the countries of destination, sothey are treated the same way as adults. They are arrested, detained, andkept in detention centres together with traffickers and other adult illegalmigrants. While in detention they are often abused, mistreated and raped, bythe guards and other inmates. After a couple of days they are deported to theborder and left there. Younger children, under 12 years old, are placed inorphanages where they are forcibly nationalised and lose contact with theirnative language.In Greece the situation of children has recently changed. In 2000, an internationalNGO, Terre des Hommes (TdH) reported on the many children openlycarrying out “illegal activities” on the streets of the main cities of Greece.Today, the Greek police have “cleaned” the streets of the main cities. Traffickershave responded by changing the routes and the characteristics of child traffickinghave changed. Around 80 percent of the trafficked children that were inGreece have changed location and activities, and disappeared into other networks,cities or countries. According to TdH, neither the police nor the stateinstitutions nor NGOs in Greece know the whereabouts of the children.129