Trafficking in Human Beings in Southeastern Europe - Iom

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Trafficking in Human Beingsin Southeastern EuropeRomania• Workshop organised with financial support from Council of Europe onCriminal Law Reform on Trafficking in Human Beings in SoutheasternEurope. This project is part of the Council of Europe contribution tothe aims of the Stability Pact Task Force on Trafficking as well as ofthe Stability Pact Initiative against Organised Crime.The Romanian Orthodox Church is included in trafficking prevention activities.The Patriarch of the Church is supposed to issue a statement warning againsttrafficking and information about trafficking will be given out at church services.2.4. Victims assistance: return and reintegration2.4.1. GovernmentThe first action taken by the Romanian government in the area of victim assistancewas to open a shelter for trafficked persons in Bucharest in co-operationwith IOM. The shelter opened in November 2001 and is managed by a localNGO, the Estuar Foundation. The services provided in the shelter include medical,social and psychological assistance and reintegration programmes.Other plans for victim assistance and support included in the NPA are to concludebilateral and multilateral agreements on returns, to create facilities forreturning trafficked persons, to provide legal, social, medical and psychologicalassistance, to hire and train personnel to work with trafficked persons, toestablish a hotline for victims, to create alternative programmes for thosetrafficked persons who chose not to go back home and to educate families andcommunities not to stigmatise or blame the victims.In the government programme of victim assistance, there is no mention ofproviding information on the rights of trafficked persons, of providing interpretersand information in their own language, or the rights to claim compensationor occupational reintegration. There are no plans to provide traffickedpersons with an alternative settlement, including the right to apply for asylumin appropriate cases, or access to welfare. Most of the above are connectedwith financial commitments, which the government is not ready to make. TheNPA also does not mention the possibility of co-operation with NGOs andestablishing a network of NGOs to assist with reintegration.2.4.2. International agenciesIOM has been very active in the area of victim assistance and reintegrationsince the beginning of 2001 when it started a special programme of assistancefor women and girls being returned by IOM from the countries of destination.IOM also provides return/transit assistance for trafficked women and girlsfrom the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia.Direct IOM assistance includes meeting women at the airport and provision oftransportation to shelter or other locations. To date, IOM-supported reintegrationassistance has mainly been sub-contracted to the NGOs working to preventviolence and to support victims of violence.46Acting on the Memorandum of Understanding between IOM and the RomanianMinistry of the Interior, signed in March 2001, a shelter for trafficked personswas opened in Bucharest on 1 November 2001. The shelter, whose premisesare provided by the Ministry of the Interior and refurbished by IOM, is managedby an NGO, the Estuar Foundation. The centre provides assistance serviceson a 24h basis. The main services include psychological assistance toovercome traumas suffered during trafficking, medical assistance (gynaeco-
Trafficking in Human Beingsin Southeastern Europelogical examination, HIV and STI testing, as well as treatment), a vocationalcourse for a period of 3 months (hairdressing, bakery-pastry, other), counsellingon administrative, juridical, educational and vocational procedures andassistance in regard to local administration and state agencies. During the firstthree months of functioning, 34 persons received transit assistance (maximum2 days) and nine opted for longer term assistance (up to 3 months). In2001, IOM also supported the organisation of a network of local NGOs that willco-operation with them in the provision of victim assistance and reintegration.Romania2.4.3. NGOsUntil recently, the only institutions directly involved in assisting and reintegratingtrafficked women and children were NGOs. The first NGO to start workwith trafficked persons, in 1998, was Reaching Out from Pitesti. Reaching Outhas an on-going training programme for 10 social workers working in theirshelter for trafficked women and children, and has achieved an 84 percentrate of reintegration. They have also prepared “Standards to work with thevictims of trafficking”.Before 2001, the Romanian NGOs operated as a network of organisations andshelters, which could provide trafficked persons with basic assistance and support.The shelters, which operate in three towns outside of Bucharest (Timisoara,Pitesti, Constanta), are small and designed in the first place for victimsof domestic violence. They are used for trafficked women and children as anemergency solution (with the exception of the Reaching Out shelter). Prior to2001, neither NGO staff nor shelter personnel, with a few exceptions, hadbeen trained to assist trafficked persons. They have developed skills andexpertise in the course of their work and at present are able to continue theiractivities and share their experience with others, but are not in a position toprovide long-term support and run reintegration programmes without additionaltraining and support, including financial support. These women’s organisationsand shelters for victims of violence were supported mainly by theSoros Foundation and have not benefited from the funding designated foranti-trafficking activities in the region.Since 2001, IOM has started to build a new network of NGOs. In July 2001,IOM organised a conference “Interagency Cooperation in Fighting and Preventionof Traffic in Women” in which 24 local NGOs participated.The “old” NGOs working on trafficking have also started to organise themselves,but separately from the IOM network. The FAMNET coalition of 13 localNGOs is a network working in the field of victim assistance and reintegration.Their activities include prevention campaigns, a hotline and website for organisationswithin the network, shelters for trafficked women and children (inTimisoara, Pitesti, Constanta) and reintegration programmes, including training,schooling and job training. Reaching Out will start training social workersfrom FAMNET, according to their “Standards” document.There is no continuity in the work with trafficked persons. Some of the NGOswhich had been most active during the last two years in the area of victimassistance and support, are not involved in the new projects and campaignsstarted by IOM. IOM has chosen new partner organisations, which have to betrained and to learn how to work with trafficked persons. The FAMNET networkof “old” NGOs is preparing a new programme. The tension is partially due tothe fact that the NGOs do not agree with IOM’s approach to reintegration.FAMNET views IOM as an organisation working with migrants and as havingno expertise in developing or implementing reintegration programmes fortrafficked women. According to the NGOs, IOM’s approach is to send the47
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Trafficking in Human Beings in Southeastern Europe - Iom

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