In a report published on Thursday 3 June, the “Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings” (GRETA) notes Romania’s progress in developing its policy and legislative framework, but points to serious shortcomings: the large number of suspended sentences, the reductions in sentences linked to guilty pleas, the virtual absence of compensation payments to victims due to delayed freezing of traffickers’ assets and to the absence of a compensation fund that could be replenished by the confiscation of assets resulting from trafficking, and the publication of victims’ names and addresses on the websites of judicial institutions, which exposes them to intimidation during legal proceedings.
Other criticisms include: the still-insufficient number of investigators and prosecutors specialised in trafficking cases, shortcomings in the identification of victims among migrants and asylum seekers, and the limited capacity of shelters for victims.
Romania remains primarily a country of origin for victims of trafficking in human beings. Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom are the main destination countries, and the end goal is sexual exploitation, the report says.
Link to the GRETA report: https://bit.ly/3gm7wmf (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)