Integration into the EU and the influence of immigration on the exploitation of Romanian children

By Peyroux Olivier, 1 Jul 2009

In 2007, with Romania’s integration into the EU, new European trading regulations have made it impossible for the typical agricultural family unit to trade within the food and agricultural industries. Consequently this otherwise unskilled sector of the population must seek out new methods of sustainability. In addition they must cope with a state that provides insufficient social cover. Without any public subsidies or social cover to speak of, and with most of their existing qualifications now obsolete, earning enough money to live has become more and more difficult. Immigration, far easier to undertake after the removal of frontiers within the EU, has become one of the leading solutions to this problem. This new situation has become an opportunity for the already established and less well-intentioned of these immigrants who now impose their services as intermediaries at every stage of the immigration process in return for payment. Amongst those parts of the population who decide to immigrate as a family or send their children to earn money abroad, the absence of a network of reliable contacts already in place at the destination will often lead directly to the exploitation of children.

These families arrive in foreign countries in difficult situations, having to cope with high levels of competition and hostility:

• children removed from school in Romania often as early as primary school and parents with little education,
• saturation of the unofficial labour markets in the destination countries combined with the extremely difficult conditions of access to legal employment (1),
• the organisation of the migratory process by fellow countrymen consequently all services become payable for those without family networks in place,
• the apparition of elaborate methods of exploitation which leave families enslaved by certain groups of individuals.
• finally, the reduction of social cover in the destination countries.

Depending on the constraints experienced by the families the utilising the option of child labour is quite variable. Even if the large majority of families try to do all that they can to allow their children to experience normal schooling, certain families find themselves facing financial strain that cannot be resolved without the use of the entire family including its youngest members.

Amongst those recently arrived families who do not have the benefit of an established network to assist them, the cost of living is very high (notably via the “rental” of space in shantytowns which can be priced in the hundreds of euros). This puts pressure on all members of the family. Children themselves must contribute to these costs, and frequently, the time spent amassing the necessary sums of money leads to a lack of time for education and a tendency towards dangerous activities (i.e. unsafe work, begging until late hours, theft, prostitution).

The Kamata (dependence due to contractual debts) is the method most frequently used to exploit children. In contrast to more classical money lending techniques, stricter kamata exists specifically to enslave the family in question to the money lender. This system functions through exponential interest rates and the choice of families considered incapable of being able to make repayment. The use of the Kamata can be found most often in the southern regions of Romania. It is directed specifically at the least informed part of the population who seek to immigrate. In certain villages to the South of Craiova, the kamatari (money lenders) offer to take charge of all aspects of the immigration process i.e.: transport, identification papers, housing in the country of destination… A family that thinks it will pay merely a few hundred euros for the journey finds itself, upon arrival in France, with a debt running into the thousands of euros. The time-frame for repayment is one month and from then on the debt is doubled and in this way the kamatari put the family under pressure creating a stressful situation through the impending repayment dates and threats of violence. The children are often the first victims, forced, whatever their age, to bring in money by any means including theft and prostitution. This system takes the form of a network of exploitation without the kamatari needing to take any great risks since initially the families are willing and the threats of violence become almost impossible to endure.

Since 2007, the Romanian authorities and associations have recorded a marked increase in the direct recruitment of children in Romania for the means of exploitation through prostitution and labour. This phenomenon can be explained by the opening of internal European frontiers which makes policing the trafficking of Romanian children difficult. The preferred victims of these recruiters are poor families living in rural areas with little information regarding the dangers posed by immigration and who don’t have the means to leave for foreign countries. The use of manipulation, lies and seduction are the classic means of recruitment. Many of the recently interviewed, under-aged girl prostitutes have been misled by their “boyfriends” who, having gained their confidence and that of their parents, took them abroad with all the necessary legal papers (2) and then forced them to work as prostitutes. Generally speaking, the same individual would have seduced a number of girls concurrently and would be merely an intermediary of the organisation. The same technique is being used with divorced mothers where the step-father convinces the mother to prostitute her daughter. In order to reduce the risk of arrest, these intermediaries limit their time in the destination countries by in turn delegating the management of affairs abroad to the older more docile victims.

In Paris over the last few months, Police have found themselves dealing with children coming from the same town in Romania, aged between 10 and 14 years, they specialise in cash machine scams. This particular group had previously been active in the United Kingdom near London and had managed over a few years to steal hundreds of thousands of euros. This became evident in the recent construction of luxury villas around their home town. This organisation has a strict hierarchy and benefits also from the complicity of the local authorities. The newest development is the apparition of the same phenomenon in small towns whereas this had been noticed only in villages to date. This kind of evolution is disturbing and appears to be spreading across different regions of the country. These organisations rely on the domination of the most vulnerable sector of the population, the poor and uninformed who would do anything to get out of their destitute conditions. In certain cases, families " lend " their children to “earn money abroad” in order to repay contracted debts…. In order to restrict the establishment of these organisations who specialise in the exploitation of children whilst masquerading as familial structures it would be necessary to establish projects that bring together the concerned states with representatives of the police, justice and social services.

Integration into the EU has facilitated great improvements in the field of child protection in Romania, concurrently however, as has been outlined earlier in this article, massive numbers of children are being taken out of primary school in certain villages. This removal from the education system has become the first step in the process of child exploitation. Keeping these children in school, both in Romania and in the countries where the exploitation is taking place, is an essential step in the fight against child trafficking. Unfortunately, in observing the current situation, this kind of policy is a long way from being a priority.

Read the complete article (in English and French): “Reality and Process of Trafficking of Romanian Minors in Relation to Migration”

(1) In France, access to employment for Romanians and Bulgarians is subject to restrictions during the transitory period of the two countries regarding their entry into the EU. In practice, despite a list of trades considered " under strain " the necessary procedure for legal employment remains long, complicated and inconsistent from one department to another.

(2) For a Romanian child to travel between states in the EU unaccompanied by parents, a power of attorney, specifying the name of the person who will accompany the child, must be signed by the parents in the presence of a notary. This surely explains why these groups have developed their contact with the parents of the children concerned.