Our AAI team provided four training presentations in Bucharest, Romania at the invitation of the US Embassy on March 28/29, 2019. Training”s were provided at the for hotel employees, uber drivers and the hospitality community, for law enforcement (at SELEC), and a Train the Trainer for airport employees and at the Embassy. Many thanks to Giovanna Cavalier, from the US Embassy who helped coordinate our visit.
Airline Ambassador trainers were Nancy Rivard, Donna Hubbard & Marie Rivard and Rod Khattabi, Director of Law Enforcement for Grace Farms Foundation, and US prosecutor Krishna Patel also joined on this trip.
See link to local TV coverage and pictures below:
Afterwards the team visited with Monica Boseff, founder of the Open Door Foundation, one of the only working emergency shelters and safe houses in Romania. They got to know 6 girls at the shelter and the stories were riveting. Monica was honored by the US State Department in 2014 as a TIP Hero. One of the survivors at the shelter has a dream to be a flight attendant and AAI is helping her raise $3000 towards that goal If you would like to contribute to this worthy cause please click here to DONATE.
The visit was covered by TV, print and radio. Here is the article from Vice Magazine:
Flight attendants and Uber drivers from Romania could save the victims of modern slavery
“A hotel employee or a stewardess could identify a victim of trafficking in persons after such a training.
Over the years, Romania has managed to give the European Union the biggest traffickers. From the Cordunenilor clan to the Clammpari clan, Romanians got rich by selling women and children in the Western Europe. Recently, the Tandarei case, where 150 minors were sent to beg and steal in the UK, reminded you that even the law does not help us very much, although it is one of the toughest in Europe in this area.
The annual reports show that Romania is a country of origin, transit and destination for women, men and children trafficked for labor exploitation (agriculture, constructions, households, hotels, industry, forced begging etc.) or sexual exploitation. In fact, we remain in the top countries of origin for a significant number of victims of trafficking in Europe. The “lover boy” method has pushed thousands of Romanians into the hands of human traffickers, and the despair for a better live makes more and more Romanians to go for work abroad, and some of them get to be exploited through labor.
So the U.S. government report shows that in 2017 the authorities and NGOs identified 662 victims, the highest number in more than ten years. But not because trafficking has lost its intensity, but because “the Romanian authorities did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas.”
But not only the authorities can do something to prevent trafficking in human beings, but also employers in the hospitality industry, Uber/Taxify drivers or airlines, as said the representatives of the NGOs Airline Ambassadors International and the Grace Farms Foundation, who came to Romania to hold several training sessions for public and private sector, so that Romanians can identify victims of trafficking in persons. The event is sponsored by the International Criminal Investigation Office in the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and aims to show employers from large and small companies that such training is needed, especially in industries with which the trafficked victim gets to interact.
Nancy Rivard, President of Airline Ambassadors, explained that staff at airports or aircrafts may have the ability to recognize someone who’s a victim of trafficking in persons, a phenomenon that has created 40 million victims globally. “Airplane personnel has the time, from one hour to 12 hours, to notice different signs in such cases.”
Signs of a possible victim of trafficking in the airport or on the plane:
- He has very few personal items or none, when checking in or boarding the plane;
- Identity documents are not in his possession;
- He is with someone much better dressed;
- Avoids visual contact or she/he’s extremely vigilant;
- It is unusually obedient to the person next to him;
- He is not allowed to speak, if someone is addressing him, the person next to him insists on answering in his/her place or translating to him/her;
- He does not seem to know where he’s going;
- Cannot go to the toilet by himself in the aircraft, it is always accompanied by someone
- He/she may have signs of physical abuse, bruises, wounds, etc.
- She/he seems to be physically weak and hungry;
- She/he is clearly scared by security staff and afraid to reveal his status as an immigrant;
- She/he speaks about an “actor or model” job that awaits her/him at the end of the trip, but has no idea who she/he will meet at destination.
How to recognize a human trafficker:*
- A man or a woman who speaks in the name of the victim;
- She stays close to the victim and does not leave her/him out of her sight;
- Provides elusive responses;
- May not know personal details about the person they accompany, in most cases, a minor or a woman;
- Pretends she/he is a relative or a lover of the victim
Donna Hubbard, an NGO trainer and former victim of trafficking in persons, explains that “no one should be a hero”: “If you notice something that seems strange to you, even if you are not sure why it happens, you can report what you saw, without interfering. Let the law enforcement know whether it’s a case of human trafficking or not. “
Among the advice of the Airline Ambassadors, NGO that also works with the United Nations, is the “Do No Harm – CARE” scheme:
- Do not face someone directly if you suspect traffic of persons;
- Do not show an alarming behavior of concern;
- Do not try to save any possible victim without telling the authorities;
- Do not put your own life or other’s in jeopardy.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, you can use the “Tip Line” application from Airline Ambassadors to report a suspected human trafficking case. With this app, you can call the authorities no matter where you are. David Rivard, country director, says that since the launch of this application, 1,200 phone calls with tips have been registered.
Training’s for hotel personnel
In 2016, Connecticut was the first U.S. state to have adopted a law whereby the management of all hotels and motels, prestigious or local, are required to keep a record of six months with all people who have stayed there. This comes as a measure, after the authorities have found that many women are sexually exploited in such places and, sometimes, the hotel employees are even responsible for trafficking in persons. Similar cases exist also in Romania.
Krishna Patel, Grace Farms Foundation’s general manager and law advisor, explains the need to train the hotel staff, so that they can recognize the signs of victims or traffickers. Sexual exploitation often takes place in dark rooms of hotels and everybody pretends they do not see this, she says. “They are now obliged to see and report.”
Patel says such training’s will be held throughout the JW Marriott hotel chain, including in Romania.
The Internet has increased the number of victims
Many of the victims are recruited via internet. Thus, Patel explains, if before internet era, the child pornography was separated from human trafficking, today a trafficker gets to seize a victim, rape her, take sexual pictures, put her online and then sell her further.
Last year, In Romania were only 675 new cases of human trafficking, less than previous years, and prosecutors prosecuted 362 trafficking suspects, less than in 2016 and 2015. Statistics show, however, that the actual number of people who have been or are still being trafficked is not known. Patel believes that in Romania the educated population is as vulnerable as the one with disadvantaged backgrounds. “There are people looking for online jobs and being exploited in the countries they go to.” Patel also says Romania will probably figure out, as a country, something the U.S. has already discovered: “We have come from nothing like this happening on the internet to 99% of trafficking cases occurring right there.”
The training sessions will continue for the next three days, alongside the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (ANITP), for personnel from the Romanian Police, Interpol, Border Police and DIICOT. The implementation of such training sessions in private companies in Romania depends only on the authorities involved.”
See below thank you letter from the US Embassy in Romania:
From the 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report “Romania is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Romania is a significant source of sex and labor trafficking victims throughout Europe. Romanian men, women, and children are subjected to labor trafficking in agriculture, construction, hotels, manufacturing, and domestic service, as well as forced begging and theft in Romania and other European countries. Romanian women and children are victims of sex trafficking in Romania and other European countries. Romani children, as young as 12 years old, are particularly vulnerable to forced begging and sex trafficking.â€
