Mystery girl taken from Roma home in Greece is 'at peace,' charity says

[Turborama]

29. That was the report explaining why children and women are vulnerable to trafficking and abuse?

Breaking the Silence: Trafficking in Romani Communities
Estimates provided during research by the ERRC and PiN about the perceived representation of Roma among trafficked persons in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are several times higher than the proportion of Roma among the general population, indicating a disproportionate impact of this practice on Romani communities. Romani women and children were found to be particularly vulnerable to trafficking, which brings Roma to other countries and to other locations within their home countries.

Roma are trafficked for various purposes, including sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, domestic servitude, organ trafficking, illegal adoption and forced begging. The vulnerability factors identified in this study are closely linked to those commonly associated with non-Romani trafficked persons and include structural forms of ethnic and gender discrimination, poverty and social exclusion which result in low educational achievement, high levels of unemployment, usury, growing up in State care, domestic violence and substance abuse.

Gaps in law, policy and practice in the field of anti-trafficking constitute barriers to the fight against trafficking in Romani communities. Few Roma are identified by police as trafficked persons and many are reluctant to report themselves to law enforcement agencies for fear of reprisal from their traffickers or of prosecution for the conduct of criminal acts as a trafficked person. Similarly low numbers of Romani trafficked persons access victim prevention and protection services and general social protection systems are failing to reduce the extreme vulnerability of Roma to trafficking. The overwhelming lack of support available to Romani trafficked persons negatively impacts the ability of many to re-integrate, leaving them highly vulnerable to re-trafficking.

Read the report here: http://www.errc.org/article/breaking-the-silence-trafficking-in-romani-communities/3846

When I said "reports" above I was referring to the BBC documentaries - and their accompanying articles - I previously posted about the traffickers and their victims.

The secret lives of Britain's child beggars
By John Sweeney
BBC Panorama

=snip=

Over the course of almost a year, all of the child-begging teams working the streets of London which were investigated by Panorama turned out to be Gypsies from Romania.

Despite wearing modest clothing and headscarves and targeting the mosque and areas popular with tourists from the Gulf states, none were Muslim.

Gypsies - also known as Roma - are Europe's largest ethnic minority, and the poorest. Racism against them in Romania and across Europe is rife.

Christine Beddoe, UK director of ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking), said forcing them to work the streets of London is denying them their childhood.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9618000/9618038.stm

The report can be watcher here:

And...

How Gypsy gangs use child thieves
By Sam Bagnall
This World

=snip=

While some crime is driven by poverty, a worrying amount is the result of child exploitation, organised by professional criminals.

Breliante is a powerful underworld figure in the Romanian city of Craiova, where many of the Roma criminals in Milan originated.

He told the BBC many of the fabulous villas in the city were built on the proceeds of crime committed all over the world.

Gang bosses traffic people, including children, abroad to beg and steal and get fat on the profits.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8226580.stm

The report can be watched here: