Romanians, trafficked “on an industrial scale” in Great Britain. Three quarters of the women found in illegal brothels come from our country | News, Foreign News Freedom

Three weeks ago, police entered a tolerance house in south-east England, where they found eight Romanian women wearing anti-COVID masks. By the door was a large bottle of hand sanitizer.

Although at first glance it did not appear to be a place where illegal activities took place, the police investigation revealed that the brothel and the women inside were under the control of a criminal gang that still owns three other establishments. However, women in Romania are exploited.

Most sexual activity in the UK takes place independently and by consensus, but when it comes to crime, there is a business model that has made the UK a major destination for traffickers who They bring women from Eastern Europe, especially Romania.

Cristina Huddleston, Specialist in Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings:

Huddleston, as head of European operations for the anti-human trafficking charity Justice and Care, is helping police identify victims of sexual exploitation. She says that despite the lockdown, her team is working at full capacity.

An “advantage” of the coronavirus restrictions was that the number of robberies decreased, giving police more time to focus on serious and particularly serious crimes.

Romanian women are afraid to go to the police

The Salvation Army, which provides support to victims of human trafficking, has expressed concern about the sharp drop in complaints to the body that identifies victims of exploitation (NRM) by 53% between February and April of this year.

Colin Ward of Greater Manchester Police says the closure has made it difficult to identify women facing exploitation. “During the quarantine, the intelligence services were interrupted, the medical offices are closed, people are not on the street to see the addresses where suspicious activities are carried out,” he says.

According to the Salvation Army, only 18 Romanians benefited from the support organization’s services last year, compared to 416 people from Albania, 78 from China, 48 from Nigeria and 46 British citizens.

“We have worked with more than 600 victims, of 24 different nationalities, but most of the women we find in brothels related to organized crime and sexual exploitation are Romanian. However, they are reluctant to go to the police, and those who finally say they have been exploited rarely agree to join the NRM program, so they cannot be considered victims, “said Cristina Huddleston.

Trafficking in persons “on an industrial scale”

A committee in the British Parliament found, in 2018, that women in Romania are “trafficked on an industrial scale in Britain,” notes The Guardian.

In Northumberland, the police visited 81 brothels around the same time. More than half were related to organized criminal gangs operating in various directions and 75% of the women found were Romanian.

Nottingham Police found a group involved in supplying women at 10 different addresses.

“Sexual exploitation generates extraordinary profits, to which is added the money obtained from drug and arms trafficking,” said a women’s rights activist.

A Romanian woman produces 135,000 pounds a year

Earlier this year, Radu Nicolae, a Romanian researcher at the Syene Education Center, interviewed 20 convicted Romanian traffickers to see what financial model is used in these businesses. The traffickers said they earn at least £ 12,500 a month from each victim or £ 135,000 a year.

Traffickers have a hierarchically efficient and ruthless business model, each of whom plays a specific role in recruiting women for sex work in the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany.

At the base of the pyramid are local recruiters, who operate in poor rural areas of Romania and are paid 500 euros (£ 450) for every woman they recruit. They “probe” the ground with 10-20 women simultaneously.

Recruiters use the “Loverboy” method

Recruiters use the “Loverboy” method, which means they become lovers of the victims to gain their trust and get them to do things for them.

Most of the targeted women tend to be very vulnerable, from extremely poor backgrounds, with a history of sexual abuse or domestic violence, who, through this model used by recruiters, are led to believe that they have a genuine relationship.

Laetitia Gotte, president of the “Free” Association, a Romanian charity that provides support to victims of trafficking:

“Their ultimate goal is to get the woman to agree to leave home and move abroad to earn money. It sounds naive, but I think if you experienced the kind of life these women lead, you could understand the choices and decisions they face.

A Romanian woman who went through this nightmare, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Guardian how she was recruited and trafficked for prostitution in Britain.

“First I went to another European country and it was fine, I had a suitable contract and a real job,” began his story.

“My goal was to earn money to support my daughter, doing the same job in the UK, but when I got here it wasn’t what I expected. The man who brought me here forced me to stay and do prostitution, a job I didn’t want to do it, ”the Romanian also declared.

Huddleston says that about 90 percent of the women he works with were recruited through the “loverboy” method, but ended up being sold into larger criminal operations.

Women often travel here knowing that they will work as prostitutes. However, they believe they will only have to work six months, they will be able to keep all the money and they will be able to choose how many clients they have each day.

Cristina Huddleston:

Instead, when they arrive in the UK, trafficked women are subjected to physical and sexual violence and are asked to pay for flights and transport, for clothes, cosmetics, rent and food.

They often receive small sums of money to send home to their families, enough to keep them working.

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