OSCE Special Envoy Urges Romania To Boost Efforts Against Human Trafficking

OSCE Special Envoy Urges Romania to Boost Efforts Against Human Trafficking

OSCE Special Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Valiant Richey on Wednesday called on the Romanian authorities to step up their efforts against human trafficking

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2019) OSCE Special Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Valiant Richey on Wednesday called on the Romanian authorities to step up their efforts against human trafficking.

The special representative visited the country as the head of a delegation from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In that capacity, he met with various politicians, government officials and anti-human trafficking activists.

"While Romania's rate of identified victims of trafficking remains one of the largest in the OSCE area, this rate appears to be declining in the last two years and as do conviction rates of human traffickers .

.. This is undoubtedly due to several factors, including change in the way traffickers operate, insufficient training of front-line actors, and inadequate protection measures for victims which may discourage them from coming forward and testifying in trial," he said.

Currently, Romania is one of Europe's main sources of modern sex and labor trafficking. According to the US State Department's 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, more than half of all identified victims are minors. In 2003, the OSCE adopted the Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, which highlights three aspects of combating human trafficking the prevention of crimes, prosecution of criminals, and protection of victims.