http://www.romaniantimes.at/news/General_News/2010-04-09/7849/Romania_accuse d_of_ignoring_child_trafficking
09.04.10. - 20:00 Romania accused of ignoring child trafficking Michael Leidig British and Romanian child care organisations and officials have been accused of a catastrophic failure to protect children from poor families in Romania from being trafficked to the UK. The claims were made by Norbert Ceipek who runs the Augarten Crisis Centre in Vienna, Austria, that takes care of trafficked children caught by Austrian police. He said the children he was seeing told him the UK was now the number one destination for child beggars because UK officials were not tackling the problem - and because large amounts could be earned on UK streets. His centre in Austria cares for children who have been brought in off the streets, and he was also responsible for setting up a network of 80 children's crisis centres in Romania. He said he had started working with Romanian officials in 2005, adding: "I went there and at the time there was nothing being done against these gangs. But there was a will to get things done and we opened several crisis centres - eventually there were about 80. I went there with my team from Austria and we had professional educators to train the staff in Romania. "But over the last year and a half these people have been dismissed - occasionally even being replaced by unqualified staff who are often in league with the gangs themselves. These people are sometimes even cleaners that used to work at the centres. Romania claims it's because of the economic crisis. But as a result all the schemes to educate the children and their families do not happen any more. The kids are handed back and there is no check on what happens to them - no-one cares. "That means they are straight back in the hands of the gangs. We are seeing the same kids again and again because nothing is done to stop it happening. It is as if they in Romania want to turn a blind eye since they got EU membership. That was when they began laying off staff and cutting funding. Once the EU membership was obtained there was no will to do anything about it." He estimates that between 1,300 and 1,500 social workers from the crisis centres have been fired since EU membership. Many of the crisis centres have been closed completely - others are run by untrained amateurs. And he added that the situation in the UK was fuelling the trade. He said: "The kids I am getting off the streets here are telling me that the UK is the number one destination because it's all so easy there. Not only are the English citizens such easy targets for the beggar kids - with rich pickings to be had - but that there are also no central organisations who are helping these children to safety. "In London there are so many NGOs that are supposed to be helping but it's as if they are in competition with each other. They take the kids for a few days - get the money for looking after them - and then they hand them back to the gang leaders who come and pick them up. There are no controls over who or what they are handed back to. "The Metropolitan Police do what they can but they are also seeing the same kids again and again. "I am trying to get the same organisation we have here in Austria set up in the UK but so far nothing has happened." Edmond McLoughney, Unicef representative in Romania, said that there is in fact in Romania a network of ten shelters who offer support for victims which have been supported by the state child protection authority for staff and training. But the financing is a problem. He said: "There is indeed a shortage of money and a lot more social workers are needed." "The big issue at the moment is that the Government doesn't have the money to invest in the child protection system. We call on the Government to give priority to children matters. Don't make budget cuts in children matters. But instead increase funding for children, for education." He added that the economic crisis meant children were especially vulnerable. "The local authorities should allocate more time and resources to families, when risk cases are identified, in order to prevent the case from happening again." British gang-busting police have arrested more than 30 Romanian mobsters accused of sending an army of snatched children to beg and steal on the streets of Britain. Police estimate that more than 170 youngsters as young as seven have been trafficked to the UK by the gang. Scotland Yard officers working with local anti-Mafia cops in Romania yesterday morning (Thursday) took part in a series of raids in Tandarei, a gangland heartland in the south of the country. More than 300 officers searched 34 homes and properties in the co-ordinated dawn searches. Police say the modern-day Fagins forced their young victims - snatched from poor gypsy communities - to beg in Britain and go on pick-pocketing and shoplifting sprees. Mob bosses set them up with bogus documents and homes in London and other big cities and then put them to work on the streets threatening their families at home if they tried to flee. 2009 - website by <http://www.ksh-systems.com/> KSH Systems ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." Aboneaza-te la <mailto:[email protected]> ngo_list: o alternativa moderata (un pic) la [ngolist] Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
