PM Ciuca, European anti-trafficking coordinator Schmitt discuss Romania's anti-human trafficking steps

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca had a working meeting with Diane Schmitt, European Union Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, to discuss the integrated steps Romania is taking to prevent and combat human trafficking at a systemic level, and also the Ukraine humanitarian refugee crisis.

According to a government press statement, Ciuca underlined the importance that the government attaches to human trafficking, reflected also in the strategic measure to take over the coordination of monitoring the implementation of the National Strategy for Combatting Trafficking in Persons.

The prime minister also outlined the dynamics in the national anti-trafficking mechanism, based on the four pillars of response: prevention, combat, protection and partnership, as well as specific measures developed to reduce the risks of human trafficking amidst the refugee flows from Ukraine.

The European Union Anti-Trafficking Coordinator Diane Schmitt reiterated the European Commission's commitment to support measures to deter demand in the countries of destination for human trafficking, as well as the need for a joint effort at EU level to intensify criminal prosecution and tracking and investigating the proceeds of such crime.

State adviser with the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Madalina Turza, detailed the progress that Romania has made with the fight against trafficking, mentioning specifically a new computer forensics system for combating child pornography and sexual exploitation of children, which will benefit, in a very short time, the Romanian Police; hearing rooms for children victims of crimes, as well as the missing child alert systems and the 119 emergency number for children, developed under a national government programme called "Out of care for the children."

Also attending the meeting were senior official with the Interior Ministry Bogdan Despescu, and Director of the National Agency against Trafficking in Persons Maximilian Nicolae. 

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