=Several western Swiss newspapers report on the trial against a Romanian Rroma couple. The two Geneva residents Rroma were indicted for having trafficked and financially exploited several Romanian countrymen for begging, stealing, and prostitution in Switzerland. The pair was acquitted of the main charges, because the evidence did not confirm the suspicion. However, they were sentenced for an offense against immigration law: “The Rroma that until yesterday were accused of trafficking, were acquitted of the main charges incriminating them. The defendants are not hideous slaveholders, who held dozens of begging Roma under their relentless thumb, the judges of the criminal court adjudicated analogously, but nonetheless sentenced them for the infringement of the federal law of foreigners (LEtr). According to the court, the persons transported to Geneva could even travel back to their country even if they had not paid back the price of their bus ticket within two weeks. […] Nevertheless, the defendants were found guilty of the violation of the foreigners’ act. They enriched themselves by helping people without work and residence permit to travel to Switzerland, which is prohibited. Moreover, the couple knew very well that these people were destitute and therefore would be forced to engage in illegal activities: begging, theft, or prostitution […]” (Foca 2014/I). As the judgment points out, equating migration support with forcing people to steal, beg, or to prostitute themselves is simply false. In many articles on human trafficking, it is incorrectly assumed that smugglers are automatically traffickers and their customers’ victims of trafficking, which is not confirmed by the research literature. That research shows migrating people have much more self determination, and questions the characteristics and omnipotence of transnationally operating gangs. In addition, the incomes from begging is very modest, which makes it unattractive for actual organised crime. Rroma are not more delinquent than other ethnic groups, which is distorted by the one-sided media focus on criminal or poor Rroma (compare Focas 2014/II, Guillain 2014, Lecomte 2014, Le Matin 2014 I/II, Oude Breuil et al 2011, Tabin et al 2012).

• Focas, Catherine (2014/I) Traite d’êtres humains: le couple de Roms a été acquitté. In: Tribune de Genève online vom 23.10.2014. http://www.tdg.ch/geneve/actu-genevoise/couple-roms-condamne-violation-loi-etrangers/story/29576253
• Focas, Caherine (2014/II) Un couple de Roms accusé d’exploiter la misère des siens. In: 24 heures online vom 22.10.2014. http://www.24heures.ch/suisse/Un-couple-de-Roms-accuse-d-exploiter-la-misere-des-siens/story/14818486
• Guillian, Marine (2014) Les époux Roms peuvent sortir de prison. In: 20 Minutes Suisse online vom 23.10.2014. http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/geneve/story/26637457
• Lecomte, Christian (2014) Des mendiants pris dans une guerre de clans. In: Le Temps online vom 23.10.2014. http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/4dea2b96-5a25-11e4-b7f4-d2d5f283df81/Des_mendiants_pris_dans_une_guerre_de_clans
• Le Matin (2014/I) Couple de Roms condamné à la prison avec sursis. In: Le Matin online vom 23.10.2014. http://www.lematin.ch/suisse/Couple-de-Roms-condamne-a-la-prison-avec-sursis/story/18868662
• Le Matin (2014/II) Un couple de Roms jugé pour traite d’êtres humains. In: Le Matin online vom 22.10.2014. http://www.lematin.ch/faits-divers/couple-roms-juge-traite-etres-humains/story/11309625
• Oude Breuil, B.C., Siegel, D., Reenen, P. van, Beijer, A. & Roos, Y.B. (2011) Human trafficking revisited: Legal,  enforcement and ethnographic narratives on sex trafficking to Western Europe. In: Trends in organized crime, 14, 30-46.
• Tabin, Jean Pierre et al. (2012) Rapport sur la mendicité « rrom » avec ou sans enfant(s). Université de Lausanne.s      

Please follow and like us: