{"id":1107,"date":"2014-10-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/03-10-2014-race-in-europe-project-report-on-organised-crime-reproduces-misinformation\/"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:33:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T06:33:17","slug":"03-10-2014-race-in-europe-project-report-on-organised-crime-reproduces-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/03-10-2014-race-in-europe-project-report-on-organised-crime-reproduces-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"03.10.2014 RACE in Europe Project: report on organised crime reproduces misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The research group \u201cRACE \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin Europe Project\u201d, a collaboration of several organisations which are involved \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin the fight against organised crime and trafficking, has presented a report on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thuman trafficking in Europe for the purpose of criminal activities. The authors \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcome to the conclusion that there is a serious lack of reliable information on \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe phenomenon. In spite of this acknowledged lack of reliable data, they arrive \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tat very clear results: in many of the examined cases, the victims of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttrafficking for the purpose of criminal activities were identified by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthorities as being perpetrators rather than as victims. Roma children are particularly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toften cited in this context. It is claimed that in the UK, the Netherlands, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCzech Republic, but also in other European countries, Roma children are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparticularly affected by criminal networks: \u201cThe \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmajority of persons trafficked to the UK for petty crimes, such as pick-pocketing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand the sale of counterfeit goods, as well as for forced begging are from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCentral and Eastern Europe. Most are of Roma origin, and a high proportion are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren. A host of socio-economic factors, such as high levels of poverty and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscrimination in their countries of origin make Roma groups particularly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvulnerable to trafficking. [\u2026] The RACE Project research identified that those \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho are most commonly trafficked for forced<\/em> <\/em>criminality \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand begging come from South-East Europe (many of them of Roma origin) and from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSouth-East Asia (Vietnam and China)\u201d <\/em>(RACE in Europe Project 2014: 5, 11). As a reason for the high \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trate of Rroma among victims of human trafficking, the authors of the study name \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe increased vulnerability of the minority, which results from their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscrimination and the consequential poor access to education, the labour \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarket and public institutions. In addition, it is stated that extortionate \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloan sharks particularly affect members of the minority: \u201cDebt bondage is cited as a major driver of trafficking. While some \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoma communities will rely on neighbours (both Roma and non-Roma) for support, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018their survival strategies are often for them to resort to informal money \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlenders (known as \u2018kamatari\u2019, essentially loan sharks), who charge exorbitant \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinterest rates and use repressive measures to ensure payment\u2019. These measures \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcan include forcing them to undertake criminal acts such as begging or pick-pocketing, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tor to traffic their own children for the same purpose, in order to clear debts \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey may have accumulated\u201d <\/em>(RACE \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin Europe Project 2014: 13).<\/p>\n

The characteristics of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttrans-nationally operating trafficker networks, as presented here, are questioned \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby research in social sciences. While their existence is not denied, their manifestation, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnumber, omnipotence, and the motivations attributed to them have to be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tquestioned. Ideological fallacies connected or even equated with ethnic groups \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsuch as the Rroma are often the source of those myths. Furthermore, connecting \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchild trafficking to Rroma has to be critically examined. The stereotype of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma as child traffickers dates back to their arrival in Western Europe, and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis in part based on the racist notion that Rroma actively recruit young people \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfor their criminal gangs. Regarding the de facto trafficking of children, social \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tscience studies convey a more complex notion of this subject and point out that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcrimes such as incitement to beg and steal or alleged child trafficking are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\toften permeated by various morals in the analysis and assessment by authorities, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho don\u2019t appropriately consider the perspectives and motivations of those \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taffected, and instead force on them their own ideas of organised begging, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcriminal networks, or of child trafficking. Structural differences of the involved \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocieties and the resulting reasons for a migration are given too little \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsideration. In reality, behind begging children there are simply often only \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timpoverished families, in which the children contribute to the family income and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twho therefore do not correspond to bourgeois notions of a normal family and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildhood. Furthermore, the incomes from begging are very modest, which makes it \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tunattractive for actual organised crime (see Cree\/Clapton\/Smith 2012, O’Connell Davidson 2011, Oude \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBreuil 2008, Tabin et al 2012).<\/p>\n