{"id":1590,"date":"2013-08-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/16-08-2013-organised-child-trafficking-versus-autonomous-beggars\/"},"modified":"2022-08-21T07:33:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T06:33:39","slug":"16-08-2013-organised-child-trafficking-versus-autonomous-beggars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/16-08-2013-organised-child-trafficking-versus-autonomous-beggars\/","title":{"rendered":"16.08.2013 Organised child trafficking versus autonomous beggars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jirat \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) reports on the \u201cAgora\u201d project, a project founded on the initiative of a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBern Migration Policeman in 2009. The goal of the project is the prevention of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\torganized child abuse and human trafficking, of which mostly young Rroma are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treportedly affected. By contrasting two studies on this topic, Jirat is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprecisely calling this status of beggars in question. The data of the Bernese \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigration police, who found a strong presence of beggar gangs in Berne, is of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdubious origins: \u201cThe foreign police view \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis necessarily limited: The focus is always a possible crime (human trafficking \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand\/or child abuse), and there are always potential perpetrators who are also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmentioned over and over again. \u201cMostly, they are Roma.\u201d That’s the key point.\u201d<\/em> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe perspective and analysis of the immigration police, so Jirat, is a strongly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbiased. It functions according to the logic of perpetrators and victims. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsociological perspective would be too simplistic. Thus, the study of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLausanne sociology professor Jean-Pierre Tabin was did not find its way to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpublic. At the request of the Canton of Vaud, Tabin examined the relationship \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof begging and child abuse. The empirical study came to the following conclusion: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThere is no correlation between begging children and organized networks. The minimal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbegged income accounted for this activity makes it unattractive for organized \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcrime. Several studies and also this one cameo the realisation that the average \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbegging income in Switzerland amounts to an average of 15 to 20 francs per day \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Friedli \/ Sch\u00fcpfer 2013). This contrasts with the statement of the Bern Migration \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPolice Coordination Unit against the Trafficking of Migrants (KSMM), stating \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat a child might beg up to CHF 600 per day. Tabin et al. even provide state \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat during their studies (over a year) they had found almost no begging \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren: \u00abSur toute la dur\u00e9e de nos observations nous \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tn\u2019avons pas vu d\u2019enfant mendier. Dans un seul cas, l\u2019\u00e2ge du jeune homme qui \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmendiait \u00e9tait peut-\u00eatre inf\u00e9rieur \u00e0 18 ans. Cela ne signifie pas qu\u2019il n\u2019y \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tait jamais de mineur qui mendie dans les rues : mais cette mendicit\u00e9 est tr\u00e8s \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00e9pisodique et, d\u2019apr\u00e8s les informations que nous avons pu recueillir, les \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tparents sont tr\u00e8s rapidement inform\u00e9s (par la police, par les associations, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tetc.) du caract\u00e8re illicite de cette mendicit\u00e9\u00bb<\/em> [For the whole duration of our \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobservations, we did not see any child beg. In a single case, the age of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tyoung man begging could possibly have been below 18 years. This does not mean \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat there are never any minor who begs in the streets, but rather that this \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmendacity is very seldom and of short duration, and, according to information \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twe have been able to gather, parents are rapidly informed by the police, NOGs, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tetc. of the illicit character of this mendacity.] <\/em>(Tabin et al 2012). Jirat considers the plan of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Bernese immigration police to try to get begging children in a childern\u2019s home \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand then to return them to their home countries as a state racism. Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tchildren are represented as of organized crime, because this represents the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tviews of the immigration Police. He appends a chronology of the regulatory \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpractices of exclusion of Rroma in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Comment:<\/em> The truth is often more complex than the one \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tor the other extreme. It would be wrong to say that organized begging does not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texist at all, but it is equally wrong to present it as the norm. There are \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseveral books, such as Rolf Bauderdicks \u201cThe Gypsies: Encounters with unpopular \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminority\u201d or Karl-Markus Gauss \u201cThe dog eaters Svinia\u201d which discuss organised \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbegging. Gauss talks about Rroma pimps, who lend money to other inhabitants of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLunik IX and then force them to pay their debt by begging in Western Europe. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBauderdick sees the misery of many Rroma as self-inflicted, as they would \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmutually exploit themselves. These representations are not completely wrong, but \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthey portray them as phenomenon that for many seems to be the norm.<\/p>\n

As Mr. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTabin convincingly demonstrates in his study, begging is not really financially \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlucrative for it to operate on a large scale. That begging children are quickly \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbrought into the context of organised networks is actually not surprising, as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmany people cannot imagine that parents send their children begging. These \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcases certainly exist, and as shown by Mr. Tabin, the large part of begging is not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\torganised, but rather happens within the family. Cultural peculiarisms also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcome into play. In the course of the Rroma debate in Germany, one could read in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trenowned German newspapers such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung or die Welt, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticles that spoke of Rroma kings and beggars networks, as well as texts that stated \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthat this presentation was an invention. Cultural peculiarities of Rroma to such \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tas a reported patriarchal family structure are often used to explain to existence \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof phenomena such as Rroma kings. This is symptomatic of the common lack of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tknowledge about Rroma. In addition, one must also be aware that journalism or \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocial science representations about Rroma are never produced in the void. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthors have beliefs and views that they project into their texts. Rroma kings, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare almost certainly an invention with. However, it also depends on the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdefinition of a Rroma king. For the same reasons, it would be equally wrong to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsay that there is no mutual exploitation among Rroma.<\/p>\n

The Agora \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproject sees all begging children as being part of organised begging gangs who \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tneed to be rescued from this situation and reintegrated. They are therefore \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseen as victims. Mr. Tabins study in turn takes a position in favour of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbeggars, seeing them this as a self-motivated and autonomous. In any case it is \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvery difficult to describe the begging of Rroma children as a cultural \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tphenomenon. Journalists such as Mappes-Niediek decidedly write against this and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsee the supposed beggar gangs as being in reality a symptom of poverty, ghaving \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnothing to do with organized crime: \u201cThere \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis prestige hierarchies in Roma neighbourhoods, there is commonly clientelism, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teven dependencies, mostly through the informal money lending. But numerous \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocial workers, anthropologists, humanitarian staff working in Roma slums and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsometimes living there, have not noticed structures of command and obedience. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t[…] Is also a false impression to think that human trafficking, crime and children\u2019s \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbegging is the rule among poverty migrants from Bulgaria and Romania. Begging \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twith children is banned everywhere in Europe and basically also rare because by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tits nature, it plays in the greatest public form\u201d (Mappes-Niediek 2013).<\/em><\/p>\n