As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Romania, and traffickers exploit victims from Romania abroad. Romania remains a primary source country for sex trafficking and labor trafficking victims in Europe.
Traffickers subject Romanian men, women, and children to labor trafficking in agriculture, construction, hotels, manufacturing, and domestic service, as well as forced begging and theft in Romania and other European countries. Traffickers subject Romanian women and children to sex trafficking in Romania and other European countries.
Experts report a rise in Romanian women recruited for sham marriages in Western Europe; after entering these marriages, traffickers force the women into prostitution or labor.
Minors represent nearly 50 percent of identified trafficking victims in Romania. Traffickers subjected some children to trafficking while in the care of the state, particularly in small towns. Romani children, as young as 11 years old, are particularly vulnerable to forced begging and sex trafficking. Romania is a destination country for a limited number of foreign trafficking victims, including trafficking victims from Vietnam and the Philippines. Traffickers subject Romanians living in government run institutions for the mentally disabled to forced labor.
Adapted from TIP 2019 by the U.S. Department of State
