Adevarul

On Monday, January 25, 2010, a Galati newpaper, Adevarul, published an article on prostitution in Galati County. Lau Archip translated it for me so that I could post it a few places.

You’ll find that Galati County, then, is the leader in human trafficking (especially prostitution) in Europe. This is an alarming statistic, especially in relation to the children and families we live and serve among. Please pray for them and for us as we strive each day to point them in the direction of the Kingdom.

FYI: Galati is the city we live in, as well as a county here in the eastern Romanian section we live in that is referred to as Moldova (not the country, though!)

Galati, Leader in the exportation of Prostitutes
Statistic: Galati County is first in Romania for trafficking human beings. A girl is sold for between 2500 and 5000 Euro.
In 2009, 780 cases of human trafficking were discovered in Romania, according to the National Agency Against Human Traffic.

For the first time since the 1989 Revolution, Galati is the leading county in the trafficking of human beings, with 60 persons trafficked in last 12 months, 8% of the national total. More than 95% are women who are placed on the prostitution market in the western European countries. We are talking, of course, only about the discovered transactions, which represent a very small part of the mega sex business.

Moldova dominates the prostitution market

Galati is ahead of other counties from Moldova: Iasi, Bacau and Botosani, who led in trafficking cases in previous years. Iasi has 51 cases, Botosani – 48, and Bacau – 39. More than this, Bacau (the leader in 2007) had been overtaken by Maramures, where, in 2009, 43 women were sold into prostitution in the West.

In the counties nearby, the situation is better. In Buzau there were only 3 cases, in Braila – 19, in Focsani – 17. In the counties from Ardeal and Banat the numbers are lower, indicating either that the police are doing well their preventive job, or that the girls are more difficult to be approached.
On the other hand, the police from Galati believe that here they have more cases discovered, showing that they did their job. “We discovered 60 cases, compared with 5-6 in most of the counties, which shows that we did our job well,” declared Cristina Tatulici, spokeswoman of the Galati Police.

Almost as alarming as these statistics, are the tactics used to gain the right to approach girls for trafficking. Gangs, especially the clans Taranii and Lazarii , are fighting with swords in discotheques in villages in Galati, in order to be the first to approach girls under 18 for prostitution abroad. The girls are enticed with two- three hundred Euro, and then sold to traffickers from western Europe for sums between 2500 and 5000 Euro. The average sum is 3000 Euro.

First in Europe for exporting live meat

The prostitutes from Romania prefer to leave for the countries from western Europe, where they earn more, and where they don't have to pay the fines imposed by Romanian law, relates The Times. The publication quotes a study that Romania became the main exporter for prostitution in the EU. So, one in eight foreign prostitutes in Europe come from Romania.