Radio România Internațional

Tag: slavery

  • June 28, 2024 UPDATE

    June 28, 2024 UPDATE

     

    LAW Penalties for slavery and human trafficking can no longer be suspended prison sentences in Romania, under a new law promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis. The document, which takes effect this week, also provides for harsher penalties for such crimes, with sentences going as high as 15 years in prison. In addition, the production, storage, exposure, promotion and distribution of child pornography is punished by 3 to 10 years imprisonment.

     

    ELECTIONS The Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu announced he would invite the leaders of all political parties for consultations next week on the calendar of the presidential election. The announcement comes after the Social Democrats and the Liberals in the ruling coalition failed to reach an agreement on a date for this election. The prime minister pointed out that the talks were necessary as the Liberal interior minister Cătălin Predoiu was not allowed by his own party to present in this Friday’s Cabinet meeting the resolution setting September 15 as the presidential election date, as previously decided by the coalition. Ciolacu mentioned that as head of government he cannot favour any party or coalition, and a consultation with all political parties in Romania was “the right approach.” He also indicated that he would not dismiss the interior minister, so as not to create a governmental crisis and instability in the country.

     

    POVERTY As many as 4 million Romanians were affected by poverty last year, nearly 60,000 people fewer than in 2022, according to the National Statistics Institute. The institution also says that if pensions and other social transfers had not been made last year, nearly half of the country’s population would have been below the relative poverty threshold, especially the elderly. The highest poverty risks were reported in households with 3 or more children, followed by single-parent families. In terms of regions, the highest poverty rates were reported in the south-east, followed by the south-west (Oltenia), and the lowest in Bucharest and Ilfov County.

     

    EU – Attending the European Council meeting in Brussels, the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis emphasised, during the talks on the EU’s Strategic Agenda for 2024-2029, that the document must reflect the joint commitment to continue efforts towards a stronger, more resilient and more influential EU. The Romanian head of state said the new Agenda must highlight the advancement of the enlargement policy, the unity of the Union in terms of support for Ukraine and the importance of cooperation between the EU and NATO. Also in Brussels, the EU leaders decided on the top positions in the bloc’s institutions. Ursula von der Leyen was nominated for the presidency of the Commission, the Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas for the position of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, while former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa will take over the presidency of the European Council.

     

    OSCE Bucharest hosts, as of Saturday, the 31st annual session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The theme of the summit is the parliamentary perspective on the role of the OSCE in the current security climate. The participants, MPs from the over 50 OSCE member states, will adopt the Bucharest Declaration, a document that will include the resolutions of the general committees and additional ones initiated by members of the Assembly. Among them will be a resolution regarding the worsening of the human rights situation in the Russian-speaking breakaway region of Trans-Dniester, in the Republic of Moldova. Russia and Belarus have been excluded from the meeting in Bucharest.

     

    WILDFIRES Eighty Romanian fire-fighters are going to France to help the local authorities there put out the wild fires that may occur this summer. The measure is designed to reduce response times in the case of wild fires, to make training more efficient and to improve cooperation among the participating forces. A first group of 40 fire-fighters and 8 engines has already left for France, the General Emergency Inspectorate announced. This assistance programme is financed by the European Union as a support measure for the French communities, following the wild fires reported in the past few years in that country.

     

    AIRCRAFT Another 3 F-16 aircraft purchased by Romania from Norway reached the Câmpia Turzii air base in the centre of Romania, the defence ministry announced. The Romanian Air Forces have so far received 9 of the total 32 planes it has purchased, with the rest of them scheduled to reach the country by the end of next year.

     

    POLL The first round of the snap elections for the appointment of representatives in the National Assembly, the lower chamber of the French Parliament, takes place on Sunday. The almost 49 million eligible voters will choose between a nationalist-populist right, at the top of the electorate’s preferences, a left wing which is struggling to remain united, and a pro-Macron majority unprepared to give up the government. The second round is scheduled for July 7. President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly on June 9, after his party’s failure in the European elections. (EE, AMP)

  • Romania clamps down on crime

    Romania clamps down on crime

    Romania takes tougher measures against labour and human trafficking and the sentences in these cases can on longer be suspended, under a new law promulgated by the country’s president Klaus Iohannis. The law, endorsed by the decision-making Chamber of Deputies on May 28 is aimed at fighting trafficking in minors and people. The new regulations do away with the possibility of suspended sentences regarding the crimes of modern slavery and human trafficking, sentences, which can reach up to 15 jail years and the cancellation of some rights.

    Furthermore, if criminals prove to be public servants, family members or foster parents, prison sentences can go up to 20 years. Under the aforementioned law, other crimes such as the production, storage, presentation and promotion in any way of pornographic materials with minors by means of IT systems or other electronic communication means are punishable with prison sentences from one to three years.

    The law also covers the attempted crimes of modern slavery and human trafficking while the victims’ consent cannot serve as mitigating circumstances.

    This law is not the only measure taken by Romania in an attempt to fight the scourge. The 2024-2028 national strategy against human trafficking has been recently launched in Bucharest with a view to curbing this phenomenon, identifying and offering assistance to the victims and punishing traffickers.

    According to the authorities, the country has made significant headway in its efforts to fight the phenomenon as compared to the early 2000s, both in terms of setting up the legal framework and the necessary institutional organization. However, authorities have admitted there is still room for improvement.

    The latest annual report on human trafficking issued by the US Department of State last year said that Romania did not fully meet the minimum standards regarding the fight against human trafficking.

    According to the aforementioned document the justice, investigators and child –protection authorities in Romania rather ‘sided with traffickers’ and proved extremely tough on victims.

    Another report released this year by the International Justice Mission, an international organisation fighting against the vulnerability of the victims of human trafficking has described the legislative amendments in the field as not being in accordance with the human trafficking problematic but rather punctual and uncorrelated.

    According to data released by the National Agency against Human Trafficking since this institution’s foundation in 2005, Romania reported 19 thousand cases of human trafficking and roughly four thousand convictions.

    (bill)

  • Slavery west of Pontus Euxinus

    Slavery west of Pontus Euxinus

    Slavery is unacceptable in the contemporary world. Seen as one of the worst forms of violation of human dignity, it is a crime punishable under both international law and national law. But in the past, slavery was not always associated with a low status because the perception of man was different from now. A man without freedom can hardly be happy, but the slave of the past was not always that miserable, exploited man, whom his owner could dispose of.



    Slavery is attested by documents in all historical periods and in all inhabited areas. Its presencecan also be identified in the current Romanian space. The Black Sea shore or the Pontus Euxinus were first colonized by the Greeks in the 8th-6th centuries BC. Thus, they came into contact with the other populations called barbarians, with whom they established economic relations and alternative coexistence of peace and conflict. One of those populations was the Getae, ancestors of the Romanians, who lived on the west bank of the Euxine. The relations between the Greeks and the indigenous people also involved slavery, more precisely labor in agriculture, mining, crafts, construction and public works of the cities.



    Archaeologists have looked for both material and written evidence to support their hypotheses of the existence of slaves. One of them is DragoșHălmagi, archaeologist with the “VasilePârvan” Institute of Archeology of the Romanian Academy, who focused on both types of sources. Hălmagi says that a more suitable term to describe the social and economic relations of the Greeks with the Getae is that of “dependent population”: “In Pontus, the Greeks did not work with slaves, although the slave trade in Pontus, in Thrace and even in Scythia is well known, both from literary and epigraphic sources. Having no sources proving slave labor in Pontus, the labor here was provided by the dependent populations. The problem of labor in agriculture, a very important branch of the ancient economy is discussed, rather than the one of domestic slaves. According to the Greek authors, Plato and Aristotle, it was generally good to bring in slaves, speaking different languages, ​​to avoid the danger of rebellion. Since the Greeks were surrounded by the Getae in the west, they could not have taken slaves from among them. It would have been too much of a danger, which is why they preferred to work with them that way. Many inscriptions speak of Greeks living together with barbarians.”



    One of the conclusions that can be drawn from what has been found following archaeological excavations, may be that slavery was not necessarily a tragedy in the life of ancient man. DragosHalmagi: “When we look at places where we know there were slaves, they have an archaeological presence that is very similar to that of the free people. They were somewhat poorer graves, with fewer vessels, with fewer metal objects. But there is no indication that a certain grave is that of a slave. Archaeologically, there is nothing to distinguish a slave from a free man. Many times the slaves took on the traditions of the place, and this can be seen in the slaves of the family who looked, in terms of clothing and graves, just like those of the families they were a part of.”




    Dependent populations were those who had a status equal to that of slaves. Labor was recruited from among them, labor having an uncertain social status. Very few written sources mention the use of slaves in agriculture, but excavations have found that the use of slaves in crafts and construction was very likely, especially where fortifications, settlements or fortified farms were found.



    The Greek historical sources do not only refer to the Getae, they speak of a diversity of nations. In addition to the Getae, Scythians, Sarmatians, Thracians and others appear in Hellenistic texts of the 4th to 1st centuries BC. They formed true ethnic mosaics in which political authority was exercised by the military power of one leader at a time. According to DragoșHălmagi, a reliable source for this thesis of ethnic mixture is the Latin poet Ovid: “The first author who says that the Getae were sure here is Ovid. But Ovid says more than that. He doesnt just say Getae, he says “countless other populations here”. Sometimes he does it to impress his audience, sometimes he talks about real things, its hard to know. There are several fragments in Ovids writings where the Getae and Sarmatians appear together, the Getae and Sarmatiansbeing the ones who had bows.”



    The man of the past was very different from what modern man is, although humanity brings us all together. And the different perception of slavery then and now, shows the huge difference that thousands of years of civilization has made. (EE)



  • March 17, 2017

    March 17, 2017

    EXPERTISE – The Chief Prosecutor of the Romanian Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), Laura Codruta Kovesi, has been invited by the Bulgarian High Court of Cassation and Justice to share her expertise in the battle against corruption. Kovesi presented before Bulgarian magistrates, journalists and NGO representatives the role that the DNA plays in the Romanian justice system. She reminded that in 2006, only 360 high level corruption cases were brought to Court, while in 2016 their number reached 1273. 880 state employees, such as ministers, MPs, mayors and magistrates received definitive Court sentences last year.




    FUNDS – Romania can absorb some 250 million euros worth of funds for the modernization of 280 hospitals and healthcare units, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu has said during her latest visit to Bucharest. The funds are mainly aimed at rehabilitating and expanding 42 county hospitals. The goal is to help the population in rural areas get direct access to quality healthcare services. Find out more about it, after the news.




    MEETING – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is today holding talks with the US President Donald Trump in Washington DC. The two heads of state will discuss, among other things, about transatlantic trade and about NATO. Ahead of today’s meeting, the American side underlined the strength of its relationship with Germany and insisted on the fact that President Trump is keen to seek the Chancellor’s advice on how to manage relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.




    IMF — The IMF delegation presents its conclusions on the economic evolutions and on the policies promoted in Romania, at the end of its assessment mission. The Fund says Romania must increase the absorption rate of EU funds and the tax collection to the state budget and further support the fight against corruption. Romania does not currently have any financing accord with the IMF. The most recent accord, that expired without a clear conclusion in September 2013, stood at 2 billion euros, but the Bucharest authorities did not accessed these funds.




    SLAVERY – Romanian Minister for Romanians Abroad, Andreea Pastarnac, continues talks, in Italy, with Italian authorities and Romanian workers at farms in Sicily. Talks are held in the context of disclosures indicating cases of exploitation of Romanian citizens who are working in the regions of Sicily and Calabria. As many as 7,500 women, mostly Romanian, are the victims of slavery in farms in southern Italy, according to estimates made by the Italian police. The women are victims of abuse, including threats and sexual assault, which is perpetrated with almost total impunity, shows an investigation published on Sunday by the British weekly “The Observer”. Romania and Italy have agreed to set up a support and assistance center, aimed at helping the victims of trafficking and at preventing people from becoming victims of abuse.




    COALITION — In Holland, the process of forming a new government coalition is under way, following Wednesday’s parliamentary election won by the pro-European parties. The incumbent Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, whose party won most seats in parliament, will have the final say on the government’s membership. Political analysts say that negotiations over the new government coalition’s membership might last up until after the summer holiday.




    MOLDOVA – Moldovan President Igor Dodon is today discussing in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about economic cooperation and the regional situation. The agenda of the visit, the second such visit in less than three months, includes Dodon’s participation in a business forum and a meeting with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kiril. Political analysts say that the stake of Dodon’s visit to Moscow is an electoral one, and is aimed at ensuring Russian support for the socialists at next year’s parliamentary election.


    (Translated by Elena Enache)