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The Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking pp 1133–1149Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

(Anti-)trafficking for Labor Exploitation in Romania: A Labor Perspective

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Abstract

Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labor exploitation is increasingly investigated by law enforcement in the EU, leading to a rise in the number of identified victims and cases. However, differences between EU Member States in addressing trafficking have been observed. This chapter discusses the nature of (anti)trafficking in human beings for labor exploitation in Romania by utilizing a labor perspective. A labor perspective highlights how socioeconomic factors connect to the nature of (anti-)trafficking for labor exploitation in Romania. This chapter finds that the nature of trafficking in Romania should be regarded from the perspective of a source country that copes with high rates of victimization of trafficking among its emigrant population. As a result, the nature of anti-trafficking efforts is focused on the victim identification and assistance of Romanian nationals that have been exploited abroad. The nature of (anti-)trafficking in Romania can be explained by socioeconomic factors that contribute to labor market vulnerability in Romania, namely, a great number of working poor, poor employment conditions, and an extensive informal labor market along with limited enforcement capacity of the Labor Inspectorate. These further limits the attention for both internally trafficked Romanian and migrant victims of labor exploitation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Jing Hiah

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  1. Jing Hiah
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Correspondence to Jing Hiah .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Justice and Policy Studies, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB, Canada

    John Winterdyk

  2. Former Professor of Feminist Legal Studies, Cardiff, UK

    Jackie Jones

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Hiah, J. (2020). (Anti-)trafficking for Labor Exploitation in Romania: A Labor Perspective. In: Winterdyk, J., Jones, J. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63058-8_102

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