Mr. Cătălin Predoiu,
Ministry of Justice
Judge Nicoleta-Margareta ŢÎNŢ, President of the Superior Council of Magistracy
Who benefits from the secrecy of criminal cases of human traffickers?
The signatory organizations request the Minister of Justice and the Superior Council of Magistracy to explain why all cases of trafficking in minors and trafficking in human beings have been deleted from the court portal, who made this decision and to publish all documents substantiating and endorsing this decision. Please explain why this decision was taken without any prior public consultation in which to discuss alternative solutions.
Protecting the identity of victims is an important principle in combating trafficking in human beings and minors, there are many international requests to Romania to anonymize the name and address of victims since 2016, without the authorities taking any action, but this principle can not be used to to justify the secrecy of the files, all the data of the defendants, the duration of the trials and the solutions pronounced by the courts. The secrecy of the files actually helps the organized crime networks, which benefit from an unexpected help in continuing their activity in silence, far from any kind of social disapproval and alarm signal. Following the secrecy of the files, the non-governmental organizations and the media can no longer follow and monitor the human trafficking files and can no longer draw attention to the faulty way of instrumenting and conducting the processes, as they did in the “Ţăndărei” file. This decision hampers the work of non-governmental organizations for the legal representation of victims and affects the right of citizens to receive information of public interest about the phenomenon of trafficking in human beings.
At the same time, this decision also affects the monitoring of human trafficking by international organizations, such as the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which will be dependent on official information provided by the authorities. in which independent experts can no longer substantiate their conclusions with regard to public files.
Trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation, through work or for carrying out illegal activities is a serious phenomenon, Romania being on the first place in the European Union as a source country of trafficked persons.
Therefore, we request the above-mentioned explanations and return to the previous situation – the publication of files with the anonymization of personal data of victims of human trafficking, in parallel with the public consultation on other solutions you would like to adopt on the management of public information. of these causes.
Signatory organizations:
RoITP – Network against Trafficking in Human Beings, on behalf of 18 member non-governmental organizations
FONSS – Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for Social Services, on behalf of 37 member non-governmental organizations, social service providers including victims of trafficking
APADOR-CH Association
Expert Forum Association (EFOR)
SEX vs STORM Association
Open Door Foundation
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