Eviction of child traffic victims from Bucharest centre

This is disgraceful...

From Nine O'Clock:

Blunt indifference: Child traffic victims evicted from centre

26.03.10 | by: Nine oClock | in: homenews

Romania’s only centre for assisting child victims of trafficking is to be emptied today, although the court case dealing with property ownership is not over, ‘Evenimentul Zilei’ daily informs.

Insensitive to civil society’s arguments and to the future of the several tens of child victims of trafficking accommodated at the ‘Gavroche’ centre in Bucharest, Bucur Obor company managers are determined to evict the tenants. Manager Gelu Manea says he has already made arrangements for the children to receive temporary shelter at centres run by various NGOs, at the company’s expense.

‘What will happen to children who are waiting to be repatriated from Western Europe where they are used to beg, to commit criminal offences or to be sexually abused is a matter for the authorities to solve. We have tried to find solutions for these children. We have already received positive answers from associations that are willing to take them in. At our expense, naturally’, Manea claims.

Sector 2 Mayor Neculai Ontanu hopes to find a new building to move the centre to. ‘They have a court decision allowing them to execute the property although a different case where ownership is being challenged is pending in court. (…) We don’t have a solution yet, but we will try to find one before Friday’, the mayor explained.

What do I think? This is exactly what I think: As usual, it will be foreign associations, I am sure, who will take on the responsibility of these poor kids, rather than the Roumanian governement - a situation that has been seen over and over again, and a situation that I myself have witnessed through experience with the association 'Enfants de Roumanie'. The Roumanian government will not lift a finger as long as there is someone else to do it for them - at someone else's expense and with someone else's time. They don't seem to have any compassion for the children within their own country - not for their suffrance, their education nor their futures. Shame on such lack of empathy, particularly when they, themselves, are parents. However, I could be wrong and pleasantly surprised. Here's hoping....