With funding from the UK Home Office and British Embassy Bucharest, as well as the International Fraud Group, STOP THE TRAFFIK (STT) launches ‘Project Prevenirea și Perturbarea’ (Project Prevent & Disrupt (PSP)), a programme aiming to disrupt sexual exploitation between Romania and the UK. Right now, the Romania to UK route is heavily run by Organised Crime Groups.
Vulnerable young Romanian women are being recruited into sexual exploitation through social media sites and being advertised for sexual services in the UK, with little to no control over this process. A severe lack of data hinders the ability of actors to disrupt human trafficking along this route. Project PSP will respond to this issue by running two intersecting streams of work, harnessing STT’s data and intelligence capabilities, long-standing relationships with social media companies, and a proven methodology to provide safety information to those at high risk. Prevent.
Through geo-targeted and landing on their social media timelines, Project PSP will inform 300,000 young women in Romania of the risks and realities of what they might be promised by exploiters; as well as available support for root vulnerabilities that can increase the likelihood of trafficking (such as familial abuse, financial concerns, homelessness). Pursue. Through data gathering and analytics garnered from adult services websites, and those with expert or lived experience, we will produce actionable intelligence insights shared with law enforcement, financial institutions, and NGOs to take coordinated action to disrupt the organised crime gangs (OCGs) operating the trafficking route between Romania and the UK.
“We have a program that works and is successfully disrupting organised crime and protecting vulnerable people. We are now turning this program on across Romania. It will be a shining light, one that will guide thousands to safety and at the same time illuminate what organised crime has relied on staying hidden. We are grateful for the tremendous support we have for this project; we never intend to stop trafficking alone and, in this project, we will see radical collaboration posing a serious risk to human trafficking.”- Rebekah Lisgarten, Director of Operations