Romania is both a source and transit country for victims of human trafficking. It is also a site of internal trafficking, and it is a destination country for trafficked laborers from Moldova, Serbia, and Bangladesh. Many Romanians seek legitimate employment abroad because of high unemployment within the country. As a consequence young people are particularly vulnerable to traffickers offering jobs in hotels and restaurants abroad, because their offers sound plausible. The traffickers are often Romanian themselves. They pose as friends and seek victims from their own regions or ethnic groups. They may even be former trafficking victims who have negotiated their freedom on the basis of providing replacements. Romanians represent a significant percentage of those trafficked in Europe. Many of them are young people already marked by physical and psychological abuse. 

Formerly trafficked women in recovery, they were unwilling to show their faces in front of the camera.

Formerly trafficked women in recovery, they were unwilling to show their faces in front of the camera.

She thought she was going to work in a cafe in France. Instead she was sold into prostitution in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A client helped her to leave the country and return home. Her mother has no knowledge of her experiences.