The above article is a brief overview of the detailed report named Capital Exploits: A Study of Prostitution and Trafficking in London which was conducted by Eaves – putting women first.
There are a number of specific references in the report related to human trafficking & sexual exploitation of Romanians in London.
- There appears to have been a recent and quite rapid increase in the number of non- British women selling sex on-street in a significant number of London boroughs, many of whom are from Romania.
- The involvement of community leaders in addressing the local problems associated with prostitution. In Borough F, for example, there was a suggestion to involve Romanian community leaders to help break down the barriers between residents and the women selling sex.
- A significant proportion of the women currently selling sex on-street state that they are from Romania (Romanian women selling sex on-street were reported in Borough H, Borough J, Borough E, Borough F, Borough B and Borough A)
- In Borough H and Borough J Romanian women are described as ‘overtaking the market’ from the local women who had sold sex on-street in these boroughs in the past
- This group of women tend to sell sex on-street in groups and are highly mobile – some are seen to be transported by taxis and privately owned vans to various on-street sites that are known as hotspots for street prostitution. A respondent in Borough B noted that the Romanian women she has had contact with have arrest records in Borough E, Borough B and Borough A, which chimes with reports from one Borough A SNT of Romanian women soliciting male guests at the entrances to hotels in an area popular with tourists, and groups of Romanian women soliciting on a very upmarket street in the borough, as reported by Borough A council representatives.
- Borough D respondents did not mention the presence of women from Romania specifically, but did note that the Eastern European women they are seeing on-street are getting ‘younger and younger’, and many are aged just sixteen or seventeen.