European Association for Justice and Social Protection

16/06/2024

Are Pakistan and Bangladesh terrorist countries? Do they pose such a danger to Europe? We say NO!
It is not new that authorities in Romania humiliate non-EU citizens when they claim their legal rights offered by democracy and freedom of expression.
These images are captured at the General Inspectorate of Immigration (IGI) while these foreign citizens humble themselves to be legal and to respect the law of Romania.
On 05.06.2024, during investigations aimed at dismantling human trafficking networks, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism in Romania made xenophobic and racist statements against Bangladesh and Pakistan as “countries with terrorist potential”, detailed in file 6/75/P/2024.
These Asian citizens ensure almost 10% of the gross domestic product of their countries of origin through the money they send home to their families.

02/08/2023

Do not use human traffickers' networks; it can even lead to death!

Ali Hussain’s mother can barely speak a sentence without breaking down. Her voice is hoarse from crying. Holding back tears, she says that she recites the Quran all day, praying for her son’s miraculous return.

Hussain is among the hundreds of Pakistanis missing since an overloaded fishing boat carrying up to 750 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea on June 14.

The accident near Greece could be one of the deadliest in recent history. Reports suggest the boat was carrying about 200 to 300 Pakistanis, the most from any single country. Pakistan observed a day of mourning this week.

Hussain, 18, and his cousin Ali Jahanzaib, 21, who is also missing, paid a trafficking agent $3,000 each to fly to Libya from Pakistan. They committed to pay another $5,000 upon reaching Italy by boat.

Sitting in a room full of relatives and friends comforting the family, Hussain’s father, Hafeez-ul-Rehman, told VOA he learned about the accident through social media.

He had come back from midday prayers, Rehman said, when he opened Facebook and saw that the incident was trending as top news. He called the trafficking agent in Libya to find out if his son and nephew had been on that boat.

“He [the agent] was asleep. We asked him what was going on? He said he didn’t know and would check. It was around midnight or so when he confirmed that it was indeed that ship,” Rehman said.

Hussain and Jahanzaib, the missing cousins, belong to a family of gold jewelers. Rehman, Hussain's father, told VOA he had once gotten the trafficking agent to cancel the tickets, but the young men were adamant, so he caved in.

In response to this tragedy and another earlier this year in which nearly 30 Pakistanis perished in the Mediterranean, authorities have cracked down on human trafficking.

The FIA has arrested at least 17 suspects and registered 54 cases. The agency has collected 167 DNA samples from families to assist in identifying the remains in Greece.

Rehman said he was prepared for any eventuality, but that his wife was not ready to accept her son might be dead.

The survivors’ tally stands at 104, and a dozen are Pakistani.

13/03/2023

Three men and two women, all from Nepal, aged between 29 and 40, were stopped on Friday morning by the police from Jimbolia (Timis county, Romania), 200 meters from the border with Serbia.

The Asians all had valid residence permits in Romania, they had no jobs and it seems that they were victims of some commercial companies that did not pay their salaries.

Now they are all being investigated for the attempted fraudulent crossing of the state border.

14/02/2023

122 foreign citizens detected attempting to illegally cross the state border

The border police officers at the Nădlac II and Turnu Border Crossing Points detected 122 citizens from various countries who tried to illegally cross the border into Hungary, hidden in five means of transport. The drivers of the means of transport are being investigated for committing the crime of migrant trafficking.

In the last 24 hours, at the Nădlac II Border Crossing Point, Arad county, two Romanian citizens, a Moldovan citizen, and a Turkish citizen, driving vans registered in Romania, respectively a road assembly consisting of a tractor registered in the Czech Republic and a semi-trailer registered in Romania. According to the documents accompanying the goods, the drivers were transporting pallets and insulation panels for commercial companies in France, Hungary and Austria.

Based on the risk analysis, the border police carried out a thorough control of the means of transport. Thus, a total of 98 foreign citizens were discovered hidden in the cargo compartments.

The persons were picked up and transported to the headquarters of the sector for investigations where, following checks, our colleagues established that they are citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal, aged between 19 and 51, who intended to arrive fraudulently in a western European country.

Also, at the Turnu Border Crossing, the border police carried out a thorough check on a van driven by a Romanian citizen. As a result of the control carried out on the means of transport, they discovered, in the compartment intended for the transport of goods, 24 foreign citizens. During the preliminary checks, our colleagues established that they are citizens of Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Nepal, aged between 21 and 45 years.

In all cases, the majority of foreign citizens caught attempting to fraudulently cross the border are LEGALLY entered in Romania, based on personal documents.

09/02/2023

More than 30 Non-EU citizens - who entered in Romania legally - were discovered by the border police from Arad when they wanted to leave the country illegally, hidden in two trucks checked at the Nădlac II Border Crossing Point.

"Based on the risk analysis, the border police carried out a thorough control of the two means of transport. Thus, a total of 31 foreign citizens were discovered, hidden in the cargo compartment, respectively in a specially arranged place in the front part of the semi-trailer (double wall). The persons were picked up and transported to the headquarters of the sector for investigations where, following checks, our colleagues established that they are citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Morocco, Egypt, Nepal and Afghanistan, who entered our country legally, who intended to arrive fraudulently in a state in Western Europe," the Arad Border Police reported on Wednesday 08.02.2023.

23/01/2023

Destructured network of migrant traffickers: they charged prices between 8,000 and 13,000 euros!

On January 17 this year, the policemen of the Craiova Organized Crime Brigade, together with border policemen from the Giurgiu Border Police Territorial Inspectorate - Calafat Border Police Sector, together with a prosecutor from D.I.I.C.O.T. - The Craiova Territorial Service, in Dolj county, carried out an action to combat illegal migration.
From the investigations it emerged that, during 2019, an organized criminal group was formed, made up of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, in order to commit the crime of migrant trafficking and complicity in the fraudulent crossing of the state border, in order to obtain, in easy way, of important sums of money, group that would have acted until now. The members of the organized criminal group allegedly carried out activities of recruiting, guiding, guiding, transporting, transferring and sheltering several migrants, in order to fraudulently cross the state border of Romania, by means that endangered the life, integrity or health of the migrants ( crossing the Romanian-Bulgarian border with unsafe boats; abandoning some groups of migrants in hard-to-reach areas and in unfavorable weather conditions; transporting migrants in unsuitable conditions - in trunks, in large numbers in narrow spaces and unsuitable for transporting people).

19/01/2023

Hungary reports record human trafficking figures.
The relatively small number communicated by the Romanian Border Police must be put in the context in which Hungary reported a record number of illegal migrants.
"The number of those trying to illegally cross the state border of Hungary is constantly increasing; In 2022, the Hungarian authorities caught 269,254 migrants, which means an average of 738 people per day, the main adviser for internal security of the Hungarian Prime Minister, György Bakondi, told the press on Wednesday in Budapest.
To illustrate the increase, György Bakondi said: in 2021, 122,239 such people were caught, which represents an average of 335 people per day.
In addition, 1,924 human traffickers were caught last year, compared to 1,277 in the previous year, which also means a significant increase," says the publication hirado.hu

17/01/2023

Global fashion brands exploiting Bangladesh workers:
Study of 1,000 clothing factories found some fashion firms ‘engaged in unfair practices’, including H&M, Lidl and GAP.
“Such unfair trading practices impacted suppliers’ employment practices resulting in worker turnover, loss of jobs and lower wages,” the study found.
Of the 1,138 brands/retailers named in the study, 37 percent were reported as having engaged in unfair practices, including Zara’s Inditex, H&M, Lidl, GAP, New Yorker, Primark, Next and others.

More winners are emerging from the US-China trade war.To avoid the effects of the trade war, Chinese factories are relocating elsewhere in Asia.Bangladesh's ...

10/01/2023

57 migrants, found in two TIR trucks, while trying to fraudulently cross the state border.

The authorities from the Nădlac II Border Crossing Point (Romania - Schengen Border) caught 57 citizens from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Syria and Iraq who tried to illegally cross the border into Hungary, hidden in the trailers of two TIRs going to Austria and France.

The drivers are a Romanian and a Dutch citizen and, according to the documents accompanying the goods, they were transporting pallets and food products for commercial companies in Austria and France.

"Based on the risk analysis, the border police carried out a thorough control of the two means of transport. Thus, a total of 57 foreign citizens were discovered hidden in the cargo compartments. The persons were picked up and transported to the headquarters of the sector for investigations where, following checks, our colleagues established that they are citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Syria and Iraq, who intended to arrive fraudulently in a state in Western Europe" , informed, on Monday, the Border Police

09/01/2023

"Pakistani recruiters" demand huge sums to bring Asians to Europe.

Announcement of the Department of Investigation of Criminal Offences Organized and Terrorism, last year's it mentioned that the illegal activity was disguised in an apparently legal job placement activity, with a commercial company registered in the municipality of Bistrița. on the territory of Romania, the real purpose being the successive organization of the entry into the country and then the fraudulent exit of the territory of Romania by Pakistani citizens.

Migrants were recruited through labor placement firms from Pakistan, they paid sums between 5,000 and 12,000 euros to members of the criminal group organized for the conclusion of employment contracts with a commercial company registered in Romania

Where should the cheated complain?
Regarding the possibility of complaining to someone, whether we are talking about the companies that would feel cheated, or whether we are talking about the foreign workers who find themselves left on the roads in Romania, the options are as follows:

- free support from the European Association for Justice and Social Protection
- Fraudulent companies can contact National Agency for Fiscal Administration - Antifraud.
- Foreign workers can contact the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI). It is also possible to contact the Ministry of Labour.

08/01/2023

21 citizens from Nepal, Morocco and Sri Lanka, caught after illegally entering Romania

At the end of last week, the immigration officers from the Timiş County Immigration Service took over from the Border Police structures, 21 foreign citizens from Nepal, Morocco and Sri Lanka, suspected of fraudulently crossing the state border, respectively attempted crime of fraudulent crossing of the state border.

Thus, the immigration police from Timiș took over from the Sânnicolau Mare Border Police Sector, on Friday, 15 men between the ages of 21 and 37, three from Nepal and 12 from Morocco, who entered Romania illegally, according to a press release of the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) - Timiș Immigration Service.

On the same day, immigration officers picked up six men aged between 26 and 42, all from Sri Lanka, from the Lunga Border Police Sector.

At the time of detection, they applied for asylum, being taken to the Timişoara Regional Center for Procedures and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers, where they will benefit from all the rights provided by Law 122/2006 on asylum in Romania.

07/01/2023

Spain. They slept on the floor and worked 12 hours a day: Workers, including Romanians, lured to work, but exploited and humiliated

The national police arrested 43 people belonging to an organization that exploited more than a hundred citizens in the last five years. Some of the workers were of Romanian origin.

The national police arrested 43 people in a village in Malaga who were part of an organization dedicated to the exploitation and regularization of migrants through fraudulent means. Those arrested had been carrying out this illegal activity for at least five years, for which they had created two agricultural companies in the town of Casarabonela in Malaga.

Most of the victims, more than a hundred people, are citizens of Moroccan origin in an irregular administrative situation, who were forced to work more than 12 hours even during the biggest heat waves of the summer and slept on the floor in "destroyed houses, in subhuman conditions", according to police sources.