The joint plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved, on Tuesday, the establishment of the joint special committee for combating human trafficking.

The establishment of this commission was proposed by the chair of the Chamber of Deputies, Ciprian Serban.

Among the objectives of the committee are: the analysis of the causes and structural and conjunctural factors that favour the manifestation of human trafficking, including labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, trafficking in minors and other forms of abuse, the analysis of the activity of public administration institutions and authorities empowered at central and local level in preventing, identifying, investigating and solving human trafficking, including labour exploitation and other forms of human trafficking, as well as the evaluation of the efficiency of the implemented measures, the elaboration of legislative proposals with a view to amending the legislation in the field.

Another objective is to identify, evaluate, promote best practices, tools and strategies in preventing and combating human trafficking, including labour exploitation and other forms of abuse, as well as the protection, support and reintegration of victims of these practices.

The committee will be composed of 25 members, designated by the parliamentary groups in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, according to the political configuration of the Parliament.

„Public administration institutions and authorities whose activity is related to the aforementioned objectives, as well as to other aspects related to these objectives, are obliged, under the terms of the law, to respond to the requests of the committee, within the deadline established by it. The committee may invite representatives of public institutions/authorities, professional associations, recognized specialists in the field of human trafficking, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and accredited international organizations, with experience in preventing and combating human trafficking, to participate in debates. The committee will collaborate closely with the committee on labour, family and social protection, as well as with other relevant parliamentary committees, to address issues related to labour exploitation and other forms of human trafficking,” states the decision on the establishment of the special committee.

The committee will be led by a bureau, and the president will be a PSD (Social Democratic Party)parliamentarian, the two vice-presidents will be from the PNL (National Liberal Party) and AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), and the secretary will belong to the USR (Save Romania Union) parliamentary groups.

AGERPRES