The Centre for Analysis of Exploitation (CeAnEx) has published new best practice guidance for agencies working with Romanian female sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation in the UK.
Romanian women comprise one of the largest groups selling sexual services in the United Kingdom. Many of these are migrant sex workers and a significant proportion are at risk of exploitation.
Actionable guidance has been shaped by the lived experience of Romanian victim-survivors
CeAnEx collaborated with Romanian women with lived experience of sex work and sexual exploitation to produce this valuable insight into a rapidly-evolving, global issue . The work was funded by the UK Home Office’s Modern Slavery Fund and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Guidance include:
Business models
- Most Romanian women are found in the indoor market in ‘working houses,’ ‘casa de munca,’ in residential streets and apartments, and rely on intermediaries to facilitate their work.
- Many working houses are short-term rental properties; others are ‘pop-ups,’ typically using services such as Airbnb.
- Women usually keep their documentation, and many put their own adverts on Adult Services Websites (ASWs).
- The client’s fee is usually split 50/50 between the worker and the management of the house. This is replaced in some cases with very high rents.
- Women are recruited through personal connections, often from the same area.
- Some women are recruited online, although these cases are not as common.
Geographic links
- Crime groups from Romania, often based around family-based networks, establish control of Romanian women’s sex work in specific geographic areas of the UK.
- Sex work locations are often linked. Two or three addresses in close proximity can be part of the same network.
- Woman may live in houses used for sex work. Other houses are used only for business.
- Concentrations of working houses are linked to the UK’s settled Romanian community.
- Women often move around the country. Movement can be a sign of exploitation or can be a way for women to respond to client demand for novelty.
- Many women have sex worked in other European countries, including Romania itself.
Indicators of high risk of exploitation
- Drug use.
- Women who have disabilities are at higher risk of exploitation.
- Women who offer unprotected services (without a condom).
- Women with few, or low value, personal possessions despite having many customers.
- Women who offer 24/7 services.
- Women who offer a wide range of services within the basic fee i.e. no charge for ‘extras.’
- Lack of engagement with health and sexual health services.
- Young children are very rarely seen in Romanian working houses. When they are, this may reflect other problems at the location, including exploitation.
- Very late terminations of pregnancy are occasionally seen in high-risk contexts.
Cultural awareness
- Romania has very high levels of poverty.
- Many women have children in Romania who are being cared for by relatives.
- Romanians are divided into different communities. An important and politically sensitive division is between the majority community and Roma communities.
- Many Romanians confuse nationality and ethnicity.
- Romania is a patriarchal society where misogyny and domestic abuse are common.
- Sex work is stigmatised and the shame attached to it is often used to control women.
- Do not use the term ‘prostitute.’
- Victims of sexual exploitation are not ‘sex workers.’
- Sex workers can become victims, especially if there are changes to the terms of work.
- Transwomen are found in working houses alongside women assigned female at birth, and in houses that contain only transwomen.
Roma peoples
- Roma peoples are not a single group. They are a transnational people, originally from the Indian sub-continent, that traditionally have occupational specialisms.
- Romanian Roma peoples are an ethnic minority in Romania. Some are very conservative; others have adopted more of the culture of the majority community.
- Many, although not all, Romanian Roma speak Romani, a language with South Asian roots.
- Do not use the derogatory term ‘gypsy,’ even if it is used by the women themselves
Roma involvement in sex work and exploitation
- Roma women are overrepresented among sex workers and sexually exploited people.
- Sex work is socially taboo among many Roma groups.
- Poverty, racism and social marginalisation mean many Roma women sex work to support themselves and their families.
- In some communities, sex work is accepted as a means of survival.
- Women are often recruited by family, friends and people within their own communities.
- Circular migration is common. Women travel between the UK and Romania regularly.
- Travel by air is common although some of the most at-risk women are brought to the UK by car, minibus or parcel delivery van.
- Women frequently act as the managers of working houses. These alpha-females may have been trafficked themselves and been victims of forced marriage.
- Roma peoples are often the perpetrators as well as the victims of sexual exploitation.
Trust and lack of disclosure
- Roma peoples distrust authorities because of centuries of racism in Romania. This distrust can apply to UK authorities. Rapport-building is crucial to counter distrust.
- Women fear UK authorities will send information about their involvement in sex work to Romanian social services who will use this to remove their children.
Interpreters and language
- Interpreters, who are usually from the majority community, may have racist attitudes.
- Roma women often speak other languages such as Spanish, Italian and German because they have lived and/or worked in these countries.
- Many Roma women speak loudly and energetically, especially when discussing things they are concerned about. This can be mistaken for aggression.
Immigration
- Many Romanian women in the UK do not have settled or pre-settled status. In vulnerable communities, the requirements of the EUSS (EU Settlement Scheme) are not known. It is important that concerns over sexual exploitation take precedence over concerns over women’s immigration status. Arrest and detention undermine women’s trust in the UK authorities and their willingness to disclose exploitation.
Be aware of the impact of trauma
- Lack of engagement with law enforcement and NGOs, and especially very hostile reactions, can be a strong indicator of exploitation.
- Grooming of girls from childhood is common and many Romanian women have been sexually exploited as children. They may not see themselves as victims.
- Many women are controlled through emotional manipulation by pimps using the ‘lover boy’ technique. Trauma bonds can be created with perpetrators.
Minimising harm
- Women who engage with police and NGOs may be put at risk of punishment and further exploitation. Their lives may be worse after supposed ‘rescue’ than before, so care needs to be taken to ensure they are not implicated in action against perpetrators.
- Women can be dependent on a crime group because it forms their support network. Closure of a house by police may mean women are moved to a new, unknown location.
- Victimless prosecutions are important. Most women are unlikely to support a prosecution because of the impact on their social networks. Perpetrators are often from their own communities and know their families. Therefore, when exploitation is identified, it is important to build a case without relying on vulnerable females.
Visiting indoor sex work locations
- On police visits, take a partner agency, ideally with a Romanian-speaking female.
- Police visits should include female officers. Romanian sex workers claim police in their home country are customers and demand free services. Having a female officer on police visits will assure women that this does not happen in the UK.
- Avoid seizing phones. They are the women’s connection to their families. If phones need to be seized as evidence, ensure women know when and how they will be returned.
- When women are referred into the National Referral Mechanism, ensure a partner agency can provide wrap-around support for the potential victim.
Romanian ID cards and how to read them
- Romanian names are often recorded incorrectly on UK systems. Romanians give their family name first and their given name second. Ensure you know which is which.
- The dash ‘-’ between the first name and middle name(s) on the ID card does not mean anything. There is no first name and middle name, there is just one ‘prenume’, ‘nume de botez’ (Christening name), or ‘nume mic’ (small name). Most Romanian nationals will have 2 or 3. It is polite to ask by which first name the women would like to be called.
CeAnEx is a project of Black Country Women’s Aid.
