Minister condemns slave-like treatment

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By Stefanos Evripidou

LABOUR MINISTER Sotiroulla Charalambous yesterday condemned the recent case of trafficking and exploitation of 110 Romanian workers, comparing it to “modern-day slavery”.

Police arrested a 38-year-old man on Thursday in connection with charges related to the trafficking and exploitation of 110 people, who were found living in squalid conditions in Tseri.

The 110 workers, all from Romania, were brought to Cyprus under the pretence that they would be given contractual labour, but ended up being dumped in cramped quarters allegedly run by the man, with no hot water or showers, while receiving up to €20 a week. The Cypriot man, who was remanded in custody for eight days by the Nicosia District Court on Thursday, allegedly sent the workers out on odd jobs for casual labour, while pocketing their pay and withholding their travel documents.

The minister said the various government departments had been working for months to tackle the problem, noting that in this specific case, the methods used were similar to the slave trade.

“It’s not only a question of violating employment conditions. In this case, an industry of trafficking persons was created, where (the workers) came supposedly to work at one place, but were moved from one person to the other…it is for this reason, we have been vigilant in the past few months,” said Charalambous.

The 38-year-old has troubled the police in the past over the same issue and already has one court case pending against him on charges similar to those currently being investigated.

Asked whether the state was too slow to act against the trafficking and exploitation of so many people, the minister replied: “I don’t accept that at all. With the information we had, we had to find a way so the people could help us to uncover this problem.”

Charalambous noted that the relevant government departments cooperated with the Romanian Embassy on the case.

“We have three Welfare Service officials cooperating with the police. We are contributing food and shelter to these people. We will do all we have to, to make sure these people go to the Labour Offices and register for unemployment, and will support them to find work within the correct framework,” she said, adding that the ministry would stand by the side of the exploited workers.

Head of the Office for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Rita Superman, said the living conditions of the 110 Romanians revealed images of shame.

“This is not the first time such an operation has taken place, it’s the second. There was an operation against the same suspect, with the same factors some time ago, and the trial is now pending,” she said.

Superman described the living conditions of the casual workers, noting that they were made to live in containers, each one having five rooms in it with up to 50 people living there.

“There was no hot water, only two toilets, one washing machine. They couldn’t have showers, and didn’t have food to eat. If they wanted sheets or blankets, they were charged €25, €30 or €50. They had to pay him to get them, and the majority had fleas and all that,” she said.

Asked how much money they were getting, Superman replied: “Basically, these people did not get money. In other words, on their arrival in Cyprus, they were asked to pay €750-€800 as commission, because he was supposed to find them jobs.

“He did find them jobs, not on contract though, but as casual labour, where they weren’t paid at all, until they paid off this commission,” she said.

The Trafficking head explained that employers allegedly paid the 38-year-old directly instead of giving it to the workers. “And he may have given some of them €20 a week for food and maintenance. Some he gave, others not,” she said.

Asked about other cases, the official said there was information of more cases of exploitation, noting: “This phenomenon is growing, perhaps not to such a large extent as in this case, but there are cases, perhaps isolated cases, in houses and other places of work, yes.”


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