BUCHAREST, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The Romanian government on Tuesday launched a national campaign to prevent organized crime and modern slavery.
The campaign, "Information at home! Safety abroad!", aims to get Romanian citizens informed about risks they may run when looking for a job, study program or settling outside Romania.
"I believe that this initiative can bring added value and can prevent many people from being subjected to undesired treatments. I think it is important that we can prevent these things and I hope this initiative is a first step towards this goal," said Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at a launching ceremony.
The project will be conducted in two stages, according to Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia Intotero -- first reaching out to young people and then to adults who want to work as seasonal farmhands or in different services.
"Romanians who want to study, travel or work abroad may know they are not alone and know that if they are in distress, how and where they can go so that they may get the support they need in the shortest possible time," she said.
Romania is among the top five countries in the European Union at highest risk of modern slavery, together with Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria, according to the Modern Slave Index 2017.
According to Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, EU citizens account for 65 percent of identified trafficked victims within Europe. Most of them come from Romania, Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries.
