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Description
The COVID 19 pandemic general context brought, in addition to the sanitary crisis, significant economic challenges. Only until May 2020, over 300.000 work contracts were interrupted in Romania. The global situation is still unstable, the countries that lifted some restrictions quickly saw an increase in the number of infections, and specialists fear a second epidemic wave coming this autumn. Estimations say that a large amount of the Romanians do not have enough savings to survive this crisis without a job, as they mostly live from one salary to the next one. Almost a quarter of the population in Romania (24%) estimates that their savings would be enough for a month or less, if they had no income anymore.
Meanwhile, approximately 16 million people are facing work exploitation globally (according to ILO data from 2016). Romania remains one of the main sources for forced labour in Europe, with an ascending trend noticed even before the pandemic, according to ANITP (National Agency against Human Trafficking) data. In the current crisis context, both those who had seasonal jobs in other European countries, and other people that now became unemployed, will desperately need a new job. This translates into a considerable raise of the work exploitation risks.
The project aims to develop an awareness campaign for the Romanian citizens looking for a job in this period of time, with a focus on those who will go abroad to work. Along with information about their rights, the target group will also be provided with tools to help them identify risk situations or better react to specific problems they encounter, such as video tutorials and one to one support from the project team.
It is expected that 15,000 people will have access to information on labor rights and risks of labor exploitation within the pandemic crisis context and 200 persons will increase capacity (including through direct support) to identify risks related to job search and labor contracts.
Summary of project results
Amid the sanitary crisis and the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, eLiberare Association ran an awareness campaign for people in search of a job. As a result of this project, a communication campaign has been launched which resulted in the public audience being informed about the risks that they might face when choosing to work abroad. The project started with a press conference during which the online platform www.munca.info was launched. Users can get verified information regarding worker’s rights, specific work conditions and other useful information. 2 video tutorials were created and distributed with over 70.629 views as well as 10 visuals with over 334.757 views. Both materials addressed issues regarding employees rights and were distributed both on social media and other channels. Also, an offline information campaign was run in partnership with Romania Airport Services where over 15.000 workers that chose to go abroad received information about the potential risks through materials such as flyers and advertising posters. The campaign was run at a national level, the materials being distributed in all the major airports. On the online platform, there is an online questionnaire which determines the degree to which a person knows the risks and useful information when he/she chooses to work abroad. Until now, 213 answers were collected. As such, two exploitation cases were identified: the first one, a girl being exploited through work and the second, a truck driver whose work contract was not respected. Both cases are now being investigated by authorities. Preventing human trafficking for work purposes has not been finalized once the project ended. The online resources that are available on www.munca.info will be constantly updated in order to ensure that safe and verified information exists for people that would like to go and work abroad.