United States and Romania sign partnership on child protection

Today, U.S. Ambassador to Romania Kathleen Kavalec and Head of the Prime Minister’s Office Mihai Alexandru Ghigiu signed the U.S.-Romania Child Protection Compact (CPC) Partnership, a historic non-binding five-year initiative to prevent child sex trafficking and forced child labor in Romania. Implementation of this jointly developed partnership will strengthen the efforts of the Government of Romania as it works in a sustained, coordinated manner with national stakeholders and civil society organizations to address child trafficking.

The signing of the CPC Partnership is the culmination of months of discussions between representatives of the Romanian government, the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office), which is responsible for leading the Department’s global efforts to combat human trafficking, and the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest. The Romanian government remains a strong bilateral partner of the United States and has made efforts to combat child trafficking. Most recently, this commitment included the establishment of two national centers focused on child digital safety and combating online child sexual exploitation, which will be supported by the CPC Partnership.

With the signing of this CPC Partnership, the TIP Office will provide up to $10 million in U.S. foreign assistance awarded to the International Justice Mission and World Vision. These organizations, along with their local subcontractors, will work with relevant Romanian government agencies, including the Romanian Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, and the TIP Office to achieve the goals of the CPC Partnership. These goals include ensuring that prevention efforts reduce the impact of risk factors and vulnerabilities for child trafficking; providing accessible protection services to victims and survivors of child trafficking using a child-sensitive, trauma-informed, and victim-centered approach; ensuring that justice sector actors effectively investigate cases to prosecute and convict perpetrators of child trafficking; and promoting coordination among relevant agencies, civil society, and local communities.

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