Roma in Denmark, Norway and Sweden not being "run" by organized crime

News server west-info.eu, which reports on European welfare policies, say a new report from Fafo, a Scandinavian social research foundation,has found no evidence that Romani people in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are being managed by organized crime. The report contradicts claims that Romani people are being trafficked into those countries.

The Fafo report found no indication that criminal groups are influencing Romani movement into the region, according to west-info.eu. Romani people traveling to northern Europe are said to do so in community and family networks with people whom they know, according to west-info.eu.

The report found that most Roma travel to the region using minibuses, financing their travel by borrowing money from family or from the minibus drivers, west-info.eu reports. Roma traveling to Copenhagen were said to be better-educated, those traveling to Stockholm were among the most marginalized, and those traveling to Oslo were said to fall somewhere in between, west-info.eu reports.

Media commentary and reporting on begging in Stockholm and other northern European cities has alleged that Romani people from Romania are being trafficked into Nordic countries. Similar allegations have been made about Romani people from Romania who reach Canada, reportedly after being smuggled through Mexico and the USA.