Mihaela Bolohan

Mihaela Bolohan comes from Iași in eastern Romania. From an early age, she developed a sensitivity to the lived realities of people confronted with insecurity, disadvantage, and a lack of opportunity.

She began her career in the NGO sector, spending eight years at a Romanian organisation supporting young people in difficult life situations. Over that time, Mihaela grew from a trainer into a managing director, leading programmes in education and vocational orientation for vulnerable youth, particularly young people from Romania’s child protection system. This work shaped her understanding of social vulnerability, the absence of support structures, and the heightened risk of becoming a victim of violence, exploitation, or human trafficking.

Since January 2025, Mihaela has been working at our ChanceMaker-Partner International Justice Mission (IJM) as an Advocacy and Survivor Leadership Engagement Specialist. In this role, she is building the Global Survivor Network (GSN) in Romania, a network of people who, drawing on their own experiences of human trafficking, are able to bring vital perspectives into communities, public debates, and policy processes. At the heart of her work is a core conviction: those who have experienced exploitation should not only receive support, but also be given the opportunity to actively shape change.

In August 2025, the five founding members of the Romanian GSN met in person for the first time. Even at this initial gathering, it became clear what power lies in a protected space where those affected feel understood without having to explain themselves. Together, they are working to transform difficult experiences into forward-looking action.

Mihaela finds her direct collaboration with survivors particularly meaningful. At the same time, she sees how significant the ongoing challenges remain, especially where victim-blaming, a lack of sensitivity, or structural weaknesses in the justice system make genuine accountability difficult. This only strengthens her determination to ensure that survivors are heard, that cooperation between the state and civil society is deepened, and that more people in situations of exploitation find the courage to seek help.

Romania is one of the EU countries most severely affected by human trafficking, a situation that has worsened since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Through transnational cooperation and the strengthening of legal systems, concrete steps are being taken to combat human trafficking and protect those at risk. IJM advocates specifically for legislative reform, works closely with political and civil society actors, and promotes consistent prosecution of perpetrators alongside long-term protection for survivors.

A central component of this joint project against human trafficking in Eastern Europe is the establishment of the Global Survivor Network in Romania. The GSN is a worldwide initiative that connects survivors of human trafficking and brings their perspectives into social and political processes. In Romania, this is creating a space in which survivors strengthen one another, translate their experiences into constructive action, and contribute to developing public awareness, support structures, and the broader policy framework.

Ending human trafficking in Europe.

IJM is actively engaged in Romania to strengthen legislation against human trafficking and improve protections for those affected. In cooperation with policymakers and civil society organisations, IJM advocates for legal reforms that hold perpetrators more consistently accountable and provide long-term security for survivors.

As part of a comprehensive initiative with the parliamentary commission, legislative amendments have already been passed that establish stricter penalties for human trafficking, child trafficking, modern slavery, and the online sexual exploitation of children, while also excluding the possibility of suspended sentences in such cases.

To combat transnational human trafficking effectively, IJM also trains law enforcement agencies and partner organisations in trauma-informed approaches and multidisciplinary collaboration. At the same time, IJM supports individual cases and existing anti-trafficking programmes, and analyses cross-border as well as domestic cases.

The Global Survivor Network further integrates the perspectives of survivors into the work of the project. In Romania, survivors are being connected, empowered to advocate for themselves, and encouraged to contribute their experiences to the ongoing development of anti-trafficking measures. In this way, the Survivor Network adds an essential dimension to the legal, political, and civil society work of the project: the perspective of those who have lived through exploitation themselves.