Iana Matei is a Romanian activist and founder of Reaching Out Romania, an organisation which aims to find and rehabilitate victims of forced prostitution and sex trafficking.
After an incident where Matei lost her bag with her identity documents during a protest in University Square, she believed it was no longer safe to stay in the country and fled.
During her confinement, Matei went on a hunger strike, insisting that a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) visit her and acknowledge her presence.
Matei became angry as the police officers refused to acknowledge that three girls were under-age victims of human trafficking.
[6] Matei set up the charity Reaching Out Romania to end sex slavery, and opened a shelter, "The House of Treasure".