Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Latvia.htm
Latvia is a source
and destination country for women trafficked for the purposes of commercial
sexual exploitation and forced labor. Latvian women are trafficked to
Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Denmark,
Switzerland, Greece, Ireland, and Japan for commercial sexual exploitation.
Latvian teenage girls are trafficked within the country for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation. Latvia is a destination country for women
trafficked from Belgium and Portugal for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation and for women from Thailand who may have been trafficked for the
purpose of forced labor. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out a later country report here and possibly a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Shelter Association Safe House ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Awareness of Human
Trafficking Among Young People in Alison Y. Boak, Kenneth W. Griffin, Debra Jones & Vita Karklina -- 29th Annual Conference, Global Health in
Times of Crisis, 28-31 May 2002 72.3.236.96/conference_2002/abstracts/a5.php3 [accessed 17 April
2012] CONCLUSIONS - While youth in From
Ballroom Dancer to Stripper: Surviving Chicago's sex slave trade Series: Sex
and Sorrow: The Modern Slave Trade Annie Sweeney, Crime
Reporter, www.ipsn.org/organized_crime/prostitution/surviving_chicago.htm [accessed 17
February 2011] To Z, Mishulovich's offer was exhilarating. It was also a lie -- something she
discovered shortly after landing at O'Hare Airport. Put up in a cramped apartment with other
Latvian women, she was watched constantly, beaten and threatened with being
sold as a prostitute. Her passport was taken away. And the dancing? Really it was stripping.
For maybe $20 a night. She was a
virtual slave -- a sex slave, a victim of "human trafficking." ***
ARCHIVES *** xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [accessed xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Police uncover
suspected human trafficking at bakery company in Latvia Latvian Public
Broadcasting (eng.lsm.lv), 20 November 2020 [accessed 21
November 2020] In response to the
information received, criminal proceedings on trafficking, laundering, and
causing bodily harm were initiated by the State Police in April this year. During the
investigation, it was found that several third-country nationals had long
been exploited in this Latgale-based company. They were allegedly
not paid full salary and forced into debt. Workers were deprived of
passports, subjected to physical violence and threatened with expulsion from
the State if they failed to comply with all the demands of the criminal
group. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Latvia U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/latvia/
[accessed 14 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR The Ministry of
Welfare’s State Labor Inspectorate, the agency responsible for enforcing
labor laws, conducted regular inspections of workplaces, and reported no
incidents of forced labor through September. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT There were no
reports of labor abuses involving children. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/latvia/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 8 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? About 27 percent of
Latvia’s population was at risk of social exclusion or poverty in 2019,
according to Eurostat. The shadow economy is extensive, and informal workers
are vulnerable to labor abuses and being drawn into criminal operations. However, the
Latvian economy has rebounded since the 2008–09 financial crisis,
which inflicted severe economic hardship. Unemployment declined to 6.4
percent by the end of 2019, from 17.3 percent in 2009 and a record high of
21.3 percent in 2010. GDP per capita reached 69 percent of the EU average in
2018, from 52 percent in 2009. The monthly minimum wage rose by €50 ($57), to
€430 ($490) in 2018. The US State
Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons report noted that Latvians are
vulnerable to sex trafficking, brokered marriages, domestic servitude, and
forced labor. Latvia maintains an assistance mechanism for trafficking
survivors, but the State Department also noted that prosecutors have
relatively little success in convicting traffickers. Warnings of human
trafficking taught to children Annie Sweeney, Crime
Reporter, Chicago Sun Times, tvol.blogspot.com/2005/08/warnings-of-human-trafficking-taught.html [accessed 17
February 2011] She was 17, the
daughter of unemployed alcoholics in a struggling country where good work can
be difficult to find. So she took a
job that, though it required leaving the Baltic state, would help pay the
family's bills. She was going to pick
strawberries in Finland. But as her
new employers drove across the Latvian border and into Estonia, everything
changed. She was ordered to take off
her clothes and pose for photos that would be posted on the Web. One snapshot shows her wearing only a black
bikini bottom, coyly hiding behind an overgrown plant. Another has her arched
against a cinderblock wall. If you didn't know better, you'd think she wanted
to be there. She made it to Finland
all right, but as a virtual slave who was forced to work as a prostitute and
give almost all of her earnings to her captors. Cypriot held in
Latvia on flesh trade charges www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/cypriot-held-latvia-flesh-trade-charges [accessed 30
November 2010] According to the
Latvian police the suspect was allegedly involved in trafficking in women
under the pretext of recruiting them as waitresses and cleaners when in fact
they would be pushed into prostitution. Prevention of Youth
Trafficking Initiative [DOC] thefriendlyenemy.org/Adult%20Workbook%20Final.doc [accessed 7
September 2014] IOFA AND YOUTH TRAFFICKING
PREVENTION - PROJECTS IN THE PREVENTION,
INVESTIGATION, & REPATRIATION OF VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN LATVIA: This project
provides training to encourage cooperation among law enforcement officials
and NGO leaders in combating trafficking of young people in Latvia. Regional
Trafficking Response Teams have been established in three regions. STRENGTHENING SOCIAL
SERVICE PROVISION TO VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN LATVIA: This project
strengthens social service provision to victims of human trafficking by
assessing current services, creating partnerships between service providers
and a local shelter; and by ensuring that the shelter staff is properly
trained to respond to victims' needs. Trafficking Alert -
Trafficking and the NGO Community Vital Voices,
Trafficking Alert, June 2002 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8
September 2011] [scroll down] NEW YORK-BASED
ORGANIZATION EDUCATES LATVIAN ADOLESCENTS ABOUT SAFELY WORKING ABROAD AND
WARNS ABOUT TRAFFICKING
- . PPAT integrates an educational module on human trafficking into the
existing curriculum of teen centers in Latvia. Before traveling abroad,
adolescents can receive consultations in the center in order to ensure safe
travel. The centers keep copies of the young peoples' passports, and provide
them with information about embassies and NGOs that can help if they find
themselves in dangerous situations overseas. Women’s
Anti-Discrimination Committee Experts Urge Latvia to Update Laws to Protect
Women from Domestic Violence UN Information
Service UNIS, www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2004/wom1457.html [accessed 17
February 2011] COUNTRY MAKES FIRST
PRESENTATION TO COMMITTEE; TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN, EQUAL PARTICIPATION IN
POLITICAL LIFE AMONG OTHER ISSUES RAISED - Turning to a related issue, experts
expressed deep concern over the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of women
trafficked or lured in to Latvia from other countries. Portugal’s expert
lamented the apparent lack of programmes in place
to rehabilitate those women once they were removed from harm. Granted,
some cooperative initiatives were underway with neighbouring
and transit countries, but the problem should be made a national priority.
Other experts stressed the need to target and prosecute the client side of
the equation -- usually middle-aged, married men. Addressing that
issue, Ms. Druviete said Latvia adhered to major
international conventions and treaties aimed at preventing human trafficking.
Also, the country had recently established the National Programme
for Prevention of Human Trafficking (2004-2008), which focused on improving
legislation, rehabilitating victims and raising awareness. To limit trafficking
in persons for sexual exploitation, the Government had created a special
police unit, strengthening its cooperation with neighbouring
countries and cooperating with non-governmental organizations. Finnish man faces
charges of human trafficking in Latvia Helsingin Sanomat
International Edition, 19.2.2004 www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20040219IE6 [accessed 17
February 2011] yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finn_faces_charges_of_human_trafficking_in_latvia/5220037 [accessed 1 May
2020] A Finnish man in
his 40s is suspected of human trafficking and pimping in Latvia. The man is believed to have organised a circle of dozens of women from Latvia,
Estonia, and Russia to work as prostitutes in several large Finnish cities.
He was taken into custody in Latvia at the beginning of February. Human trafficking
is not often encountered in the Nordic countries and for the time being the
Finnish penal code has no reference to this issue. However, this fault will
be corrected soon. The charges against
the man will be heard shortly and if found guilty he will be sentenced under
Latvian law. Any sentence is expected to be rather heavy - particularly as it
is suspected that some kind of pressure was used and an international
criminal organization was involved, and because one of the women was a minor
aged 17. The Department of Labor’s 2003 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2003/latvia.htm [accessed 17
February 2011] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 1 May
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Statistics on the number of working children under
the age of 15 in Latvia are unavailable. However, the commercial sexual
exploitation of children is known to exist.
Prostitution by both boys and girls remains a problem. It is estimated that up to 15 percent of
prostitutes in Trafficking in
Women and Prostitu-tion in the Baltic States:
Social and Legal Aspects Aet Annist,
University of Tartu, International Organization for Migration, 2001 - ISBN-92-9068-117-9 [Long URL] [accessed 18
February 2022] The three Baltic States
have got their share of the trafficking problem while going through an
adjustment period after the ending of the Soviet era and re-establishing
their independent statehood in the early 1990s. A common feature to almost
every country that emerged from the Soviet legacy is that the lack of new
work opportunities has hit more on women than on men in the transition to
market economy. In the Baltic States, this has been the case especially with
the women of the ethnic minorities who are over-represented among prostitutes
and trafficked women. In general, the lack of opportunities for women has
made many seize the opportunity to make earnings in sex industry through
prostituting either in the home country or abroad, sometimes helped by
traffickers. Some begin sex work voluntarily, some are deceived by traffickers
with false promises of other work and later forced to commercial sex. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 26 January 2001 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/latvia2001.html [accessed 17
February 2011] [33] The Committee
expresses its concern at the fact that the current legislation regulating adoption
is out of date and does not guarantee adequate protection of the child
involved, as recognized in the Convention. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61658.htm [accessed 9 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The country was primarily a source and transit point for trafficked
victims. The main countries of destination were Traffickers, primarily
organized criminal groups, usually lured victims through false offers of
employment for jobs such as dancers, bartenders, and babysitters in European
countries. A large number of victims were drawn from the economically
depressed areas of the country's eastern regions. While some victims were
recruited through job advertisements or modeling and travel agencies, most
victims were solicited through direct contact with traffickers. Traffickers
often recruited their victims at cafes and clubs, and victims themselves
recruited new victims for the traffickers All
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