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/Russia.htm
Russia is a source,
transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for
the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Men and
women from the Russian Far East are trafficked to South Korea, China,
Bahrain, Oman, Japan, and South Korea for purposes of sexual exploitation,
debt bondage, and forced labor, including in the agricultural and fishing
sectors. Some Russian women are trafficked to Turkey, Greece, South Africa, Germany,
Poland, Italy, Israel, Spain, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and
the Middle East for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Men and
women from Central Asia and |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in
Russia. Some of these links may lead
to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even
false. No attempt has been made to
validate their authenticity or to verify their content. 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 Angel Coalition ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Merchants of
Misery: Human Trafficking in Moldova Don Hinrichsen, from
The State of World Population 2005 report, The United Nations Population Fund
UNFPA www.childtrafficking.org/cgi-bin/ct/main.sql?ID=2038&file=view_document.sql [accessed 12
February 2015] Silvia’s descent
into the dark world of trafficking began when a neighbor told the 19-year-old
that she could get a good job as a sales girl in Her ‘home’ in
Moscow was a grimy hotel in a seedy section of the city. Actually, the entire
hotel was a brothel, filled with girls from Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and
other former Soviet republics. “At first we were forced to walk the streets
in search of clients,” recalls Silvia. “If I didn’t return with clients, I
was beaten. We had to work in thin dresses even in the middle of the Russian
winter.” Trafficking in Anti-Slavery
International At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 11
September 2011] CASE STUDY: SERGEY'S
STORY
- Sergey is 27 years old and from On arrival in
Spain, Sergey was picked up by a person from the "agency" who took
his passport. He was taken to Portugal and forced to work on a construction
site without pay for several months. The site was surrounded by barbed wire.
Without his passport he was afraid that the Portugese authorities would
arrest him. One day Sergey managed to escape and begged his way to Germany.
Because he did not have a passport the German authorities arrested him. He
stated the police beat him and took away what little money he had before
deporting him to Russia. Tackling Human
Trafficking In Russia Zachary Sherry, The Borgen Project, 29 January 2021 borgenproject.org/human-trafficking-in-russia/ [accessed 3 March
2021] The 2014 Sochi
Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup enriched Russia’s economy but under the
backs of tens of thousands of unpaid workers. According to the Harvard
International Review, about 70,000 foreign laborers worked on these two
projects. Reportedly, they suffered under terrible conditions and those who
did receive pay did not have any way to get back home. Considering the
situation of trafficking in Russia, some NGOs are making sure victims obtain
justice. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Russia 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/russia/
[accessed 22 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF FORCED
OR COMPULSORY LABOR There were reports
of forced labor in the production of bricks, raising livestock, and at
sawmills, primarily in Dagestan. While both men and women were exploited for
forced labor in these industries in the Northern Caucasus region, victims
were primarily male job seekers recruited in Moscow. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Child labor was
uncommon but could occur in the informal service and retail sectors. Some
children, both Russian and foreign, were subjected to commercial sexual
exploitation, forced participation in the production of pornography, and
forced begging (see section 6, Children). Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 5 May 2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Legal protections against
labor exploitation are poorly enforced. Migrant workers are often exposed to
unsafe or exploitative working conditions. At least 21 workers reportedly
died in accidents at World Cup construction sites ahead of the 2018
tournament. Both Russians facing economic hardship and migrants to Russia
from other countries are vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. Police in Russia
are tracking a gang - apparently including a doctor - who drugged a TV soap
actor and removed his testicles Will Stewart, Moscow,
MailOnline (The Daily Mail), 26 February 2015 [accessed 27
February 2015] Dmitry Nikolaev,
30, had a drink with a 'young blonde woman' who approached him at a bar after
he finished a performance at a small Moscow theatre. Flirting with him, she invited him to a
sauna, and though he was married, he agreed to go with her. He woke up next day
at a bus stop, feeling acute pain, and with blood on his trousers. Rushed to hospital, he was told that his
testicles had been removed and that 'it was done like proper surgery by
someone with a medical education'. They fear a gang
seeking to sell human organs on the black market. Russia: Alarming
rise in human trafficking raises concern newsx.com/story/13373 [access date
unavailable] Sky News reported that
girls and sex slaves were being sold by trafficking mafias at several street
markets on the outskirts of Kester Kenn
Klomegah, Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42139 [accessed 20
December 2010] www.ipsnews.net/2008/04/russia-where-migration-means-trafficking/ [accessed 27
September 2016] According to
qualitative research in CIS countries, trafficking for forced labour (other
than forced prostitution) is the main form of trafficking in the region, in
particular central Asia. Migrant
workers are most exploited in construction, agriculture, trade and informal
economic activities. Law enforcement responses, however, tend to focus on sex
trafficking which often involves young women trafficked to western Europe,
the Middle East and Russia. Uzbeks Prey to
Modern Slave Trade Times of Central
Asia, iwpr.net/report-news/uzbeks-prey-modern-slave-trade [accessed 16 January
2011] iwpr.net/global-voices/uzbeks-prey-modern-slave-trade [accessed 13
February 2018] When Abror, an unemployed engineer at the locomotive depot in
Urgench, in northwest Uzbekistan, lost all hope of getting a job at home, he
left for the Volgograd region of Russia
in search of a better life. But he
found no job that matched his skills. Unwilling to go back to Uzbekistan,
where his family and aged mother depended on him returning with money, he
took a job with a local farmer. In return for weeding vegetable patches,
feeding the poultry and cleaning the hen house, the farmer promised him a
small wage. Abror’s new life as a
servant rapidly turned into a form of slavery. Far from giving him any wages,
the farmer seized Abror’s identity papers and told him he was not going to
pay him any money as he would have “nowhere to spend it”. In spite of his
grim experience in Volgograd, Abror plans to hire himself out again this
spring to repay this debt. “Once it
gets warm, I’ll sell myself into slavery again,” he said. “What else can I
do? Otherwise, my family of four will be left to live off my sick mother’s
pension.” NGOs warn against
plan to increase Russian visas Ruth Eglash, The At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 11
September 2011] However, A spokesman for
Aharonovitch told the Post zthat the minister was aware of the problems of
human trafficking in Israel and that the issue needed to be tackled; however,
he added that there was little connection between the trafficking and the
cancellation of visa requirements for Russian visitors. He also said that the number of women
arriving from Russia was much lower than those from other countries and that
countries with border policies stricter than Israel's still had to contend
with women and men being smuggled in for illegal work purposes. Stopping sexual
abuse of Russian kids Cesar Chelala M.D.,
The www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2007/09/11/commentary/stopping-sexual-abuse-of-russian-kids/ [accessed 25 August
2014] Sexual abuse of
children can take several forms — from their use in pornographic materials
for sale, to their use in other countries and St. Petersburg and
the northwest region of Russia report a high incidence of sex tourism, which
is widely advertised on the Internet and aimed at people from neighboring
Scandinavian countries. Prostitution is the most common form of child
exploitation in the region. Frequent
recruiting targets are street children or children from dysfunctional
families. Once they're entrapped, they may end up in brothels and red-light
districts as they get older. Recruiters prey on these children's situations,
deceiving them into a life of dependency. - htsccp Four Russians
Arrested in Russian Spy stophumanslavery.blogspot.com/2007/04/sweden.html [accessed 25 August
2014] Swedish prosecutors
have charged a group of 24 Russians and Swedes with human trafficking,
pimping and buying sex from nine Russian women, the AFP news agency reports. The prosecutor said
he was only able to prove human trafficking in one of the cases and said the
other eight women had come from Russia to Sweden of their own will. Spanish police
arrest 7 for human-trafficking Associated Press AP,
At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 11
September 2011] The arrests took
place in the northeastern Mediterranean coastal region of Costa Brava, where
the gang allegedly smuggled in women, mostly from EU Presses Vladimir Kovalev,
Transitions Online—Intelligent [accessed 2
September 2012] Like many
struggling young people in the former Soviet republics, 17-year-old Maryam
dreamed of a better life. She thought she was on her way to one when she
decided to leave her native Kazakhstan to work as a shop assistant in
Russia. Instead, she walked into a
nightmare. When she arrived at
her destination, the shop she had expected to see turned out to be a locked
cell with barred windows and a metal door. Armed guards told she would be
working as a prostitute. Smuggler's Prey – [PDF] www.selfconnection.ca/Descriptions/9780143012597.pdf [accessed 19
December 2010] Chapter 1, Smugglers'
Prey -- The Natashas:
The Horrific Inside Story of Slavery, Rape, and Murder in the Global Sex
Trade, [Book by Victor Malarek, Skyhorse, Sep
1, 2011] [Found listed, 23 February 2019] Every day, scores
of young women throughout the former East Bloc are lured by job offers that
lead to a hellish journey of sexual slavery and violence. Despite the barrage
of warnings on radio and TV, in newspapers and on billboards, desperate women
continue to line up with their naiveté and applications in hand, hoping that,
this time, they might just be in luck. Human trafficking
on the rise in Russia The Russian News
& Information Agency RIA Novosti, en.rian.ru/russia/20050629/40815589.html [accessed 20
December 2010] The official said
her predecessors had focused mainly on the sex trade, whereas she was
determined to extend her position's scope to other related issues, such as
the trafficking of people into forced labor. She also stressed the importance
of addressing the problems of forced marriage and trafficking in human organs Russian Officials
Surprised At Reports Of Human Trafficking Helsingin Sanomat,
16 March 2005 www.hs.fi/english/article/1101978846177 [accessed 20
December 2010] Fresh arrests at
Vaalimaa border crossing - "The problem for the officials is that the
illegal border crossings take place legally." He says that there are always people who
will help in the acquisition of genuine travel documents. It is only after
the borders are crossed that the activities become illegal. Authorities Turn
Blind Eye On Far East Russia Women Trafficking Agence France-Presse
AFP, www.childtrafficking.org/pdf/user/russia_2_12_05.doc [accessed 8 February
2016] “Young women sought for very well paid job
in Russian Girls Eager
To Work Abroad, Despite The Danger Of Sex Trafficking Pravda, 31 March
2005 english.pravda.ru/society/stories/31-03-2005/7977-slaves-0/ [accessed 20
December 2010] It is really
difficult for such girls to escape when they reach Human Trafficking
In US Gets Tackled - US toll-free number 1-888-222-5673 Aljazeera.net, 15
February 2005 -- Source:
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3C7CB369-17E6-40FA-9681-F08B05F8D658.htm [accessed 20
December 2010] Russian-speaking
women trapped into sexual servitude in the "I just saw a
babushka (grandma) wearing a billboard, marching up and down the streets of
Moscow saying 'Great jobs for sexy girls in Chicago'," Engel told a
forum at the Johns Hopkins Paul Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies to discuss the problem.
International trade Engel described Russian websites with one advert
in English reading "cheap women, you can fit three in a room, they'll
serve 10 men a night" and another in Russian saying "great jobs
overseas, have your own apartment, don't pay for anything". Cards are being
printed with the US toll-free number 1-888-222-5673 and other information in
Russian on them. Few Human
Trafficking Cases Registered in 2004 Carl Schreck, The www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/few-human-trafficking-cases-registered-in-2004/224809.html [accessed 20
December 2010] Only 25 cases of
human trafficking and slave labor were registered last year, but an Interior
Ministry official said this was only the tip of the iceberg and understaffed
police forces and hesitant victims were hindering prevention efforts. Anti-trafficking
organizations said last year that some 50,000 women and children from Russia
and other former Soviet republics are sold into slavery in the United States
every year. Other destinations include Turkey, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the
Netherlands and China. Dyomin said
the police force did not have enough officers to deal with the problem, and
that victims were often scared to turn to the police for help. "These
factors make the job significantly more difficult," Dyomin said. Seduction,
Sale & Slavery: Trafficking In Women & Children For Sexual
Exploitation In Jonathan Martens,
Maciej ‘Mac’ Pieczkowski & Bernadette van Vuuren-Smyth, International
Organization for Migration (IOM), www.iom.org.za/Reports/TraffickingReport3rdEd.pdf At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - The major
findings may be summarized as follows: Russian and
Bulgarian mafias traffic Russian and other Eastern European women on South
African visas fraudulently obtained in ILO: 4 Million Enslaved
in Russia Anatoly Medetsky,
The www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/ilo-4-million-enslaved-in-russia/232490.html [partially accessed
20 December 2010 - access restricted] A report published
Thursday by the International Labor Organization said that 80 percent of an
estimated 5 million illegal immigrants in New Forced Labour
in Russia International Labour
Organisation (ILO) News, 4 March 2004 www.ilo.org/public/english/region/eurpro/moscow/news/2004/304.htm [accessed 11
September 2011] www.ilo.org/moscow/news/WCMS_245567/lang--en/index.htm [accessed 13
February 2018] The Russian chaotic
market and corruption among officials result in serious marginalisation of labour
migrants and the emergence of new forms of forced labour and slavery-like
conditions. The study examined a wide
range of data and identified different elements of violence – from deception
and blackmail to abduction - that are already present in the migration and
employment in Russia. In the process of work the wide-spread forms of
exploitation of migrants are: compulsion to work extra-time without pay
(62%), highly intensified work (44%), lengthy wage delays (39%), compulsion
to perform work for which consent has not been given (38%), compulsion to
work without pay (24%), compulsion to provide sex services (22% of polled
women), psychological violence, threats, blackmail (21%), restricted freedom
of movement - being kept locked up all the time or for some time (20%). Such
cases are now so wide-spread in the country that they are not perceived as
marginal or unlawful practices, but as a normal state of affairs. Aid Group Alleges
Massive Child-Trafficking in Radio Free
Europe/Radio www.rferl.org/content/article/1055450.html [accessed 26 June
2013] An aid group says
more than 30,000 children and teenagers go missing every year in Leonid Chekalin,
who heads the organization Children are Russia's Future, gave the estimates
at a news conference in Moscow late yesterday. He said 190 child-trafficking
networks have been uncovered in the past five years. htsc Monitoring the ECPAT International,
At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 11
September 2011] REGIONAL
CONSULTATIONS - RUSSIAN NATIONAL
CONSULTATION ON THE COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - Don Hill,
AsianSexGazette, August 6, 2004 www.rferl.org/content/article/1054191.html [accessed 25 August
2014] "We are not
happy with what is going on in Israeli Minister
Blames Russian Mafia for Human Trafficking Crisis MosNews, 18.08.2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 11
September 2011] He said that the
mafia had transported women to Russian president
seeks stronger penalties for human trafficking Anti-Slavery
International, Trafficking news monthly, January 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 11
September 2011] On 27 October,
President Vladimir Putin submitted to Parliament a number of amendments to
the Russian Criminal Code which seek to introduce a maximum prison sentence
of 15 years for those convicted of trafficking. The maximum penatly will be
reserved for cases where the trafficking offence has caused severe damage to
the health of the victim, or any other grave consequences; posed a threat to
the lives and health of many people; or been committed by an organised group. Russia moves to
curb human trafficking Vladimir Radyuhin,
The Hindu, www.hindu.com/2004/05/31/stories/2004053102791400.htm [accessed 20
December 2010] After the break-up
of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia’s Willing
Sex Workers Find Enslavement Abroad Anastasia Lebedev,
News and photos from the Moscow News, 22/04/2004 www.waytorussia.net/news/2004-04/women-foreigners.html [accessed 20
December 2010] Through the
Inostranets weekly, a paper geared toward Russians looking to find employment
abroad, the institute polled women who already had job offers and were
preparing to leave Supplying Women for
the Sex Industry: Trafficking from the Prof. Donna M. Hughes,
University of Rhode Island, 7/12/2004 www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/supplying_women.pdf [accessed 20
December 2010] www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/rlms-hse/publications/1267 [accessed 13
February 2018] INTRODUCTION - The Russian Federation
is a major sending country for women trafficked into sex industries around
the world.1 Russian women are known to be in sex industries in over 50
different countries (Global Survival Network, 1997). The number of women who
have become victims of this criminal trade is unknown, but are estimated to
be in the hundreds of thousands (International Organization for Migration
[IOM], 2001). Women are recruited from
sending countries, such as Russia, by various means, but upon reaching the
destination country, they find that the promised job or circumstances is
really prostitution under brutal and exploitative circumstances. The
traffickers and pimps control women by confiscating their travel documents,
battering, rape, threats to harm them or family members, and debt bondage
(Hughes, 2000). Trafficking is an activity of Russian organized crime groups
and their partners that operate prostitution and trafficking rings throughout
Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America (Global Organized Crime Project,
2000, p. 42). Corruption of officials through bribes and even collaboration
of officials in criminal networks enables traffickers to operate locally and
transnationally. Nyet to Trafficking Prof. Donna M.
Hughes, National Review, June 18, 2003 www.nationalreview.com/articles/207249/i-nyet-i-trafficking/donna-m-hughes [accessed 20
December 2010] www.nationalreview.com/2003/06/nyet-trafficking-donna-m-hughes/ [accessed 24
February 2019] For the last two
years, Russia has received a failing grade from the U.S. State Department for
its efforts to combat human trafficking. That's the grade it deserved,
because each year, thousands of women and girls are trafficked for
prostitution in Russia. The total number over the past decade is estimated to
be over half a million. Organized-crime groups run the trafficking networks
that have sold Russian women and girls into prostitution in over 50 countries
around the world, including the U.S. Trafficking for
Sexual Exploitation: The Case of the Prepared for the
International Organization for Migration IOM by Prof. Donna M. Hughes, June
2002 www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/russia.pdf [accessed 20 December
2010] publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mrs_7.pdf [accessed 24
February 2019] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - There are a
multitude of reasons why the trafficking business thrives in Russia,
including great profits which can be made by the traffickers, corruption of
officials and police at many levels, and reluctance of lawmakers to intervene
due in part to fear of reprisals by violent criminal syndicates. Many women have few
choices because they have become impoverished and find themselves devoid of
options for jobs or means of survival. This is the plight of many women in
poor rural and remote areas in Russia or those attempting to survive urban
poverty. For others, such as
the new groups of street children and orphans which did not exist in Russia
ten years ago, they are recruited at an early age, virtually sold into
slavery, and may never know another way of life. This is true for countless
young Russian girls and boys, some as young as 12 years of age, who may later
become a part of criminal syndicates themselves and perpetuate this
phenomenon. In this way, more and more people without options are lured into
sub-human and degrading conditions, often for the rest of their lives. - htsccp Galina Stolyarova,
Radio Free Europe/Radio www.rferl.org/content/article/1096513.html [accessed 20
December 2010] According to a
recent survey conducted in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, as many as
70 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 30 would like to leave the
country to find work abroad. Visa restrictions, however, make it almost
impossible for young women to gain legal working status abroad, leaving them
only one option -- buying visas from so-called "employment"
services who force them into prostitution and slavery once they cross the
border. In this second of a two-part series, Galina Stolyarova reports for
RFE/RL that economic and social conditions in Russia have allowed the
women-trafficking trade to flourish. Forced Labour In
The Elena Tyuryukanova,
International Labour Organization ILO, www.ilo.org/public/english/region/eurpro/moscow/info/publ/russian_s.pdf [accessed 20
December 2010] www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/publications/WCMS_081997/lang--en/index.htm [accessed 13
February 2018] www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_081997.pdf [accessed 13
February 2018] [page 107] APPENDIX I
- INTERVIEWS WITH VICTIMS OF
FORCED LABOUR [page 116] CASE 6 - A 17-year old man from Novosibirsk in
Russia was kidnapped and coerced into construction work. The interview took
place in Omsk I am from
Novosibirsk. At present I live in Omsk because I do not want to be traced. I
am seventeen. Half a year ago they kidnapped me. It happened as follows: I
was going home, a foreign car approached me, and they put a sack on my head,
drew me into the car and then injected me with something. I remember nothing. I do not even remember
how they took me away. It seemed as if we were flying or if it was a car, it
was shaking. It was dark, like a bunker - they covered me up with something. I
only came to when we were somewhere in the East. They watched. There
were no hand-cuffs, but guards with guns were present, and a supervisor with
a stick was there. If somebody fell, he beat then until they stood up and
collected the things that they had dropped. There were ten of us. We were not
allowed to speak. They kept us in pairs, even at night we weren’t allowed to
speak. The supervisors walked around to check that nobody was speaking. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/russia.htm [accessed 20
December 2010] 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 - Children are trafficked globally for sexual
exploitation from Russia, and are trafficked internally generally from rural
to urban areas. There were reports of
kidnapped or purchased children being trafficked for sexual exploitation,
child pornography, or harvesting of body parts. There are confirmed cases of sex
trafficking of children and child sex tourism in There are reports
that rebel forces in Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 30 September 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/russia2005.html [accessed 20
December 2010] [80] While welcoming
the recent introduction in the Criminal Code of norms prohibiting the
trafficking of human beings, the Committee is concerned that not enough is
being done to implement these provisions effectively. The Committee also
expresses its concern that protection measures for victims of trafficking of
human beings are not fully in place and that reported acts of complicity
between traffickers and State officials are not being fully investigated and
sanctioned. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 5 May 2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Migrant workers are
often exposed to exploitative labor conditions. Both Russians facing economic
hardship and migrants to Russia from other countries risk becoming subject to
sex and labor trafficking. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61671.htm [accessed 10
February 2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– According to the IOM, women have been trafficked to almost 50 countries,
including every West European country, the Reports indicated
that internal trafficking, fueled by poverty and unemployment, remained a
problem. Women were recruited and transported from rural areas to urban
centers typically to work in sex industries. There were
continued reports of child trafficking, primarily for sexual exploitation.
The victims were usually homeless children or children in orphanages. There
are no reliable estimates of how many children were trafficked. The country
has become a major producer and distributor of Internet child pornography,
leading to confirmed cases of child sex trafficking and child sex tourism. Information from
foreign prosecutions, academic researchers, and law enforcement sources
suggested that criminal groups carried out most trafficking with the
assistance of front companies and more established organized crime groups.
Typically, the traffickers used a front company‑‑frequently an
employment agency, travel agency or modeling company‑‑to recruit
victims with promises of well-paying work overseas. Many placed
advertisements in newspapers or public places for overseas employment, some
employed women to pose as returned workers to recruit victims, some placed
Internet or other advertisements for mail order brides, and some victims were
recruited by partners or friends. Once the victims reached the destination
country, the traffickers typically confiscated their travel documents, kept
them in a remote location, and forced them to work. Reports indicated
that employers or traffickers withheld workers' passports or other
documentation. They threatened workers with deportation or prosecution if
they demanded compensation. One trafficking researcher indicated that some
local police cooperated with employers to "shake down" such workers
to deprive them of their wages. Traffickers often used their ties to
organized crime to threaten victims with harm to their families should they
try to escape. They also relied on ties to organized crime in the destination
countries to prevent the victims from leaving and to find employment for the
victims in the local sex industry. Trafficking organizations typically paid
domestic organized crime entities a percentage of their profits in return for
"protection" and for assistance in identifying victims, procuring
false documents, and corrupting law enforcement. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
