A human trafficking ring is exposed in Bukovina
According to the Public Relations Section of Administration of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine in the Chernvitsi Oblast [region], employees of the department responsible for combating crimes connected to human trafficking have blocked a ring that exports young girls to Russia for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
According to information from the head of the Special Department Alexander Rarenko, police arrested a 37 year old man and a 17 year old girl who are residents of the Chernivtsi oblast and who organized the sending to Russia of a 22 year old female from Chernivtsi and a 20 year old resident.
The minor participant of this group was involved in the recruitment of young girls, and her places of focus were night clubs, bars, and discos, where she looked for future victims, for which she was paid $200 for each one.
The young swindler promised the unskilled girls a better life, good pay and work with the support of VIP clients, and as many of the candidates came from difficult families, the majority of them agreed. The pimps promised to pay them $1,000 a month, but this money was never paid.
Prosecutors have established that now in Moscow there are some girls from Bukovina in sexual slavery, and they have taken measures concerning their return to Ukraine. It is also established that members of the criminal group prepared exit documents to Moscow for several minors of Bukovina, but their attempt was cut short.
I chose this article for two reasons:
1.) I lived in Bukovina, in Chernivtsi, for six months in 2006 so news like this is difficult for me to hear, personally. It's a small area, and I still have friends there. There are not that many clubs and bars as compared to places like Kyiv so odds are, I know some of these places of recruitment. $1.000 a month is a huge sum of money for an unskilled worker from this area. 2.) This article touches on an issue that came up while I was doing research on the developments of Ukraine in preparation for ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings: Some of these girls who consent to work abroad in the sex industry have extremely warped concepts of what that may entail. And their traffickers are quick to exploit that.
For example, a prosecutor in the Dnipropetrovsk region asked some of the victims she was working with what made them feel safe in accepting these offers to work in the sex industry abroad, and most of them answered that they believed they would be working with young, attractive, and rich clients who wouldn't treat them bad. It was a glamorous view of the world of high-end prostitution, prevalent on TV programs. They perceived little risk that they would be locked up or beaten or forced to work extemely long days in dangerous conditions.