Human trafficking increases in Ukraine

Police officers and human rights workers decry Ukraine's expanding human trafficking industry. Sunita Rappai reports.

Reaching Out to Youth: Comic Book on The Stories of Trafficking Survivors

HTP Readers - We have a special post for you! Olga Trusova, a Fulbright Fellow who researched issues of trafficking, education and prevention in Ukraine and Dan Archer, a comics-journalist from California and founder of www.archcomix.com have teamed up to produce Borderland, a comic book based on the stories of trafficking victims to help raise awareness particularly among youth. Please see more information from the authors below as well as a way to get involved!

Borderland comic is coming soon!
As many of you know, we have been working on a comic called Borderland over the past year. In Borderland, we wanted to explore the human trafficking equation from a new perspective—to challenge our understanding of this complex issue. Borderland tells seven stories about human trafficking based on real testimonies from survivors. From a pastry maker in Warsaw to a waitress in Istanbul, the underground world of human trafficking touches every aspect of modern life. Often in surprising and unlikely ways. We are thrilled to announce that Borderland will be printed and distributed to schools and youth in Ukraine by the International Organization for Migration this fall. Now we are looking for ways to reach a similar audience in the United States. Please, take a speak peak at the first story from Borderland on our website: http://www.borderlandcomics.com and pre-order your full copy on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/dfcJUS

Support Borderland on KickStarter
By pitching in you can help us raise $8,000 on KickStarter to support and complete this project. We have two goals: to print and distribute a hard copy of the comic in the U.S., complete with extensive footnotes, research notes and further links; and to create an interactive iPhone/iPad app to promote awareness of the issue to a younger, tech-savvy U.S. audience. By pledging as little as $5, you can help make this happen and, as a bonus, will get various goodies such as a signed hard copy of the comic book, posters, behind the scenes pack, your name in the acknowledgements page, and more. Go to http://kck.st/dfcJUS and pledge!

About the Authors
Olga Trusova, a Fulbright Fellow from Stanford University, spent a year conducting research and collecting authentic stories told by victims of human trafficking in Eastern Europe. Dan Archer, a comics-journalist from California, a founder of www.archcomix.com and 2010 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow, has turned these testimonies into comics to create a comic book anthology project titled Borderland. The project began with a belief that as consumers of various goods and services, people should be aware of where those goods and services come from and at what cost. The U.S. government has tremendous influence on foreign governments and their policies, therefore it is important to bring its citizens' attention to such a powerful issue through an innovative combination of comic art and interactive technology. By reading Borderland, you help make the change!

I also had a chance to interview Olga Trusova, one of the co-authors, about this effort. Here a few of her responses:

EG: What about your research in Ukraine led you to believe that a comic book would be a good way to spread the message about trafficking?

OT: About a year ago I came to IDEO's Social Impact Lab with a question of "How might we prevent human trafficking?" that I was trying to answer as an upcoming Fulbright Fellow in Ukraine. A lot has happened since our initial brainstorm and I'm glad to share that one of the solutions proposed by IDEO folks back then has now become a reality! I decided to focus on comics and interactive storytelling as a way to engage with young audiences in order to raise awareness about this issue. It will be printed and distributed by the International Organization for Migration in 136 schools across four regions of Ukraine in the first pilot this Fall.

EG: Even though it is through a comic book medium, do you feel young students are able to understand human trafficking despite the complexity and difficulty of the material?

OT: I've conducted a number of focus groups with students in Ukraine and found that they were very excited to see comics about Ukrainians in Ukrainian. A lot of them were familiar with manga and American comics, so it was an easy medium for them to understand. I was also glad to see how many discussions sparked after the feedback session (with "Lera's Story" in particular, students were wondering why Lera felt unhappy in the end, how she got her job, why she wanted to find her mother in the first place, and so on). That is really the point of this comic - to promote an open dialogue about a taboo subject in a society that is highly affected by this horrific issue. While NGOs put together comprehensive materials with statistics, hot line info, and case studies, youth don't really relate to such dry documents and often prefer to read comics and play video games. Yet they are the ones who will be making life changing decisions soon. My goal was to start a mind shift in how we think about human trafficking in addition to teaching kids tips and tricks on how to avoid it.

EG: Will the stories be redone in any way for a U.S. audience compared with the Ukrainian series?

OT: In Borderland, I wanted to explore the human trafficking equation from a new perspective—to challenge our understanding of this complex issue. The comic will be available in Ukrainian, Russian, and English for a wider reach. This way it'll be used as a preventative tool among youth in Ukraine on the one hand, while on the other - it'll serve as a way for spreading awareness in the West.

New Documentary on Trafficking to be Screened in New York City

I was first drawn to the film Fatal Promises by the outstanding outreach effort of Anneliese Rohrer, who contacted HTP about posting information about the film's upcoming screenings in New York City. Upon taking a look on the film's website, I noticed a host of familiar faces and stories from both Ukraine and New York State in the film's preview. Last night, I had the privilege of speaking with Kat Rohrer about the making and upcoming screening of Fatal Promises, which Kat directed. The film provides a "comprehensive look at the realities of human trafficking versus the rhetoric of politicians and pundits who claim to be making significant strides in combating this horrific crime against humanity." The title, according to Rohrer, represents the fatal promises made by traffickers to their victims and the seemingly empty promises made by the international community to stop the crime and assist victims.

The synopsis of the film does not exaggerate when it states that the film is comprehensive: it covers the crime as it exists in both sex and labor trafficking with the stories of both male and female victims, a defining reality of trafficking that is often overlooked. When asked about how this film will make its own unique mark in the anti-trafficking media and film, Ms. Rohrer referred to this aspect of the film, and of the film's additional focus on the "hypocrisy on every level in every country "often put forward by lawmakers who lack the political will to put pen to paper when it comes to drafting effective anti-trafficking laws.

This is Rohrer's first feature film, and is the culmination of over four years of research and collaborative efforts. Her inspiration from the film started from a New York Times article in 2005, and she decided to do something through film, her expertise. This was followed by fact-finding missions to Ukraine and other areas of Europe and around the United States where Rohrer interviewed victims, stakeholders and activists like Emma Thompson and Gloria Steinem. Rohrer even utilized tools like Google Alerts on "human trafficking" to receive news about upcoming events in the counter-trafficking field that helped her connect with activists in the US. Some of the activists and organization are now featured on the film's website (a great idea for other individuals looking for continuously updated news on human trafficking).

I was particularly moved by Rohrer's description of the interviews that she and her crew conducted with a victim by the name of Katja, who was victimized in a suburban US neighborhood and now speaks about her experiences on major news networks and even testified to Congress. Rohrer credits Katja for being instrumental to the creation of the film through her strength and courage to work with the crew and share her story.

Today (Sep. 15) kicks off a week of screenings in New York City at the School of the Visual Arts Theater. This will then be followed by a week of screenings at Cinema Village and trafficking related events including panel discussions featuring activists and NGO representatives. Rohrer continues to work closely with Emma Thompson and the unique art installation "Journey." We will hopefully be seeing the two unique media displays together in several cities around the US. Rohrer stated there are several follow-up actions being planned for after the NYC screenings, including the possibility of an amended film for the European market to include more information on the destination countries in Europe.

For individuals looking to get involved, the film's website offers numerous outlets for people who want to contribute to the cause. Some of them include:

Attend the screenings! All participants will receive tools to help them report trafficking and create awareness. TIckets for the Cinema Village screening can be purchased here.

Purchase handmade jewelry from Justice Juels. Proceeds will benefit Faith, Hope, Love, a victim services agency in Odessa, Ukraine. This is an organization from which Rohrer and the film's crew gained a lot of valuable insight and information. They provide comprehensive victim services, and their efforts have been recognized by multiple international organizations.

Listen to the new song by Felicia Alima featuring Chino called "Trade."

To receive regular updates on how you can get involved or attend related events, please sign up for their newsletter (Contact: fp@greenkatproductions.com) and Facebook page.

The preview at the beginning of the post was embedded from Kat Rohrer's blog and is also available on the website of Fatal Promises.

Ukraine Students Protest Prostitution & Sex Tourism

Turbulent Waters: 21st Century Galley Slaves

Most of the goods we consume are transported by sea on ships where working conditions recall those of the galley ships of another age. Turbulent Waters takes us into this murky world where ship owners, (like the family of former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin) avoid operating standards and working conditions in force in their own countries by registering their ships offshore in tax havens like Panama, the Bahamas, or Liberia. They then hire seafarers for cheap in the Philippines, India, China, or the Ukraine. Turbulent Waters tells the story of some of these seafarers - equivalent to 21st century galley-slaves - and of the turbulent seas they inhabit in the world of corporate globalisation. The feature-length documentary is directed and written by Malcolm Guy and Michelle Smith.

An excerpt from the film:

Sprite Zungu, an inspector with the International Transport Federation, defends seafarers who have decided to go on strike because they have not been paid for several months. Turbulent Waters tells the story of these seafarers -- equivalent to 21st century galley slaves -- and of the turbulent seas they inhabit in a world of corporate globalisation. Scene from the film Turbulent Waters by Malcolm Guy and Michelle Smith.



Visit the Turbulent Waters website

Ukranian Anti-Trafficking Commercial

Ukraine takes steps to curb trafficking

From the Kyiv Post:

With no money, no husband, a sick mother and two children, Natalia became an ideal target for a human trafficking network that has claimed an estimated 100,000 victims in independent Ukraine.

Natalia’s journey took the 38yearold woman from her hometown in western Ukraine, to a brothel in Western Europe for six months and back again to her native country, where she is now working at a printing house.
While Ukraine continues to be a haven for traffickers, the situation is not entirely bleak and there is progress to report.

According to a recent U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, the Ukrainian government is doing a better job of punishing convicted traffickers, both through convictions and longer prison sentences. The government is also improving its prosecution of labor traffickers, training the judiciary and carrying out prevention strategies.

However, the State Department criticized the Ukrainian government for not doing enough to help victims. A weak witness protection program and a bias against sex trafficking victims which discourages many from testifying in courts, according to the report.

For example, Natalia, which is not her real name, is afraid to press charges against the woman who deceived her and then recruited her into the network where she was sexually exploited...

From 2000 to 2008, IOM assisted 5,214 Ukrainians who were trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation.

Jeffrey Labovitz, chief of mission in Ukraine for IOM, says trafficking in Ukraine remains an “acute problem” and says the government needs to take more responsibility to decrease the number of trafficked victims.

“They need to go after the big fish,” says Labovitz, speaking about the lack of prosecution against the traffickers, who adds that weak prosecution of traffickers prevents Ukraine from getting a top ranking for combating the problem.

The organization helps victims reintegrate into society and provides them with shelter, medical, psychological, legal and job placement assistance. It also runs five centers for migrant advice throughout the country where Ukrainians can get information on workers’ rights, contract terms, visas and fraudulent schemes used to lure workers abroad.

Labovitz believes that Ukraine has, over the last few years, improved its efforts to deal with trafficking by setting up a countertrafficking department within the Interior Ministry that employs over 300 employees. He also points to the statistics and says 90 percent of Ukrainians understand what trafficking is, a significant increase over the last five years, when only 60 percent of Ukrainians knew what trafficking was, he says.

Labovitz says partnerships to reduce human trafficking are crucial. “You need the government, civic society, corporate Ukraine and international organizations working together to get the maximum effect,” he said. Joint efforts remain essential to tackling this problem and over the years more partnerships have been formed between the public and private sector.
Partnership programs between international organizations and the government have helped Ukraine rise from the Tier 2 watch list, a type of “red flag,” to Tier 2, a slight improvement...

New partnerships between the public and private sector are a recent phenomenon and more companies are climbing on board to raise awareness of trafficking. A new campaign was launched by Ukrainian oil company Galnaftogas in February 2008 that includes countertrafficking billboards at 12 OKKO gas stations in Lviv, Volyn and Zakarpattya oblasts warning travelers of human trafficking. In addition, three leading mobile companies Kyivstar, Life, MTS, have joined forces and set up a tollfree number “527” that provides information and assistance on trafficking to callers. Microsoft Ukraine has also donated software to seven nongovernmental organizations meant to train trafficked victims and help them with their job skills. MTV Ukraine has been involved by donating airtime for public service announcements informing viewers of the dangers of working abroad...

Natalia’s story

Despite a steadily improving economy that is reducing financial desperation, Natalia’s story is still all too common in Ukraine. Millions of people still remain mired in poverty or lowwage jobs in tiny villages scattered throughout the nation.

The IOM, which assisted Natalia, set up an interview between her and the Kyiv Post on the condition that her real name and other identifying information not be used. She is a woman with shortbrown hair, skyblue eyes and two gold teeth. Wearing an all-white crochet dress and a gold cross around her neck, her nails are not painted and her makeup is minimal.

Like many deceived victims, Natalia said she was destitute when a young woman approached her as she was working in a local market in her hometown. The woman asked if she was interested in working abroad.

“She promised good money,” says Natalia in a shaky voice, her mascara watering as tears begin to trickle down her face.

“This woman knew I had no money, no husband, a sick mother and two children and she knew I was desperate,” she says. Natalia was told she would work in the home of a family in a Western European nation.

It turned out to be a lie.

“When I arrived, I asked where the family was, where the washing machine was and all the other things I would need to help around the house. Suddenly a large man dressed in black threw cheap lingerie at me and said I had to work to pay off the cost of my travel, and that’s when I knew I had been trafficked. I knew I had been trafficked on the first day.”

Natalia worked with five other women from Ukraine and Moldova in a small apartment, where she was forced to service up to four men a day, she says. She worked in slavelike conditions for six months until she got pregnant and begged to be sent back to Ukraine by one of her customers, who refused to pay for an abortion. The abortion had to wait until she returned to Ukraine.

*Photo courtesy of IOM Mission in Ukraine

OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine fosters local police, NGO co-operation on anti-trafficking measures

KHMELNYTSKY, Ukraine, 16 July 2008 - The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine has launched a series of training courses for local precinct police inspectors on combating human trafficking, with the first session starting in Khmelnytsky in western Ukraine today.

The series of 72 training and networking meetings for up to 1,800 police officers will take place in 12 regions of Ukraine until October. The meetings will provide training opportunities for local level officers and facilitate their co-operation with anti-trafficking non-governmental organizations to prevent trafficking as well as to identify and refer trafficked persons.

"Through this co-operative effort with the Interior Ministry, the OSCE is assisting Ukraine to fulfil its commitments as reflected in the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings," said Ambassador Lubomir Kopaj, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.

The course targets precinct police inspectors, who work to prevent crime in local communities through raising public awareness, assisting with the criminal investigations and helping people whose rights have been infringed. Much of their work is carried out in close contact with public authorities and civil society groups.

"The precinct police inspectors' service is ideally positioned to play a key role within the national referral mechanism for victims of trafficking - they work in local communities and are most likely to come in contact with potential and possible victims of trafficking," added Kopaj.

"The co-operation between anti-trafficking NGOs and community-level police will help 'rank and file' precinct police officers understand the problem and strengthen their outreach work. We have developed a specialized training programme for this branch of the Ukrainian police force in order to ensure their inclusion in the national anti-trafficking effort."

During the first stage of the project, which is implemented in partnership with the Interior Ministry, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine also conducted one-day training courses for the heads of regional and district Precinct Police Inspectors Services.

The training sessions are funded by the Danish Foreign Ministry as part of the Danish Programme Against Human Trafficking in Eastern and South Eastern Europe.

OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine

Working with law enforcement has been one of the more active areas of the OSCE's anti-trafficking efforts in Ukraine this year. During interviews with several Ukrainian NGOs that carry out victim reintegration programs, there was an expressed concern about the relationship between law enforcement and victims. Although victim identification by law enforcement is on the rise and cooperation between NGOs, IOs, and law enforcement is improving under programs such as these, there is still an overwhelming mistrust for law enforcement by victims. At least three of the NGOs interviewed will be taking part in the OSCE project.

Private Sector-NGO Cooperation to Combat Human Trafficking in Ukraine

On June 18, representatives from the nongovernmental, international and private sectors gathered in Kyiv to discuss building private sector and NGO partnership to combat human trafficking in Ukraine at a conference sponsored by the International Organization Mission to Ukraine and USAID.

From the IOM press release:

"IOM Ukraine, in tandem with its network of Ukrainian NGOs dedicated to eradicating the evil of human trafficking, have begun to enlist the assistance of the private sector to build the sustainability of counter-trafficking initiatives in Ukraine. Key speakers at the conference will include representatives of Ukrainian and international companies who have demonstrated corporate social responsibility and an unmistakable willingness to collaborate with IOM on anti-trafficking campaigns and projects."



Over 60 participants from Ukrainian NGOs, the private sector and international organizations took part in the panel discussions and the interactive sessions aimed at finding common ground between private sector businesses and non-governmental organizations working to combat trafficking. The panelists came from major companies already doing socially responsible work as well as NGO directors who have had some success bringing in private donors.

Here are the profiles and presentation summaries of some of the companies and organizations that provided speakers for the conference:

Galnaftogaz

Galnaftogaz is a Ukrainian fuel retail company with filling stations all over the country. The company recently took part in an information campaign that posted large billboards at entry and exit points on Ukraine's borders warning about the dangers of trafficking with hotline numbers. The stated objectives of the campaign were to 1.) provide Ukrainians going abroad with safe migration information, 2.) inform Ukrainians returning to their home country about the National Counter-Trafficking hotline and 3.) to raise public awareness on the issue of human trafficking. According to the company, they choose to cooperate in combating trafficking because, "Everyday we indirectly face consequences of this problem: our filling stations service buses with potential migrants, relatives of our employees can be victims of this problem, etc."

Their approach: Create new workplaces, offer quality business education, reassure citizens that it is worth staying in Ukraine to work, and warn people about the possible problems of leaving the country for uncertain work.


Microsoft Ukraine

Microsoft runs multiple community partnership programs that provide skills training and technology as well as initiating the Coalition for Child Safety Online to help combat cyber crimes affecting children. The Unlimited Potential - Community Technology Skills Program has multiple components. Two that directly affect the fight against human trafficking include the "Learn IT to Find a Job" program, which works with local State Employment Centers and NGOs to provide access to technology skills training to job-seekers (thus lowering the prospects of deciding to leave for work abroad by providing attractive job skills), and the "Information Dissemination and Equal Access" or IDEA project, which was launched in collaboration with Project Harmony International. IDEA Centers offer free monthly training and internet access to centers that provide skills classes to vulnerable groups. Seven centers have been established across the country, and many of these offer training to victims of trafficking.

Kyivstar

Kyivstar is one of Ukraine's largest telecommunications companies and a national mobile operator. The company was recently honored by the IOM for their work with anti-trafficking initiatives. Kyivstar joined together with two other mobile operators to establish a toll-free number "527," which, when dialed, routes the call to a hotline with operators who provide advice and warnings regarding finding work abroad. These operators are also trained to identify and assist people who were exploited while abroad.

Western Union

In 2008, Western Union, which offers financial services and money transfer operations, cooperated with the International Organization for Migration's campaign to raise awareness on the trafficking issue in Ukraine. Brochures are available at over 350 locations of the Ukrainian Financial Group with Western Union Money Transfer services, and a new initiative concerning reintegration assistance to victims of trafficking is about to be launched. The company commits to corporate citizenship in order "to facilitate global economic empowerment and help families stay connected, overcome barriers and realize their dreams.

ADECCO

Every day, ADECCO helps over 700,000 labor migrants to find work through the netwrok of more than 37,000 employees and over 7,000 branch offices in more than 60 countries and territories. The company provides language training as well as integration assistance for people with various levels of experience and matches them with employers who are looking for people with a certain set of skills. The placement process takes about 3 to 5 months on average.

Brainstorming and NGO presentation


One of the NGO leaders that spoke was also a participant in my recent case study project. Elvira Mruchkovska of Suchasnyk in Chernivtsi. The organization conducts programs that help former victims develop business skills, as well as gain support for entrepreneurship projects. There was a also a project recently that helped support female victims through manufacturing crafts and promoting them in Ukraine and abroad.


The event ended with a few brainstorming sessions where NGOs and private sector participants spoke together about how NGOs can approach businesses to help support their activities including understanding business motivations, doing research on the goals of companies to identify ways to approach them with mutual benefits involved in the project, coming up with creative ideas for projects that target businesses would support, being able to explain the advantages of the organization's work to businesses, among many other ideas.

*All photos were taken by the IOM.

New Yorker Special on Trafficking

From The New Yorker:

The upcoming May 5th edition of the New Yorker features a lengthy article entitled, "The Countertraffickers: Rescuing the victims of the global sex trade." on trafficking in Moldova. This article is extremely useful to learn more about the many facets of trafficking and the response to trafficking. The main focus of the story is the work of a reintegration specialist for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Moldova and her tales of success and challenge in her years of work on this issue.

Rotaru, who is twenty-six, works for the International Organization for Migration, a group connected to the United Nations, in Chisinau, Moldova. She is a repatriation specialist. Her main task is bringing lost Moldovans home. Nearly all her clients are victims of human trafficking, most of them women sold into prostitution abroad, and their stories pour across her desk in stark vignettes and muddled sagas of desperation, violence, betrayal, and sorrow.

Her allies and colleagues in this work are widely scattered. An ebullient Dubai prison officer named Omer, who calls Rotaru "sister," has been a help. So have Russian policemen, an Israeli lawyer, a Ukrainian psychologist, an Irish social worker, a Turkish women's shelter, Interpol, and various consulates and embassies, as well as travel agents, priests, and partner organizations, including an anti-trafficking group called La Strada, which has offices downstairs from Rotaru's and a dedicated victims' hot line.

The article does go on to introduce the reader to some of these colleagues. The article also provides a bigger picture of human trafficking and responses to it.

There are roughly two hundred million migrants today - migrants being defined as people living outside their homelands. The reasons for this are globalization, and wars, and new border freedoms, and, above all, disparities in economic opportunity. Along the nether edge of the huge movement of people, human trafficking thrives.

Migrant smuggling is different from trafficking. Migrants pay smugglers to deliver them, illegally, to their destinations. The line into trafficking is crossed when coercion and fraud are used. (This line is not always clear, and many migrants endure varying degrees of mistreatment.) Trafficking can start with a kidnapping. More commonly, it starts with a broken agreement about a job promised, conditions of work, or one's true destination. Most victims suffer some combination of threats, violence, forced labor, and effective imprisonment. The commercial sex industry, according to the International Labor Organization, absorbs slightly less than half of all trafficked labor worldwide. Construction, agriculture, domestic service, hazardous industries, armed conflict, and begging are some of the other frequent sites of extreme, illegal exploitation.

Not all trafficking is international. India, for instance, has an immense domestic network, with large numbers of children being sold and resold, for labor and household servitude and prostitution. No reliable numbers exist, though. For cross-border trafficking worldwide, estimates range from half a million people annually to several times that figure.

The article also takes time to point out the difficulties facing organizations trying to work with victims including domestic violence, psychological problems, risks of re-trafficking, mistrust of authorities, victim-blaming, etc. All of this comes out in detail through interviews with various people, organizations, and victims. As well, the article points out that awareness can only do so much to prevent people from becoming victims. Even is a victim is aware of the problem, they often feel it is somehow distant from them or that it won't happen to them personally. This is also the case with former victims who decide to go abroad again: they think they're smarter now and can avoid any such situation.

One victim's story is also quite important for breaking the notion that it is just uneducated, poor people who are tricked into trafficking:

Were all her beneficiaries from broken, violent, alcoholic, impoverished families?

"Not at all," she said. "We received a call from one of our embassies last year. A girl from a prominent family had been trafficked. They wanted to keep the case quiet, of course. So this tragedy happened to her, but she has good parents. Bright future. Not like most girls."

The only area the article doesn't really cover is labor trafficking, child trafficking or trafficking of men. Obviously, as the title suggests, the article is meant to explain more about women caught up in the global sex trade. However, organizations like the International Organization for Migration also deal with the growing field of labor and child trafficking. In fact, it has been found that sometimes the two areas are overlapping and people are trafficked for both sex and labor. Also, especially women and children, are at risk of sexual abuse if they are trafficked for labor.

One area that does graze the issue of child trafficking are the risks of "social orphans" or children who are missing parents because the parents have gone abroad. This is also a major issue for Ukraine. For the most part, no one knows what happens to these children once they leave the orphanages.

The article follows the trail and structure of organized traffickers, delving into areas of corruption and poor attitudes among law enforcement, courts, and government ministries that only fuel the problem.

If you do not have time to read the article right away, there is an audio clip interviewing the author about the article with some of the interesting pieces there.

Trafficking Ring busted in Bukovina region of Ukraine

This is my translation of an article from DELFI. Here is the original in Russian.

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.

The Abolition of EU Border Control Measures May Increase Trafficking

From the Earth Times:

KIEV, Ukraine- The abolition of European Union border control measures leaves the porous 1,800-mile Ukrainian border the final barrier against illegal immigrants

Nine additional members of the EU signed onto the Schengen agreement Dec. 21, abolishing border control measures between participating countries, making Ukraine the last frontier between non-EU members and the Schengen zone, The Sunday Times of London reports.

A human trafficker boasting a 70 percent success rate in trafficking told the newspaper he expects "business to boom" because his clients can pass into the EU without showing their passports.

Ukrainian border guards detained nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants in 2007 and official estimates put the number caught at only 20 percent, the Sunday Times reported.

The trafficker said corruption plays a role and cites several instances of paying off border guards. The smuggler said most of the immigrants entering the EU through Ukraine go through Moscow.

"Happy" Trafficking

From RFE/RL:

Lia was lured by a "friend" from her native Moldova with promises of a job and a better life. But once in Turkey, those hopes were quickly replaced with fears for her life after the acquaintance turned her over to sex traffickers. She'd been "betrayed" and unwittingly sold into a nightmare existence. "I was humiliated, and I can't find the right words to describe the horrors I was going through," Lia told RFE/RL's Romania-Moldova Service after she'd managed to escape. "I took a bath every time I came across some water, hoping the soap could wash away all the pain from my body. There was not a single day without sexual abuse and threats."

Reliable data are hard to find, but an estimated 2.5 million people are victims of forced labor at any given moment around the world, many for sexual exploitation. Victims are trafficked across borders, regions, and continents as part of a trade that reaps some $32 billion a year -- half of it from transactions in the industrialized world.

The antitrafficking community -- allying government officials, multinational organizations, and civil-society activists -- fears that the prevalence of a tactic known as "happy trafficking" could extend the reach of traffickers and exacerbate the problem.

The method minimizes risks to organizers and maximizes profits in a sort of human pyramid scheme. It combines physical and psychological pressure with financial and other incentives to turn victims into proxy recruiters and, eventually, traffickers. In part to avoid detection by authorities, traffickers pledge to release some victims -- and even reward them financially -- on condition that they return to their home countries and recruit one or more women to replace them.

"Happy" refers to recruiters' practice of pretending to have had an ideal experience in legitimate jobs in the West or elsewhere, hiding the fact that they'd been forced into prostitution themselves. International media first signaled the emergence of "happy trafficking" in the Balkans and Italy, but campaigners warn that it has become common practice in many parts of the world. In Europe, the converted recruiters are frequently former sex workers from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, or Balkan and Southeastern European states like Bulgaria and Romania.

Central Asia is also emerging as one of the hot spots where "happy traffickers" are active. One activist who works with trafficked women in Thailand told RFE/RL that large numbers of Central Asian women have been turned into sex workers in Bangkok.

The activist, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, singled out young Uzbek women as especially prevalent, perhaps due to broad unhappiness over poverty and dire social conditions at home. "I meet literally hundreds of women from Central Asia -- particularly from Uzbekistan -- on any night of the week," the activist said. "I haven't got any statistics, but I would probably estimate that at least a couple of thousand Uzbek women, if not more, are in Thailand as sex workers."

She said thousands of women from Uzbekistan are lured to Thailand by Uzbek recruiters known as "Mama-sans" -- former sex workers who have themselves become madams under the supervision of traffickers.

Reprisals are harsh against those who try to escape, so the prospect of release in exchange for recruiting new victims can be difficult to resist. Traffickers are keen to use the former sex workers as go-betweens because they are familiar with the business and, at the same time, provide criminal organizers a way to remain invisible to authorities.

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US to Step Up Pressure with TIP Report Changes

From Ukrainian News Online:

The Unites States has urged Ukraine to step up the fight against human trafficking. Ukrainian News learned this from a statement by the press service of the Ministry for Affairs of Family, Youth Policy, and Sport.

On Wednesday, First Deputy Minister for Affairs of Family, Youth Policy, and Sport Ilia Shevliak met with Michael Scanlan, the Head of Law Enforcement Section at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

Scanlan said that within an annual Trafficking in Persons Report by the U.S. Department of State, a list is drawn up dividing countries into three groups depending on the level of fight against human trafficking. He said Ukraine was in the second group. The countries of the group are defined as countries with drawbacks in their legislation on the matter, but making efforts to fight human trafficking.

Scanlan said his government was drawing up a bill stipulating that a country in the second group will be automatically transferred to the third group of countries if such a country stays in the second group for two years (the countries of the third group do not receive technical aid).

He also said that information about the work of the Ukrainian government agencies in 2007 gave grounds to expect that the bill could address Ukraine.

Shevliak said in turn that the interdepartmental coordination council would convene for a meeting in March to draw up measures improving the fight against human trafficking.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in 2007, the U.S. Department of State said Ukraine had not improved the protection of victims of human trafficking.

The State Department's TIP report and the economic repercussions of falling into the Second Tier Watchlist or Third Tier have prompted some response in countries that face either the withholding of aid or putting forth a stronger effort in the fight against human trafficking. Israel stands as one example of the effective use of pressure from the U.S.

Trade Unions Welcome Entry into Force of CoE Convention

This release came from ITUC website:

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) have welcomed the entry into force of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Convention becomes legally binding on the first ten countries to have ratified it (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia), on 1 February, with Bosnia-Herzegovina, France and Norway following on 1 May. Most European countries have taken the first steps to ratify the Convention, with the UK having already announced its intention to complete the ratification by the end of 2008.

“Human trafficking is an appalling reality which exists in much of Europe. Putting this Convention into place, alongside the relevant International Labour Organisation Conventions, will help ensure that Europe plays its part in tackling this worldwide scourge. It is the first legally binding European instrument on this issue”, said John Monks, General Secretary of the ETUC and of the ITUC’s Pan-European Regional Council (PERC).

Trade union organisations throughout Europe are active in the fight against human trafficking, and will form part of a Global Trade Union Alliance to combat forced labour and human trafficking. The alliance is being established by the ITUC with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ILO estimates that some 2.45 million people, most of them women and children, are victims of trafficking around the world. Around 43% of the total are trapped in commercial sexual exploitation, while around one-third are exploited in agriculture, sweatshops and private households.

“We are encouraging our member organisations in Europe to push their governments to ratify this Convention and to make sure it is fully enforced. The criminal gangs and the recruiters who organise this trade in human beings must be stopped and punished, and the factors which make people vulnerable to this exploitation must be dealt with”, said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder...

“Our global alliance against forced labour and trafficking will mobilise increased trade union action around the world against this form of modern-day slavery”, said Ryder.

Yes, the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Human Trafficking has come into force now. Ukraine has still not ratified it. And as far as my research has shown me, it may still be a while before they are able to reach the point of ratification. A big hurdle Ukraine will have to overcome in order to ratify and meet the requirements of the Convention has to do with the protection of victims during and after the court process. A recent meeting with a representative of the Supreme Court of Ukraine revealed that things like witness and victim intimidation as well as the risks the victim is exposed to during the investigation are huge factors as to why victims often will not follow through with testifying and ultimately the traffickers end up not being prosecuted under anti-trafficking law. The CoE Convention will require all of that to change, which will require effort and funds from the government and law enforcement. The IOM has been working on joint projects to improve this situation for victims.

As far as trade unions are concerned,up until recently, they were not taking part in anti-trafficking activity (See page 43-44). This situation has improved a bit, but only a select few in Ukraine cooperate with intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations in the country to contribute to the fight against human trafficking: the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine, the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, among a couple others. IPEC has stated that this situation has improved over the last couple of years, and the involvement of trade unions is important for building a union-employer-government network to address the issue.

By the way, I am very excited to report that I will be attending the UN GIFT Vienna Forum in two weeks. I will be sure to update the site with information from the conference so please make sure to keep re-visiting the site!

Report from Turkey Releases Data from 2004-2006

Istanbul

From Today's Zaman: Turkish authorities intercepted some 246 victims of human trafficking in 2006, an overwhelming majority of whom came from former Soviet Union countries, official data announced yesterday revealed.

One hundred ninety-one of the victims have been safely sent back to their home countries. The data, announced in a 55-page report prepared jointly by officials from the Interior Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the police department and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), show that the number of people falling victim to human trafficking has remained steady in past years: In 2004, authorities identified 239 victims and in 2005, the number stood at 256.

According to the report, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine top the countries of origin for victims of human trafficking in Turkey. Turkey has in the past been more of an origin country itself, but in the recent past has grown as a destination country as its economy gets stronger. Of course the most frequent place these victims were found was in Antalya, a very popular Turkish Mediterranean resort destination for Eastern Europeans. I can't tell you how many advertisements I see around Ukraine for tourism to Turkey, with the most popular site being Antalya. Not that those are necessarily connected, but to some extent, they are.

The last two paragraphs of the article really shocked me:

A significant instrument in the rescue of human trafficking victims is a hotline launched in 2005. According to the report, some 56 people were rescued by security forces after victims themselves or others dialed 157 for help. As in previous years, the clients of women forced to prostitution themselves proved to be the most helpful: Clients of friends/relatives of the women made 81 percent of the calls to 157, while only 19 percent of the calls were made by the victims themselves.

All of the victims repatriated to their countries by IOM were women, the report also revealed, and 40 percent of them had one or more children. The report also showed an increase in the number of people detained for human trafficking in 2006 compared to earlier years. Some 422 people were detained in 2006, 379 in 2005 and 277 in 2004. A total of 156 people were arrested after being brought to court, while 127 were released pending trial in 2006.

A couple things did not necessarily strike me as out of the ordinary:

1) The success of the hotline. It also has been a very useful counter-trafficking instrument here in Ukraine as well, although the national hotline also gets an excessive amount of phone calls with questions regarding migration.

2)Women victims often have children. So do male victims of labor trafficking.

However what did surprise me was the amount of victims who called in themselves for help as well as the fact that clients were willing to step out and report what was happening. Its good to hear more people are being detained under the law. I'm hoping and assuming they're detaining more traffickers and pimps as opposed to victims. I'll have to go through the whole report.

Sex Slaves, Human Trafficking ... in America?

From MSNBC:

In spring of 2004, Katya (not her real name), like thousands of other foreign exchange university students, was looking forward to the summer job placement that she and a friend had received in Virginia Beach, Va. When she and her friend Lena arrived at Dulles Airport after a long flight from Ukraine, they were relieved to be met by fellow countrymen who spoke Russian.

The two men, Alex Maksimenko and Michael Aronov, were holding signs with the girls’ names and greeted them by taking their bags and luggage. Charming and reassuring, Aronov informed the girls that they had been reassigned to a job in Detroit where they would waitress and perfect their English language skills.

The men drove Katya and Lena to the Greyhound bus station and gave them tickets to Detroit. Confused and exhausted, the girls had no reason to question the change of plans.

“When we got to the hotel in Detroit, everything changed,” says Katya. “They closed the door and sat us down on the couch, took our passports and papers and said, ‘You owe us big money for bringing you here.’ They gave us strip clothes and told us that we were going to be working at a strip club called Cheetahs.”

Shocked and scared, the two women were subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse over the next year as they were forced to work 12-hour shifts stripping for local Detroit men’s clubs. According to immigration customs agent Angus Lowe, the men controlled the women through intimidation with guns and threats to hurt family members back home.

Katya and her friend are two of the estimated 17,000 young women and girls annually who are forced to work in the sex industry in the U.S. by organized criminals. “Chicago, Houston, St. Paul, Minnesota, these crimes are happening in every community in America big and small,” says Marcie Forman, director of investigations for ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement). “We’re talking about money here. Millions of dollars, and these people don’t think about these women as human beings. They think of them as dollars and cents,” Forman says.

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Enslaved in the U.S.A.

Source: Corbis

From the National Review Online:

As public awareness has grown about global sex trafficking, Americans were shocked to learn that victims from places such as Mexico, Korea, and Ukraine were sexually enslaved in their towns and cities. In communities across the country, concerned citizens voiced calls for zero tolerance for modern-day slavery.

President Bush made combating human trafficking a priority. Both Attorney Generals Ashcroft and Gonzales have spoken out against trafficking in the U.S. and made the investigation and prosecution of trafficking a priority. Most of the focus on identifying and assisting victims and prosecuting offenders has been on foreign nationals trafficked into the U.S.

There are more American citizens than foreign nationals victimized by sex traffickers in the U.S., yet there are no federally funded services for them, particularly if they are over age 17.

Service providers who have requested funds from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) to assist American victims have been turned down repeatedly by government agencies. The recent attorney general’s report states that TVPA funds are dedicated to non-U.S. citizen victims. Therefore, if you are a victim of sex trafficking in the U.S. from Mexico or Ukraine, there is money for immediate services ($1300 a month), but there are no funds similarly available for an American victim.

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