Hello, bradboye-ga!
You have chosen a very interesting and, unfortunately, sad subject to
research. I hope you learn a lot from your pursuits, as I did, and
that you can effectively impart what you learn to help teach others
about the horrific practice of human trafficking. I have compiled a
wealth of references that should keep you busy for quite some time, as
each link seems to lead to another. I have not answered your questions
directly, as you will need to form your own perspective and answers to
the points you have raised. However, the following references touch on
the various issues you have highlighted in your question.
Since most trafficking involves young women and children for the sex
slave industry, the following references follow that track.
The Stop Violence against Women website has a host of articles about
human trafficking in Russia. I have divided the links up a bit, as
some of the references specifically mention the changing economic
conditions in post Cold War Russia and how this has impacted women,
especially.
AFTER THE COLD WAR
==================
The following article provides a wealth information about the plight
of women in Russia, including human trafficking, inequality, domestic
violence, abuse and sexual assault.
* The article is followed by a long list of links to relevant
documents that add further information. I have provided a few
excerpts, but please refer to the entire article and the host of
links!
From "Russian Federation." stopVAW. Last updated June 10, 2004
http://www.stopvaw.org/Russian_Federation.html
"The collapse of the Soviet Union has created political, economic, and
social challenges for most Russians. The weakened state cannot provide
the health care and pension benefits that Russians were accustomed to
during the Soviet era, nor can it guarantee employment. As a result,
Russians face high unemployment rates, wage cuts and delays, and
unsafe working conditions. Russia is also experiencing the social
effects of economic hardship: prostitution, pornography, alcoholism,
and drug abuse are all at much higher levels than before 1991. Women
have been hardest hit by the unstable conditions. They experience
disproportionately high levels of unemployment and poverty, and they
are most often victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human
trafficking."
***
"Russia is primarily a human trafficking source country for Gulf
States and North America. It is a transit and destination country to a
lesser extent. The U. S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons
Report notes that the Russian government has taken steps to address
the problem of trafficking. Most importantly, Russia enacted new
legislation, effective December 13, 2003, which adds new provisions to
the Criminal Code prohibiting trafficking and providing greater
protections for victims. The new legislation defines trafficking as,
"the buying-selling of a person or other actions committed for the
purpose of such person?s exploitation in the form of recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of such person."
Offenders are imprisoned for up to five years; however, they can be
imprisoned for up to fifteen years if any of a number of aggravating
circumstances occurs, such as trafficking multiple persons, minors, or
if the victim dies as a result of the offender?s negligence. Before
this legislation was enacted, trafficking offenders were most commonly
prosecuted under existing rape, slavery, and false documentation
laws."
"Many Russian and international NGOs are working to prevent the
problem of trafficking in women and girls and help victims who are
able to return. Angel Coalition is one of the most successful NGOs
working to combat trafficking in Russia."
"Despite these recent governmental and non-governmental efforts,
trafficking is still a lucrative profession for criminals, and there
is still enough corruption in the system to allow traffickers to
operate. The poverty and lack of awareness that create conditions for
victimization still exist in Russia. The International Organization
for Migration reports that over 100,000 Russians have been victims of
trafficking. Victims are usually poor, uneducated women who are
desperate for lucrative employment.
** The IHF-HR reports that half of trafficking victims were aware of
the nature of their employment before agreeing to leave Russia. The
other half responds to what they believe to be legitimate ads for
Western employment. Even educated women are victims, as they respond
to ads seeking translators or tutors abroad." (see link to this
report below - "A form of slavery....)
Some links from this article:
"Trafficking in Persons Report." U.S. Dept. of State. Released by the
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. June 11, 2003
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2003/21277.htm
* Scroll down to section on Russia
=
Legislation against trafficking:
"Excerpts from Federal Law No. 162-FZ - "On Introducing Changes and
Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation." Passed by
the State Duma on November 21, 2003; Approved by the Federation
Council on November 26, 2003; signed by President Putin on December 8,
2003; effective date December 16, 2003.
http://www.legislationline.org/view.php?document=58712&ref=true
** See "Article 1271 Trafficking in Persons
=
See "Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation: The Case of the Russian
Federation. International Organization for Migration. 2002
http://www.iom.int/documents/publication/en/mrs%5F7%5F2002.pdf
==
Scroll down to page 57 for Russia:
See "A Form of Slavery: Trafficking in Women on OSCE Member States."
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, 2000.
http://www.ihf-hr.org/viewbinary/viewdocument.php?doc_id=1948
==
From "DAPHNE PROJECT ON PREVENTION OF TRAFFICKING OF YOUNG WOMEN."
http://www.ubc.net/bulletin/bulletin2_99/pages/p25.html
"It has been said the major drawback with the fall of the Iron Curtain
is the big problem with trafficking. Many tens of thousands of young
women from East Europe, including the UBC member cities, are forced to
stay in the big cities of western Europe as prostitutes in conditions
that resemble white slave trade."
"After discussions with the European Comission, UBC has initiated a
project to combat traffiking by producing information material for
young women in UBC member cities in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland
and Russia. The aim is to warn about the dangers of beeing trafficked
for the purpose of sexual exploitation and abuse in Western European
countries.
==
Also see:
"Crime & Servitude: An Exposé of the Traffic in Women for Prostitution
from the Newly Independent States." A report prepared by Gillian
Caldwell, Steven Galster, and Nadia Steinzor of the Global Survival
Network. For presentation at an international conference on "The
Trafficking of NIS Women Abroad," sponsored by the Open Society
Institute of the Soros Foundation. Moscow, Russia November 3-5, 1997
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:IWPQO3smCoAJ:www.qweb.kvinnoforum.se/misc/crimeru.rtf+human+traffiking+russia+OR+russian&hl=en
Preface:
"This ground-breaking report details the findings of a two-year
investigation by the Global Survival Network into the trafficking of
women from Russia and the Newly Independent States for prostitution.
Each day, thousands of women and girls are lured into the
international sex trade with promises of a better life and a lucrative
job abroad. These false promises are especially appealing to the
scores of unemployed and underemployed women struggling to survive in
impoverished regions and in societies facing post-Communist
transition. They are transported by bus, plane, and train to Europe,
Asia, the Middle East, and North America, where they unexpectedly find
themselves forced into cruel sexual exploitation. They may be forced
to work for months or years without earnings, and many endure deep
physical and psychological trauma as a result of their experience. In
the worst of cases, they may lose not only their freedom but also
their lives."
==
From "A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE OR A HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS?. An Interview
by Tatyana Fedyaeva." http://www.we-myi.org/issues/34/interview.htm
"We know about slavery from our history books, and we might be
forgiven for thinking that it?s all in the dim and distant past.
Appallingly enough, though, slavery is still with us. And its revival
is taking some utterly incredible, degrading forms. I am talking about
trafficking -the selling of one human being by another. Thinking over
the ethical issues involved, we have to acknowledge that this is a
human rights crisis - not just in Russia but worldwide. And as
offenses go, this one is extraordinary in that it completely
obliterates a person?s rights, leaving no hope, no occasion to
continue the conversation in terms of the individual and his or her
expectations of protection."
"Human trafficking is a matter of conscience. Why is Russia dealing
with this phenomenon now? Fifteen years ago, this problem never even
came up. Firstly, we had the iron curtain. And secondly, we had very
different problems to occupy us. If human rights were ever mentioned,
it was in a whisper. But when the curtain came crashing down, we found
ourselves face to face with a problem that was to us unbelievable: if
there was to be transparency, the state would also have to step up and
start defending the individual. So fevered was the pace of change that
this had somehow been forgotten."
"Trafficking: no rights, no guarantees of security... Why has this
happened? It is purely a matter of economics. The market, paradoxical
as this might sound, has two faces, one civilized and the other
negative. One example of the latter is the situation in which any
article can be traded, including human beings. Women who have landed
in the most brutally hopeless conditions are forced to sell
themselves. They are destitute. They fully realize that they are
buying life at the cost of selling that life. And then there are the
people who take advantage of this, squeezing all the profit they can
from it."
Read further..
MORE ARTICLES ON TRAFFICKING
=============================
"Aid Group Alleges Massive Child-Trafficking in Russia." StopVAW. 10/21/2004
http://www.stopvaw.org/26Oct20042.html
"An aid group says more than 30,000 children and teenagers go missing
every year in Russia, and that at least 500,000 children are living on
the country's streets......"
=
From "Israel a Human Trafficking Haven." Fox News. August 18, 2004
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,129157,00.html
"Human trafficking (search) is turning into a real problem in Israel,
where law enforcement officials say women are bought and sold into the
indentured servitude of the sex industry. The women in question are
usually from the former Soviet Union and are traded by the Russian
mob."
"The same Bedouins who smuggle weapons into Israel bring the women up
through the Egyptian desert, oftentimes with a load of weapons."
==
From "Special Issue: Proceedings of Trafficking in Persons Conference,
June 2003. Human Rights Law Review. March 2004.
http://www.winrock.org/what/pdf/LD_HRLR_Mar04.pdf
"Human trafficking in Europe is controlled primarily be Russian,
Albanian, Estonian, CHechen, Serb and Italian organised criminial
groups. Trafficking victims' arrive in Europe not only from the former
Soviet Union and Eastern European countries but also
from........Finaly, in East Asia, Japan is the major destination
country for women trafficked from the Philippines an dTahilands and
also from Russian and Eastern European countries."
"European NGOs Collaborate to Combat Trafficking." StopVAW. 5/20/2005
http://www.stopvaw.org/20May20053.html
"The European Women?s Lobby has, in conjunction with the Coalition
against Trafficking in Women, started to implement its project
"Promoting preventative measures to combat trafficking in human beings
for sexual exploitation." Focusing on the gaps in anti-trafficking
programs and policies that fail to focus on gender equality and demand
for and links to prostitution, the project will support women?s NGOs
and groups working on these issues in twelve countries: Bulgaria,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo/Albania, Latvia,
Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia, and Serbian-Montenegro. A
consultative seminar will be organized in Brussels on April 22-24 to
draft the national action plans with the partners of all countries
involved."
Link to the European Women's Lobby: (you can perform a search under
"trafficking) http://www.womenlobby.org/home-en.asp?LangName=english
==
From "U.S. Embassy to the Holy See - "A Call to Action: Joining the
Fight against Trafficking in Persons." June 17, 2004
http://vatican.usembassy.it/policy/events/tip2004/poggioli.asp
"IN FACT, IN EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE - THE SOURCE OF THE NEW WAVE
OF GLOBAL HUMAN TRAFFIKING - THIS IS THE GREAT UNDER-REPORTED STORY.
AND THE MAIN REASON IS THAT IT IS SIMPLY TOO DANGEROUS TO TOUCH."
"IT?S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR A REPORTER TO PENETRATE THE INNER WORKINGS
OF THE SEX-SLAVE INDUSTRY - THAT WOULD MEAN PENETRATING THE ALBANIAN,
SERBIAN, RUSSIAN AND OTHER MAFIAS THAT ARE ONLY TOO READY TO KILL
ANYONE TO PROTECT THEIR BUSINESS."
==
Many girls come from Russia...
From "Trafficking in Human Beings in Poland."
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a9906738/Trafficking_in_poland-homepage.html
"A high percentage of trafficked persons are women and girls. Before
1989 most of them came from Africa, Asia or South America. Since the
relaxation of borders in Europe, the number of Eastern Europe
originated trafficking victims has been growing constantly."
"There is no exact profile of the potential trafficked victim, but
there are still some basic characteristics which remain constant.
Beside the large number of female affected (the amount of men is only
10%) , they are almost all between the ages of 18 and 25. This is in
contrast to voluntary immigrants (including prostitutes) who are often
married and have children.
Most Victims trafficked to and through Poland originate in
*** Russia,
the Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Romania (many from roma/Sinti
population) and Bulgaria. Generally they are part of the poorer
population, are unemployed and have little education. Often they try
to escape from dysfunctional families, want to improve their poor
living conditions by going abroad and use Poland as a jumping off
point to other countries. Most of them have to work along the highways
and are forced by their exploiters to sell sex services to truck
drivers crossing through Poland."
"They are in a situation of exploitation as they are acquired, shipped
ans sold. Such organized crime networks mainly originate from the
Ukraine, Belarus,
*** Russia..."
=
A general overview of trafficking:
"Trafficking of Young Women." Claire James and Sandra Atler.
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:qv_CphG0K_4J:www.iyp.oxfam.org/campaign/documents%255Cyouth_commission_report%255CTraffiking.pdf+human+traffiking+russia+OR+russian&hl=en
ORGANIZATIONS CONCERNED WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING
================================================
Angel Coalition (see this site for more links)
----------------
http://www.angelcoalition.org/aboutcoalition1.html
"The Angel Coalition is Russia's largest, most-respected
anti-trafficking consortium. Each year, it conducts international
conferences in Russia that bring together not only members, but
international anti-trafficking leadership."
The European Network Against Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.aretusa.net/
See "The links between trade and human rights. Migration, trafficking
and social development, what is at stake for women?" 6/6/2001
http://www.womenlobby.org/document.asp?DocID=315
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
--------------------------------------
http://www.catwinternational.org/
ORGAN TRAFFICKING
==================
Keep in mine that there is plenty of controversy over whether this
subject is more rumor than fact. Not everything you might read on this
subject can be considered factual.
You might want to read the following report in it's entirety before
the other references I have compiled:
"The Child Organ Trafficking Rumor: A Modern Urban Legend. by Todd
Leventhal. United States Information Agency. 1994
http://pascalfroissart.online.fr/3-cache/1994-leventhal.pdf
==
From "Organ Trafficking in Eastern Europe," by Dr. Sam Vaknin. Peace Media
http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=3184
Excerpts:
"According to scholars, reports of organ thefts and related
abductions, mainly of children, have been rife in Poland and Russia at
least since 1991."
"Meanwhile, hundreds of kidney patients from Israel, which has its own
well -developed, but under-used transplantation centers (due to
ultra-orthodox Jewish reservations about brain death) travel in
'transplant tourist' junkets to Turkey, Moldova, Romania where
desperate kidney sellers can be found, and to Russia where an excess
of lucrative cadaveric organs are produced due to lax standards for
designating brain death, and to South Africa where the amenities in
transplantation clinics in private hospitals can resemble four star
hotels."
"We found in many countries - from Brazil and Argentina to India,
Russia, Romania, Turkey to South Africa and parts of the United States
- a kind of 'apartheid medicine' that divides the world into two
distinctly different populations of 'organs supplies' and 'organs
receivers'."
"Russia, together with Estonia, China and Iraq, is, indeed, a major
harvesting and trading centre. International news agencies described,
five years ago, how a grandmother in Ryazan tried to sell her
grandchild to a mediator. The boy was to be smuggled to the West and
there dismembered for his organs. The uncle, who assisted in the
matter, was supposed to collect $70,000 - a fortune in Russian terms."
"When confronted by the European Union on this issue, Russia responded
that it lacks the resources required to monitor organ donations."
=
Also see "THE PROBLEM OF ORGAN TRAFFICKING," by Eugen Tomiuc. Radio
Free Europe. http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2003/07/5-NOT/not-160703.asp
"While the report does not directly identify where the buyers come
from, it quotes an article published in "The Lancet" magazine, which
says that some Israeli transplant recipients have purchased kidneys
from people living in Estonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, and
Romania."
==
From "Poor Sell Organs to Trans-Atlantic Trafficking Ring," by Mario
Osava. Inter Press Service News Agency.
http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=22524
"The information obtained by the commission indicates that the
trafficking network also sought kidney sellers in Russia and Romania,
for renal patients from the United States and Iran, in addition to the
Israelis."
FURTHER REFERENCES CONCERNED WITH TRAFFICKING
==============================================
An extensive list of abstracts are available on the following link. If
you would like to pursue them in further detail, you might be able to
find them in a large city or university library in London.
Unfortunately, I do not know which libraries would carry the specific
journals.
See "Trafficking in Persons. An Annoted Legal Bibliography." Mohamed Y. Mattar.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Q2Zpo_uvfNsJ:www.aallnet.org/products/2004-47.pdf+organ+trafficking+in+Russia&hl=en
==
I hope the references I have compiled provide a good start to your research!
Sincerely,
umiat
Search Strategy
human trafficking russia OR russian
organ trafficking in Russia
plight of women in russia after the cold war |
