Human Trafficking and Consequences

Summary

Each year, millions of women, men and children around the globe fall prey to human traffickers

whether for sexual exploitation, forced labor, domestic work or other purposes, both within and

beyond the borders of their country. This phenomenon has taken on such proportions that it can

be described as a modern form of slavery The increased globalization and technology that

coincided with the beginning of the trafficking of Russian and Slavic women has meant the

fourth wave is unprecedented in its scope and size and all the more difficult to combat. In Turkey

and Israel, the number of Russian women working in the sex industry is in fact so high that

“Natashas” issued as slang for prostitutes.3Accurate data on the problem of sex trafficking is

hard to collect and verify, resulting in varying numbers. From Newly Independent States (NIS)

and CEE the number of women trafficked annually ranges anywhere from 200,000 –500,000 that

number estimates suggest around 50,000 of those women come from Russia.5While not all

trafficked women are forced into prostitution, the majority are. The number of women subjected

to the extremely brutal, violent and coercive world of forced prostitution is staggering and

unacceptable.

Unreliable and inconsistent data on the number of individuals trafficked is attributable to

multiple factors. The illegal and clandestine nature of the industry makes obtaining reliable data

nearly impossible. Most victims choose to remain silent instead of reporting the crime. Some

governments are reluctant to cooperate. Finally, different definitions of trafficking (including

who should be identified as a victim) are used and there isa lack of a unified methodological

approach to generating data. It is likely that most of these estimates are also well below the real

numbers.

No region in the world remains untouched by sex trafficking, though the degree of involvement

varies based on the region and the time period. The extent and overt existence of official

collusion, corruption and criminality have intensified in Russia as a result of the transition. High

and low forms of criminality converged. Similar to its origins in Soviet times, ROC has replaced

the state in providing things like employment, protection and security. During democratization,

power vacuums emerged as a result of the decentralization of state power. This has resulted in

what many refer to as a criminal-syndicalist state.

The trafficking of women for sexual exploitation has a strong history in many areas of the world

and has most recently infiltrated Russia with fervor. Since the early 1990s Slavic women from

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and former Soviet states have constituted what is known as

the fourth wave of sex trafficking of women. The first wave consisted of Thai and Filipino

women, the second wave consisted of Dominicans and Colombians, and the third wave consisted

of the Ghanaians and Nigerians. Following the end of the Soviet Union, Russian women have

been trafficked to over 50 countries and this is the fourth wave of human trafficking.

There is no “general” experience or framework. Each situation is unique through a multitude of

factors, and recognizing this uniqueness is key to understanding how human trafficking works

and how to combat it. Attempts to summarize the trafficking experience more often than not

muddle and set back attempts to combat it. The increased globalization and technology that

coincided with the beginning of the trafficking of Russian and Slavic women has meant the

fourth wave is unprecedented in its scope and size and all the more difficult to combat. In Turkey

and Israel, the number of Russian women working in the sex industry is in fact so high that

“Natashas” isused as slang for prostitutes. Accurate data on the problem of sex trafficking is hard

to collect and verify, resulting in varying numbers. From Newly Independent States (NIS) and

CEE the number of women trafficked annually ranges anywhere from 200,000 –500,000.4Of

that number estimates suggest around 50,000 of those women come from Russia.5While not all

trafficked women are forced into prostitution, the majority are. The number of women subjected

to the extremely brutal, violent and coercive world of forced prostitution is staggering and

unacceptable. Figures on the scope of trafficking specifically in CEE are just as varied as global

estimates. Interpol and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) report

that each year 4-7 million Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) citizens are trafficked, most

of whom are women and children (Shelly et.al 2010). The U.S. State Department reported more

than 100,000 women were trafficked from Russia; this is regarded as the fourth wave of human

trafficking. Additionally, extreme violence is used to condition the woman and break her until

she submits to prostitution. The level of violence in sex trafficking is horrendous, appalling and

inescapable. This includes but is not limited to gang rape, mutilation, torture, frequent beatings

and even murder. Post-Soviet Russia has experienced deep poverty, but so have countless other

nations. So the question arises why has Russia developed a sex trafficking problem while other

countries with similar circumstances have not? The deeper structural causes go well beyond

economic factors. It was the former Soviet Union which gave birth to the most impacting facrots

and legacies.

Human trafficking has been subjected to certain so called waves. The first wave began during the

late19th to the early 20th centuries, nearly five decades and resulted in a set of laws and

subsequent government policies towards human trafficking. Just like most of government

policies, these policies were also forgotten. Then came a second wave of human trafficking,

nick-named 'white slavery'. While the first wave began with human slaves being trafficked from

Thailand and Philippines to Europe and America, the second wave saw these bonded labors of

slaves and sex workers come from Dominican Republic and Columbia including Sudan and then

the third wave took place. In the third wave of trafficking, the human slaves, mostly women sex

workers and children were trafficked from Ghana and Niger to be exploited in Europe and

America. It was the former U.S.S.R from where the fourth wave began countries of Central and

East Europe which includes Russia (Stoecker, 2000: 58). Most of these were young women who

were trafficked for wealthy businessmen of Japan, China and the prostitutes were diverted to

Europe and US (Stoecker, 2000: 59).

In 1850 it was difficult to capture a slave and then transport him/her to the US. Today, millions

of people around the world are potential slaves since thanks to globalization, transport is much

easier, people can travel easily and for less money, so distances are shortening. An average slave

in the American South in 1850 cost the equivalent of 40,000 US dollars in today's money; today

a slave costs an average of 90 US dollars (Krisztina S, 2002). Trafficking in human

beingsfunction just as any market, it is driven by demand and supply. Since there is a huge

supply of people willing to take the risk for a promising new job offer, it decreases their price, so

today's slaves are cheaper because of the supply. It is almost impossible to say if there has been

an increase or decrease in trafficking in human beings due to its hidden character. There are no

exact data, just estimations. Just as in the case of number of people being trafficked, it is also

difficult to say, how high profits traffickers are gaining. Only estimations exist, no precise data.

It is not enough what the European Union and the Member States are doing currently (Kay R,

2002). They need to invest more into the fight against trafficking, they need to improve their

approach and set up more effective tools. The response needs to be not just reacting (reacting on

facts and situations) but also proactive. Among the most important national elements of fighting

trafficking in human beings is establishing national anti-trafficking rapporteurs whose main

role should be the coordination of all relevant policies and the preparation of the anti-

trafficking strategy. Even though, the 1993 Council Recommendation has already called for it,

only two Member States have established these bodies.

The intertwinement of factors is crucial to understanding sex trafficking. One factor is just as

significant as another in causing sex trafficking, but none would suffice on their own to cause

trafficking. ROC and patriarchal attitudes are extensive and multidimensional. Identifying these

Soviet legacies as the primary causes of sex trafficking implies something greater than the

individual factors. Organized crime and patriarchy have become more powerful and

institutionalized in post-Soviet Russian society and shaped a context which is so disadvantageous

to women that in the desperate attempt to escape this oppressive society, women become victims

of sex trafficking.

References

Horváth Zoltán [2005]: Kézikönyv ay Európai Unióról, HVG-Orac Lap- és Könyvkiadó Kft., Budapest: 36.o

Kay, Rebecca. Liberation from Emancipation? Changing Discourses on Women’s Employment in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia.” Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 18 (2002): 51-72

Locher, Birgit [2007]: Trafficking in Women in the European Union - norms, advocacy-networks and policy-change, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften: pp. 76-77

Száraz, Krisztina [2002]: Applying US lessons in Slovakia, S.T.E.P. Edition Spring 2002, Newsletter of the American Institute for Full Employment, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA: p. 16

Shelley, Louise, and Sally Stoecker, eds. Human Traffic and Transnational Crime: Eurasian and American Perspectives.United States: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010: p. 26

Stoecker, Sally W. “The Rise in Human Trafficking and the Role of Organized Crime.” Demokratizatsiya 8 (January 2000): 1-19.