Modern Slavery: How Full-Scale War Affected Human Trafficking in Ukraine

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From 2019 to 2022, more than 46,000 Ukrainians found themselves in situations related to human trafficking. Labor and sexual exploitation led to the fact that Ukrainians ended up in modern slavery in Poland, Ukraine, Russia, as well as in many other countries of the world. We tell how full-scale war affected the situation with human trafficking and modern slavery. *** The International Organization for Migration conducted a national study of the vulnerability of Ukrainians to situations of human trafficking in the conditions of the war in Ukraine. Every fourth Ukrainian is ready to accept a risky job offer abroad or in another settlement. 27% of respondents would agree to accept at least one risky offer to work abroad, in particular: 17% are ready to work without official employment; 13% abroad and 9% in Ukraine are ready to work in closed rooms without being able to leave the workplace freely; 2% abroad and 2% in Ukraine are ready to give the employer a mobile phone or other personal items for the period of employment; 1% abroad and 3% in Ukraine are ready to give their passport to the employer for the period of employment. Photo: Sodel_Vladyslav/Depositphotos In February, the Caritas branch in Odesa conducted an experiment. Migration specialists have put up advertisements in the city with attractive offers – work abroad for men, high compared to the labor market, salary, living allowance for women, etc. This type of ad can often be seen on walls, but such offers are often fraudulent, leading to various types of exploitation. The ads featured a QR code instead of a contact phone number, but when people clicked on it, they saw advice on safe employment. It is estimated that about 11 people clicked on these links every day, hoping to take advantage of the “attractive” offers. So it can be concluded that every day at least 11 people expose themselves to danger and can be deceived. And this is only in one Odessa for a short period of time of the experiment. Traffickers’ schemes: old and new There is a stereotype that human trafficking is only about sexual exploitation. Modern forms of slavery include labor exploitation, forced begging, involvement in criminal activities, use in armed conflicts (which is relevant for Ukraine), organ harvesting, and other forms. “There is a big risk for Ukrainians at the moment of employment. Another risk is during settlement abroad. These are pseudo-volunteers and people who say they want to help, but in fact they want to benefit. And the third is the moment of transfer abroad: evacuation or relocation, crossing the border, traveling from point A to point B, in particular if we are talking about private transportation. You may end up in the wrong place that was declared, or you will be told that it was free, and upon arrival you will be asked to work out the money,” says Ihor Tridub , expert on combating human trafficking of Caritas of Ukraine. Specialists single out domestic service as a type of exploitation – the unpaid use of Ukrainian men and women for domestic work. It is often accompanied by psychological, physical or sexual violence, restriction of rights to movement, free time, etc. Ukrainians are sold and used most often for work in construction, agriculture, housekeeping, and the service sector. With the war, Ukrainian experts and international institutions started talking about the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. According to the “Children of War” state portal, over 19,000 minors were deported during the full-scale war (as of April 3, 2023). These are registered, verified cases that are not definitive due to active hostilities and the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine. They are exported for further use in political propaganda, as a potential exchange fund. Often, children are taken to remote sparsely populated regions of Russia – this is done to raise the gene pool, for adoption, as well as further labor exploitation. Who is in the “risk group”? After the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, there has been a sharp increase in cases of human trafficking, said the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Helga Maria Schmid in her interview with the German newspaper Die Welt. Victims are lured online with false promises, abused in private placements abroad, or intercepted by traffickers at the border. “Organized crime is often involved in this case. These unceremonious criminals meet people who need help, who have to earn money, who do not speak the language of the new country and often have psychological trauma as a result of the war,” the head of the organization explained. According to Schmid, since the beginning of the war, there has been a 600% increase in online requests for sexual services and pornographic images of Ukrainian women and children. The number of cases of trafficking in pregnant women has also increased. “It is easier for recruiters to find an approach to those people who are under strong psycho-emotional stress,” says Ihor Tridub, an expert on combating human trafficking. The recorded story of a Ukrainian refugee woman with a child who escaped from the occupied territories to a European country. There she was offered shelter by a local couple – the woman had housing and food. But the owner of the house issued the documents of the Ukrainian woman himself and kept them. Instead, the couple asked the woman to do the housework, and not to go out too often, not to take the child for a walk, etc. After some time, the woman turned to the local authorities, realizing that she was being exploited and her rights were being limited. There are many such stories, experts in combating labor exploitation and human trafficking assure. “When I am asked who can become a victim of traffickers or recruiters, I always advise to look in the mirror. Because it is anyone – regardless of education, awareness of slavery issues, regardless of knowledge of languages,” says Nataliya Golynska, head of programs on prevention of human trafficking Caritas of Ukraine. Natalya Golynska has been caring for victims of human trafficking for 19 years and works in centers with victims of modern slavery. “With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the situation with respect for human rights has deteriorated catastrophically. Accordingly, cases of human trafficking have become more difficult. The war is causing a mass exodus of Ukrainians abroad. They are vulnerable, and vulnerability is the factor that makes them easy victims of organized groups that exploit people.” , – says the expert. The situation is complicated by the fact that Ukrainians fleeing the war are often unaware of the problem of human trafficking. “They are in a hurry to run away, they don’t check the information, they are under stress. And what is important is that they are women. Women with children,” Nataliya Golynska says. They sell Ukrainians in Russia, Poland, other EU countries, Turkey. There is also internal human trafficking, i.e. labor exploitation, begging and other forms in Ukraine. Specialists single out domestic service as a type of exploitation – the unpaid use of Ukrainian men and women for domestic work. Photo: Elnur_/Depositphotos Knowledgeable means safe. In order to prevent enslavement, the International Organization for Migration in March and April distributed hotline materials and posters on trains traveling between Ukraine and Poland to help Ukrainians. Telegram has created a “Stay Safe” chatbot, where operators are constantly working to answer all questions in the language that is convenient for the interlocutor. Caritas of Ukraine distributed 60,000 leaflets with advice on safe border crossing and prevention of human trafficking. These leaflets were distributed at borders, at checkpoints of our citizens, at railway and bus stations, and in places where IDPs live. “When we receive information from people that we need to react immediately, we pass it on to law enforcement agencies,” said the senior protection coordinator of the IOM Representation in Ukraine Chesi Mueller at the press conference “Combating human trafficking in wartime: protection of Ukrainians in the EU and the situation with citizens forcibly relocated to the Russian Federation”. Today, 50 reports of crimes related to human trafficking have been recorded, criminal proceedings have been opened for only 6 such facts, noted the representative of the Migration Police Department of the NPU, Yurii Parkhomenko. “Since the beginning of the war, there is a great risk of falling into a situation of human trafficking. We understand that some people left for Europe, some were displaced within the state, and some people were forcibly deported to the territory of Russia and Belarus. The risks are huge, because people were left without housing, without money , without work,” Parkhomenko emphasized. “In the conditions of war, the well-known rules do not always apply in practice: check the number of the car you get into, do not trust anyone with your passport, know the contacts of the embassy, ​​employer, check the contract. In a state of vulnerability, Ukrainian refugees do not do this. They know that they are going to Poland, or to Romania and all. The same applies to the situation when women are forced to provide sexual services under the threat of torture, death, death of children. In this situation, it doesn’t matter if people know their rights. They do it to survive.” says Natalia Golynska. How to understand that you or someone you know is in a situation related to human trafficking? If: your passport or other documents were taken from you; you were deprived of free movement and communication with relatives; you were threatened, beaten or raped, abused or subjected to psychological pressure; you were forced to do work you did not want to do, using physical or psychological violence; you were forced to work off fictitious debts; you did not have the opportunity to quit your job at your own will; you were forced to work overtime; you were used against your will in an armed conflict. The International Organization for Migration estimates that approximately 300,000 Ukrainian citizens have been victims of human trafficking since 1991. And from December 2000 to June 2022, IOM identified more than 19,000 victims, most of whom became victims of labor exploitation. In general, according to OSCE estimates, 25-27 million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide, while only 10,000 cases come to the attention of law enforcement agencies and less than 1% of victims can be identified. This shows that criminals involved in human trafficking mostly go unpunished, said the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Helga Maria Schmid. Meanwhile, annual profits from human trafficking, she said, have increased fivefold over the past 15 years to $150 billion. Olena Chygrin, especially for UP. Life Read also: A human trafficking channel organized by a 21-year-old girl was exposed in the Kyiv region. VIDEO

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