| Scholars examine human trafficking in Russia, Ukraine BY ADRIENNE FRANK Last week, four scholars from the United States and the Ukraine gathered at AU to discuss the book that resulted from their shared passion and research on human trafficking—a crime affecting up to 1 million women and girls around the world.
Photo by Jeff Watts
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Human Traffic and Transnational Crime: Eurasian and American Perspectives, published in November 2004, is a compilation of articles by researchers sponsored by AU’s Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC). The book, written in large part by SPA professor Louise Shelley, director of TraCCC, and Sally Stoecker, an affiliate scholar with the organization, is the first in-depth, scholarly study of human trafficking in and from the Eastern European nations. Shelley and Stoecker were joined last Tuesday by coauthors Beatrix Siman Zakhari, a professor in Washington Semester’s justice program, and Olga Pishulina, a Ukranian researcher. The book, which Stoecker described as “a labor of love, and a lot of labor,” includes interviews and research conducted over the course of a year by nine human trafficking specialists in Russia and the Ukraine. The research, which Stoecker described as “very difficult and dangerous,” was funded by a 1999 grant from the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. According to Stoecker, human trafficking emerged in that area of eastern Europe after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. “Unemployment was three times as high for women as it was for men, and all this upheaval really played nicely into the hands of criminals.” Many of the women, said Stoecker, sought legitimate work in Asia, Europe, and North America, only to be sold off to the highest bidder and forced to work as prostitutes or strippers “under horrific, slave-like conditions.”
Photo by Jeff Watts
Sally Stoecker discusses TraCCC’s research, which centered on Russia and the Ukraine.
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Shelley said their research revealed that human trafficking in Russia and the Ukraine is quite different from trafficking in such Asian nations as China. “What you’re looking at is an organized crime that incorporates practices of the legitimate business world. But even though it’s a business, it’s not the same business everywhere,” said Shelley, who wrote about this subject in the book. Unlike China, where the women are viewed as an investment, Russian traffickers have a “trader” mentality. “Women and girls are seen as a natural resource, and they’re sold off at relatively low prices,” said Shelley. “In that way, the profits are less and the exploitation is even greater compared to Chinese trafficking.” Zakhari’s contribution to the book was an examination of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which was enacted by Congress in 2000. “Sanctions are getting harsher, bit by bit,” said Zakhari, who estimates 18,000 to 20,000 women and girls have been trafficked into the United States, and that 600,000 to 1 million people have been trafficked across borders throughout the world. “Still,” Zakhari said, “there’s an enormous amount to be done.” |
