A new report flags up the delayed risk of human trafficking in Ukraine
Displacement and scarcity ramp up future trafficking threats in Ukraine, investors call on Nike to assess working conditions in its supply chain, and U.S. visa applications for trafficking victims are stuck in a growing backlog.
Ukraine’s population faces future risks of human trafficking and exploitation both inside and outside its borders, according to a new report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC). Although the international response to Russia’s full-scale invasion was initially swift and far-reaching, trafficking risks are likely to increase as state support is rolled back and refugees relocate or try to integrate into local economies in ways that risk predation and exploitation, say the authors. However, measures taken in 2022 have proved that empathetic strategies can be effective, which may suggest not only how to address the ongoing Ukrainian crisis but human trafficking and smuggling more generally.
The risks of human trafficking were flagged by many in the international community in the early days of the war, due in part to Ukraine’s hitherto inadequate record on tackling the crime. According to GI-TOC’s Global Organized Crime Index 2021, human trafficking and smuggling were respectively the first and second most pervasive illicit markets in the country prior to the invasion. How conflict dynamics have fueled human trafficking still further is not yet clear, researchers say, but in depriving millions of livelihoods, security, and social and family support, they will have created the ideal conditions for greater exploitation.
According to a report by NGO Stop the Traffik, the invasion has fundamentally changed the balance of trafficking in the country: while previously labour trafficking was predominant, now sex trafficking is the foremost type of human trafficking exploitation. Although evidence for such an increase remains circumstantial, there are telling indicators of the direction of travel such as the appearance of English-language listings of sexual service providers in major Ukrainian cities. Furthermore, the latent conditions for forced labour have become more pronounced – 2.4 million people have lost their jobs as a result of the war and, according to a survey by the International Organization for Migration, 59 per cent of Ukrainians in 2022 were willing to accept at least one risky offer of work.
The war has also hindered availability of and access to institutional support and domestic and state-led protection mechanisms, including child protection systems, social safety nets and anti-trafficking responses, the report states. Some anti-trafficking civil society actors switched to providing humanitarian responses and emergency support to displaced populations, diverting attention and resources from anti-trafficking initiatives, while many NGO staff based in Ukraine became internally displaced persons (IDPs), impacting their ability to continue their work. The general conditions of war have also made investigating trafficking crimes a highly challenging task.
It is widely agreed that, in the months and years ahead, the best measures to combat human trafficking will center on the continuation and expansion of public awareness, monitoring of high-risk employment sectors, support for vulnerable populations, and assistance to facilitate the integration of refugees, says the report. Amid the turmoil of the past year, a diverse set of actors have demonstrated the efficacy of such approaches. Levels of expertise and coordination are high, and there is an extraordinary sense of mission among a broad group of stakeholders.
However, it is also acknowledged that much depends on the trajectory of the conflict, which will shape criminal risks both within Ukraine and in Europe. If the conflict becomes more protracted, then trafficking risks will increase drastically. The IDP population will remain large and may increase; it may also continue to move, suffering increased vulnerability at each juncture. In Europe, the support of states is already beginning to recede, leaving refugees to make their own way in unfamiliar landscapes; a difficult existence will force many to the brink – where traffickers will be waiting – so there is great need for hosting states to ensure continued and sustained assistance.
Even the end of the conflict would not eliminate trafficking risks: recovery will take time, and there will be ample opportunity for exploitation, the authors point out. Either way, if levels of support and attention fail to keep pace with rising vulnerability; if Ukrainians cannot make headway at home or abroad; if corruption remains a corroding influence on rule-of-law, private sector business and state governance, then opportunities for trafficking are likely to drastically expand, the report concludes.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
According to this new investigation into human trafficking in Southeast Asia, evidence suggests that criminal syndicates are expanding into Myanmar, the Philippines and as far afield as Dubai, despite Cambodian police crackdowns. Thailand is increasingly serving as a major source of and transit point for trafficking victims in those countries, who are forced to work in online scamming compounds.
Activist investment platform Tulipshare is calling on Nike to provide more transparency on working conditions in its supply chain. In a shareholder proposal, the London-based company requested that Nike publicly assesses whether its policies effectively address its stated equity goals and human rights commitments.
Recent statistics on visas for trafficking victims in the U.S. show that the application backlog continues to surge, with an unprecedented 4,289 applications pending at the end the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2023, and just 505 applications approved. Long delays in processing T-visa applications leave trafficking survivors in limbo, unable to work or rebuild their lives, and multiple service providers and other organizations are now calling upon U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to speed up their process.
A new report from Ethical Consumer is calling on UK supermarkets to protect the rights of migrant agricultural workers in Spain after uncovering evidence of widespread abuse in the regions of Almeria and Huelva. The UK not-for-profit cooperative claims fruit and vegetable farms in Spain are routinely breaching eight out of nine basic workers’ rights. Abuses include refusal of legal wages, forced labour, sexual assault and intimidation.
This article provides a snapshot into the situation of workers in the Californian elder-care industry, describing it as “much like farm labor, in which cheap labor is prized over any other consideration”. According to the Pilipino Workers Center, a Los Angeles non-profit that educates domestic workers on their rights, labour laws are often ignored and workers — many of them old enough to be receiving elder care themselves — are cheated and exploited.
The Global Detention Project invites you to the fourth in its series of webinars exploring ways in which civil society organizations can effectively engage with human rights monitoring mechanisms to promote the rights of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in immigration detention. In this webinar, on 25 April, four global experts on human trafficking will discuss the principle of non-punishment and how it can be used to protect victims of trafficking who are detained for migration-related offences.
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