Sex trade rackets are preying on refugees from Ukraine, where according to the United Nations, until now, the number of Ukrainians fled the country stands at over three million. Majority of these refugees are women and children as for men under the age of 60, it is mandatory to join the battle. Displaced and disoriented, often with no idea where to go next, refugees are forced to put their trust in strangers.
The chaos of war is now behind them, but the truth is, they’re not entirely safe outside Ukraine either.
“For predators and human traffickers, the war in Ukraine is not a tragedy”, UN Secretary General António Guterres warned on Twitter. “It’s an opportunity – and women and children are the targets”.
Trafficking rings are notoriously active in Ukraine and neighboring countries in peace time. The fog of war is perfect cover to increase business. Many youngsters were travelling of Ukraine unaccompanied. Patchy registration processes in Poland and other border regions – especially at the start of the war – meant children disappeared, their current whereabouts unknown. A large portion of the female refugees, including children under the age of 18 have already landed into the grips of sex rackets, porn industry and escort services. Websites of escort services are now offering “young and virgin Ukrainian girls” to their prospective customers, while the volume of porn contents mostly featuring Ukrainian girls and women are on rise.
Girls and women are trapped into prostitution by members of the sex rackets, who are pretending as volunteers in the refugee camps.
A female refugee from Ukraine told BBC correspondent, she and her children crossed into neighboring Romania from Ukraine. They were looking for a lift away from the border. At this stage, a fake volunteer approached her and asked where she was staying. They turned up later in the day and aggressively told her Switzerland was the best place to go and that they would give her a lift there, with a van full of other women.
Organized crime (including sex and organ trafficking and frequently, slave labor) is not the only menace. Refugees are exploited by individuals too.
People in Poland, Germany, the UK and elsewhere have opened up their homes to refugees, most with the best of intentions. But sadly, not all.
We found a post on social media from a Ukrainian woman who fled to Düsseldorf in Germany. The man who offered her a room confiscated her ID papers and demanded she clean his house for free. He then started to make sexual advances as well. She refused – and he kicked her out on the street.
Irena Dawid-Olczyk, chief executive of the Warsaw branch of anti-trafficking NGO La Strada told BBC,
“We all know teenagers, don’t we? They’re insecure. They want acceptance and recognition. And if they are refugees who are far from home and friends, they’re even easier to exploit. Girls might love attention lavished on them by older men. Or they’ll be introduced to a cool girl their own age, who has great clothes and invites them to parties. That’s how it starts. Don’t forget, it’s not only men who are pimps, traffickers and abusers”.
Ukrainian girls are being offered plane tickets to Mexico, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates without ever having met the men inviting them. These girls are also lured with the promise of handsome salaries or marrying a wealthy man and living posh life.
