Abstract
Throughout the 1990s, tens of thousands of Ukrainian women were trafficked into prostitution. This phenomenon was researched by collecting data through interviews and surveys in Ukraine, media reports, governmental and non-governmental (NGO) reports on trafficking, and participant observation in conferences. Trafficking occurs because of a transnational political criminal nexus, which is comprised of individual criminals, organized crime groups, corrupt police and governmental officials, foreign governments, and NGOs. Traffickers' methods of operation are flexible and adapted to ease of recruiting victims, cooperation of corrupt officials, risk of being detected, and profit. In destination countries, victims are controlled by confiscation of travel and identity documents, debt bondage, threats, and violence. Political components of the nexus include foreign governments that support NGOs that ignore the views of civil society in Ukraine, and instead, support the foreign governments' positions on trafficking and prostitution, resulting in a corruption of civil society. Some foreign governments also support changes in laws that enable a legal flow of women into their sex industries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bennetto, Jason, “Licensed brothels created problems for Dutch officials,” The Independent, 9 April 2001.
Bodelier, Ralf, “Outlawed Women,” De Volkskrant, 20 October 2001 (translated by Semira Dallali).
Broomby, Rob, “German prostitutes get new rights,” BBC News, 20 December 2001.
Bruinsma, Gerben J. N., and Guus Meershoek, “Organized Crime and Trafficking in Women from Eastern Europe in the Netherlands,” in Phil Williams (ed.), Transnational Organized Crime, Special Issue: Illegal Immigration and Commercial Sex-The New Slave Trade, Frank Cass, Vol. 3, No 4, Winter 1997.
Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. State Department, Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act 2000 Trafficking in Persons Report, July 2001.
“Charges against former police chief; Retired officer is tied to prostitution racket,” Kathimerini, 19 April 2000.
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, http://www.uri.edu/dignity/49conven.htm.
“Country Report of The Netherlands on Combating the Trafficking of Women and Children” distributed at US-Ukraine Regional Law Enforcement Workshop Against Trafficking in Women and Children, Kyiv, Ukraine, 21-23 June 2000.
D'Anieri, Paul, Robert Kravhuk, and Taras Kuzio, “Politics and Civil Society” in Politics and Society in Ukraine, Westview, 1999.
Daley, Suzanne, “New rights for Dutch prostitutes, but no gain,” New York Times, 12 August 2001.
Dragomir, Marius, “Some Eastern European women searching for better lives discover the evils of human trafficking,” Transitions Online, 15 February 2001.
Dutting, Gisela, “Legalized prostitution in the Netherlands-Recent Debates,” Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights, Newsletter 71.
Eberly, Don E., “The Meaning, Origins, and Applications of Civil Society,” in Don E. Eberly (ed.), the Essential Civil Society Reader: The Classic Essays, New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000.
Emke-Poulopoulos, Ira, “Trafficking in Women and Children: Greece, aCountry of Destination and Transit, Mediterranean Migration Observatory Working Paper No. 2, August 2001.
Farley, Melissa, Isin Baral, Merab Kiremire and Ufuk Sezgin, “Prostitution in five countries: Violence and post-traumatic stress disorder,” Feminism and Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 4, 1998.
Fotini Kalliri, “The chronicle of shame,” Kathimerini, 27 December 2001.
Graf Lambsdorff, Johann, “How Precise Are Perceived Levels of Corruption, Background Paper to the 2001 Corruption Perceptions Index,” Transparency International, June 2001, Accessed at http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2001/report.html.
Greek Police report, cited by Ira Emke-Poulopoulos, “Trafficking in Women and Children: Greece, a Country of Destination and Transit, Mediterranean Migration Observatory Working Paper No. 2, August 2001.
HP-De Tijd, 16 February 2001 (translated by Semira Dallali).
Hellman, Joel and Daniel Kaufmann, “Confronting the challenge of state capture in transition economies,” Finance and Development-A Quarterly Magazine of the IMF,Vol. 38, No. 3, September 2001.
Hofstra, Carel, 3¤ Secretary, Netherlands Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine, US-Ukraine Regional Law Enforcement Workshop Against Trafficking in Women and Children, Kyiv, Ukraine, 21-23 June 2000.
Hughes, Donna M., “Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation: The Case of the Russian Federation,” IOM Migration Research Series, No. 7, International Organization for Migration, June 2002[a].
Hughes, Donna M., “Supplying Women and Children for the Sex Industry: Trafficking from the Russian Federation,” in A. Stulhofer, T. Sandfort, V. Diehl Elias, and J. Elias (eds.), Sexualities in Post-Communism, Forthcoming 2003 [b].
Human Rights Watch, “Trafficking of Migrant Women for Forced Prostitution into Greece,” July 2001.
Iliina, Svetlana, “Female prostitution in the post-Soviet era: Violence against personality and violation of human rights,” Oral presentation at Kennan Institute (Copy of paper on file with authors).
Iliina, Svetlana and I. Kalugin, “The Russian customers of sex service's attitudes towards prostitution and violence,” Unpublished manuscript (Copy of paper on file with authors).
“Immigration chief in stripper racket,” Kathimerini, 31 October 2001.
International Organization for Migration, “Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characteristic, Trends and Policy Issues,” European Conference on Trafficking in Women, June 1996.
International Organization for Migration, “Slavic women trafficked into slavery,” Trafficking in Migrants Quarterly Bulletin, Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Migration, June 1998.
International Organization for Migration, “New IOM figures on the global scale of trafficking,” Trafficking in Migrants Quarterly Bulletin, No. 23, April 2001.
Kupryashkina, Svetlana V., “Women and voluntary activities in Ukraine: A historic outlook and a view of Soviet state paternalism,” Accessed at http://antenna.nl/ywd/Gatherings/NIS/kupryash.html
Lazarus, B., 1998 as cited in Ira Emke-Poulopoulos, August 2001.Levchenko, Kateryna, Women's World Forum Against Violence, Valencia, Spain, 23 November 2000.
Levchenko, Katerina, Presentation on trafficking of women from Ukraine, Women's World Forum Against Violence, Queen Sofia Center for the Study of Violence, Valencia, Spain, Nov. 23-25, 2000.
Marnelou, G. “The routes of prostitution,” Eleftherotypia 23, Nov. 1999, as cited in Ira Emke-Poulopoulos, August 2001.
Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, The Netherlands, “Report to CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women),” July 2000.
“More trafficking in women since lifting of brothel ban, “ Reformatisch Dagblad, 22 August 2002 (translation by Semira Dallali).
Non-aligned Women's Movement, Greece, 1999 as cited by Ira Emke-Poulopoulos, August 2001, p. 19.
Omelaniuk, Irena and Ginette Baerten, “Trafficking in women from Central and Eastern Europe-Focus on Germany,” in Migration in Central and Eastern Europe, 1999 Review. (Vienna: International Organization for Migration and International Center for Migration Policy Development, March 1999).
“Police break up international racket,” Kathimerini, 13 August 2001.
Presentation at U.S.-Ukraine Regional Law Enforcement Workshop Against Trafficking in Women and Children, Kyiv, Ukraine, 21-23 June 2000.
“Probe into huge prostitution racket,” Kathimerini, 6 December 2001.
“Prostitution arrests,” Kathimerini, 25 August 2001.
Ram, Melanie H., “Putting an End to the Trafficking of Women in the NIS and CEE,” International Research and Exchange Board (IREX), 16 August 2000.
Robinson, Mary, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Remarks by), “Combating Trafficking in Human Beings” Council of Europe, 9 April 2002, Accessed at http://www.unhchr.ch/
Smit, Monika, National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings, “Combating the Trafficking of Human Beings, Report from the Netherlands,” UN ODCCP Web site, 2000.
Status of Ratification, Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, http://www. un.org/Depts/Treaty/final/ts2/newfiles/past_boo/vii_boo/ vii_boo/vii 11.html
The German Family Ministry in “German police swoop on suspected sex slavery ring,” Reuters; 19 March 1998.
The MONEE Project, “Women in Transition: A Summary,” Regional Monitoring Report Summary, No. 6, UNICEF, 1999.
The Dutch Institute of Social Sexological Research, cited in The Netherlands Report to CEDAW, July 2000.
“Tippelzone comes apart at the seams: Street news from the Hague,” Bas Kromhout, September 2002 (translation Semira Dallali).
Transparency International, “New index highlights worldwide corruption crisis,” 27 June 2001, Accessed at http://www.transparency.org/cpi/2001/cpi2001.html#cpi.
Travina, Tatyana, Vice-President, DANA, Email from Elena Kabashnaya, “Ukrainian La Strada speaks for legalization of prostitution in Ukraine,” 26 September 1998.
van Dijk, Esther, “Trafficking in the Netherlands: 1997-2000,” September 2002, Accessed at http:// 212.19.195.8/npi/Persberichten/bestanden/220-2002MensenhandelinNederland.pdf
von Struensee, Vanessa, “Gender Equality: Legal and Institutional Framework on Women's Rights-Ukraine,” Email to Public Interest Law Initiative in Transitional Societies Access to Justice Forum, 15 January 2002.
von Struensee, Vanessa, “Ukraine at ten: Freedom of expression goes from dismal to dangerous,” The American Association for Ukrainian Studies, 2002, http://www.ukrainianstudies.org/ ukraineat 10.htm#Vbnstruensee
Webster, William H., “Russian Organized Crime: A Report of the Global Organized Crime Task Force,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1997.
Webster, William H. “Russian Organized Crime and Corruption—Putin's Challenge,” Global Organized Crime Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2000.
Williams, Phil (ed.) Russian Organized Crime: The New Threat? London: Frank Cass, 1997.
Yarmish, A.N., “Introduction,” in Organized Criminal Groups in Ukraine: Traditional and Typical, Kharkiv: The National University of Internal Affairs, 2002.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hughes, D.M., Denisova, T.A. The transnational political criminal nexus of trafficking in women from Ukraine. Trends Organ Crim 6, 43–67 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-001-1005-7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-001-1005-7