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GLOBALIZATION OF UKRAINE:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZED
CRIMINAL NETWORKS
AND THE EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN IN
THE SEX TRAFFICKING INDUSTRY
By: Juan Ponce de Leon
December 2008
SEMINAR 900
WOMEN, LAW AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
PROFESSOR ELVIA R. ARRIOLA
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF LAW
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INTRODUCTION
Since the early 1990s organized criminal enterprises have been responsible for increasing
fears in women being used as migrants in sex trafficking schemes.1 In Ukraine and throughout
other Eastern European countries, organized criminal networks have used tactics such as
coercion, force and exploitation to force women into prostitution.2 Sex trafficking, specifically,
refers to the practice of moving women within a country or across a country’s borders to meet
demands for sex.3 Among the numerous patterns of migration, human trafficking, resulting from
globalization and the economic and gender disparities it creates, creates a successful and
profitable criminal enterprise.4 Typically, the migration of women to meet sexual demands
begins with broken promises and lies regarding available job opportunities and work conditions.
Additionally, kidnapping occurs and Ukrainian women are forced into a life of sexual servitude.
Next, the migrant women are subjected to threats, forced labor, violence and imprisonment.5
In an era of globalization human trafficking thrives on its economic successful6. Just how
successful can sex trafficking be? Today, there are about 200 million migrants living in
territories outside their homeland.7 It is estimated that the value of women in sex trafficking
generates anywhere from seven to twelve billion dollars per year.8 Of the estimated one million
people trafficked for sexual exploitation or prostitution, 500,000 of them are estimated by the
1
Celine Nieuwenhuys & Antoine Pecoud, Human Trafficking, Information Campaigns, and Strategies of Migration
Control, 50 American Behavioral Scientist 1674,1678 (2007).
2
Id.
3
Donna M. Hughes, The “Natasha” Trade – The Transnational Shadow Market of Trafficking in Women, 53 Journal
of International Affairs (2000).
4
William Finnegan, The Countertraffickers; Rescuing the Victims of Global Sex Trade, 84 The New Yorker 44 (2008).
5
Id.
6
Id.
7
Id.
8
Hughes, supra note 3.
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United Nations to be victims from the European Union.9 The Ukraine Ministry of Defense
estimated that number to be at 400,000 from Ukraine in the last decade.10 Today, sex trafficking
is responsible for displacing roughly 200,000,000 people as a result of human trafficking. To
what do we attribute this drastically large number to? The era of globalization.11 In regards to
Ukraine, its female citizens have been displaced, as migrant workers in the human trafficking
scheme, from their home country to European countries such as Turkey and Greece.12
But what exactly does it mean to discuss globalization in terms of sex trafficking schemes
which victimize Ukrainian women? Broadly speaking, globalization refers to the expansion of
capital and capital relations of production throughout the world.13 Thus, globalization moves
developing countries to move away from isolation by allowing them access to resources from
already developed countries in the global economy.14
Although the concept of globalization might seem glamorous, several areas of the globe,
such as Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, experience adverse results. Since the end
of the Cold War sex trafficking has become a concern resulting from the globalization of
Ukraine.15 Trafficking, in this sense, refers to recruiting and transferring people, by threat or
coercion, using an abuse of power to gain vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation of the
victims. Although trafficking may occur for several types of labor, our present purposes concern
sexual exploitation or prostitution.16 When dealing with vulnerability and sexual exploitation, I
am referring to the vulnerable state that Ukrainian women have been placed into and are, thus,
9
Hughes, supra note 3.
Id.
11
Finnegan, supra note 4.
12
Hughes, supra note 3.
13
Berch Berberoglu, The Impact of Globalization on Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Prospects for
Post-Soviet Development in the Age of Globalization, University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Sociology,
Discussion Paper, 3.
14
Joseph Stilglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents, 4 (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., ed., 2003) (2002).
15
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1.
16
Raimo Vayrynen, Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking, and Organized Crime, United Nationals University,
Discussion Paper 2003, 1 (Oct. 2003).
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being sexually exploited throughout Europe. Therefore, when analyzing the globalization of
Ukraine, along with the resulting sex trafficking that occurs, human rights violations on
Ukraine’s female citizens arising out of the attempt to expand the capital into and out of Ukraine
are implicated.17 Therefore, the notion of globalization, women and law in the global economy,
referring specifically to the case of Ukraine, refers to a moral human rights violation which must
be taken into consideration and remedied by powers and institutions attempting to globalize
Eastern European countries.18 To successfully globalize, or to globalize without victimizing
women in the sex trafficking industry, the international financial institutions and other powers
pushing Ukraine in the direction where capital and capital resources are expanded throughout the
globe in an effort to promote economic stability and welfare, must consider more than loosening
border restrictions and increased access to other countries engaged in the global economy. These
driving powers must also consider the human rights violations of Ukrainian females that have
been and currently are being exploited as a result of the movements towards globalization.
Therefore, these powers must implement educational and border policies and establish legal
reforms in order to: educate women about the dangers that human trafficking poses in Ukraine,
allow for safer Ukrainian borders where trafficking females would not be easy and to punish
criminals for their attempts to trafficking females to meet the demands for sex in European
countries, respectively.
Since the end of the Cold War in Europe, human trafficking has brought about many
political concerns.19 Although migration policies have been implemented, undocumented
migration, in the form of human trafficking, still exists. A major problem in Ukraine that aids to
female sex trafficking is that they exist in an era of globalization.20 Namely, Ukraine’s existence
17
Vayrynen, supra note 16, at 1.
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1678.
19
Id. at 1675-6.
20
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1675-6.
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in an era of globalization comes with the dilemma that they must keep their borders open to
international trade while their own female citizens are being trafficked for sex in and out of those
borders by organized criminal networks, whose jobs of trafficking women in and out of the
borders are made easy because of the fact that the borders must remain open or adhere to flexible
restrictions.21
Overall, what do we attribute the migration of Ukrainian women in the sex trafficking
industry to? The impacts of globalization in Ukraine, namely, the flexibility of regulations
regarding access inside and outside of its borders and increased access to the global market are to
blame for making Ukrainian females victims in the sex trafficking industry. The forces driving
Ukraine towards globalization failed to take into account the need for legal regulations and
enforcement of organized criminal organizations, which grew out of shadow economies
established during the former Soviet Union’s communist regime, taking advantage of vulnerable
women living in poverty; migrating them into other European counties via deceit and coercion;
and satisfying the demand for sex in those European countries, during and after the Ukraine’s
control under the former Soviet Union.
This analysis of the globalization of Ukraine and the sex trafficking will be divided into three
parts. Part I will discuss the globalization of Ukraine and how the process, whose roots date back
to Ukraine’s control under the former Soviet Union, brought about wage discrepancies and led to
the emergence of organized criminal networks and the continuation of females being viewed as
the inferior sex. Part II will discuss how the organized criminal networks function in the lucrative
industry of sex trafficking and how Ukrainian women are obtained. Finally, Part III will offer a
solution to the problem of sex trafficking, consisting of economic and social policies that must be
21
Id. at 1676.
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implemented by the European Union if there is to be hope for Ukrainian females not having to
enter a life of sexual servitude.
I. GLOBALIZATION OF UKRAINE
What is one significant factor that led to Ukraine becoming a breeding ground for female
migrant workers who are exploited in the sex trafficking industry? The process of globalizing
Ukraine before and after the fall of the Soviet Union led to this tragic result. In fact, it was the
fall of the Soviet empire and the treatment of its former territories that gave human traffickers a
new recruitment tool which would later lead to Ukraine becoming the second largest European
country for female prostitutes.22 Currently, world globe is in a position to operate on a “planetary
level,” a global economy.23 However, since states are becoming less territorial and more
globalized, migration in the form of human sex trafficking seems to prosper on a greater level.24
Before discussing the manner in which sex trafficking continues to thrive as a lucrative
enterprise, we must first analyze globalization, specifically in the context of Ukraine, by
examining: who actually benefits from the globalization of Ukraine; the development of shadow
economies and how they led to the creation organized criminal networks and, finally, how
globalization is responsible for wage and gender inequalities in Ukraine.
A. The actual beneficiaries of globalization are not the citizens of
globalizing states, but those who have investments in the international
financial institutions who push for states to become globalized.
The globalization of capital in Europe has had an adverse impact in countries, such as
Ukraine, who have been integrated in the global economy due to the expansion of capital
worldwide.25 In response to this phenomenon, scholars and policy makers, in analyzing the
22
Hughes, supra note 3.
Vayrynen, supra note 16, at 1.
24
Birgitte Young, Globalization and Gender: A European Perspective in Gender, Globalization, and Democratization
28 (Rita Mae Kelly, Jane H. Bayes, Mary Hawkesworth & Brigitte Young., eds 2001).
25
Berberoglu, supra note 13, at 1.
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adverse impacts in the context of globalizing capital, have centered their research around
economic policies implemented in European states as a means to bring those states into the
global economy.26
The polices integrated into Eastern European countries, such as Ukraine, to bring those
territories into the global economy have produced harsh results for the production of goods, the
distribution of goods and services, and have lowered the standards of living and quality of life.27
If brining a country into the global economy was supposed to benefit the production and
distribution of goods and services and strengthen living standards of the native populations, then
why does the globalization of Eastern European countries produce harsh results? One
explanation for these effects centers on who is benefitting under these implemented economic
policies. Based on the objectives of globalization, bringing a state into the global economy for
the betterment of its capital, businesses and citizens, one would be rational in thinking that
globalization should be benefitting a state itself. However, in practice, this has not been the case.
Global financial institutions are the entities responsible for using modern technology, such as the
internet, to bring more and more states into the global economy at a very quick rate.28 Among
these international financial institutions are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF).29 The question now becomes: how are the international financial institutions responsible
for the adverse results described above? Simply put, leaders of the international financial
institutions are protecting their own interests instead of securing the interests of the residents of
Ukraine and other Eastern European states. The decision makers of these international financial
institutions include: the largest stockholders of the institutions/entities, bureaucrats, politicians
and military officials. In implementing economic policies on such a rapid basis, these interested
26
Id. at 2.
Berberoglu, supra note 13, at 2.
28
Id. at 3.
29
Id. at 3.
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parties are merely securing their own financial interest in entering Eastern European states into
the global market.30
To say, however, that only leaders of the international financial institutions benefit from
globalization, at the expense of a state’s population, would not be entirely accurate. We must
remember that the larger and more efficient commercial and financial firms economically thrive
at the expense of smaller competitors and their associated classes, who are eventually forced out
of business.31 When Eastern European states are globalized, the policies implemented reflect
capitalism, which throughout recent history have been expanding globally. The expansion of
capitalism, which has favored the larger commercial and financial firms, has forced out of
business inefficient and small competitors, leading to larger profits for medium to larger sized
firms. Necessarily following was the creation of two economic classes, those who were able to
stay in business and thrive from globalization and those who were forced out of employment,
with large gaps of wealth between the two.32 Those who remained in business quickly learned a
new way to generate even more profit: the exploitation of wage labor. Namely, the larger firms
lowered their salaries for labor, thus being able to invest a small amount of money for a larger
return of profit. Therefore, classes of peasants and small self-employed business owners, who
were not strong enough to compete with the larger firms, were isolated into a class with a
significant disparity from those strong enough to stay in business and forced to take on jobs with
low wages.33 Low wages, in turn, lead to a decline in the standards of living for countries
transitioning into the global economy. Furthermore, with globalization isolating so many people
in the lower economic class, high rates of unemployment followed. Eastern European countries
undergoing the economic changes of globalization face these very same problems and have been
30
Berberoglu, supra note 13, at 3.
Berberoglu, supra note 13, at 4.
32
Id. at 4.
33
Id. at 5.
31
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since the fall of the Soviet Union.34 Described below is how low wages leads Ukrainian women
desperate to find promising employment beyond the Ukrainian borders, which is usually a
camouflage for pimps seeking to obtain sex slaves in the sex trafficking industry.
B. Shadow Economies, which arose during the Soviet regime, led to the
creation of organized criminal networks.
While economic wage disparities in Ukraine, and other parts of Eastern Europe, have been an
adverse effect of globalization, shadow economies play a significant role. It is important to
understand, as will be demonstrated in parts II and III of this paper, that the criminal networks
that emerged from globalized states took advantage of increased migration and loose border
restrictions, necessary policies of globalization, as a way to hide females being trafficked out of
Ukraine to satisfy the demand for sex in other globalized states. Before the fall of the Soviet
Union, while it controlled Ukraine, the state economy failed to provide goods and services
needed by the general population. Shadow economies, operating similarly to black markets,
emerged in attempt to gain a profit by satisfying those demands for goods and services. In fact,
shortages in goods and services were occasionally created to benefit those operating the shadow
economies.35
Towards the end of the Soviet Union’s regime, the political and economic system was
failing. Thus, the shadow economies were able to jump at the opportunity to fill even more
demands, while implementing corruptive measures, that the Soviet Union failed to provide. As
time went on, independent states began to emerge from the Soviet Union. However, they faced
two problems: a lack of experience of deterring criminal networks and a lack of self-sustained
economic experience. Thus, as the states became unable to pay salaries to their workers, these
workers turned to criminal networks for survival. In Ukraine, those working on very low salaries
34
35
Berberoglu, supra note 13, at 6.
Hughes, supra note 3.
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and seeking additional employment, had no other choice but to turn to the organized criminal
industry. Organized crime refers to the agencies operating on a transnational level whose
intentions are purely profit from illegal opportunities where opportunities are high and risks of
prosecution or other legal ramifications are low.36 The organized criminal industry, in turn,
became so powerful that by 1995 it accounted for 50% of Ukraine’s gross domestic product. 37
States throughout the world, some who have or are currently globalizing, are dominated by
organized criminal networks, commonly known as mafias. Today, one state must notorious for
being dominated by organized criminal networks is Ukraine.38
C. The Soviet Union’s regime created gender inequalities which are further
sustained through Globalization in terms of wage disparities and
cultural stances on women
Another impact of globalization, aside from wage disparities, division of economic classes
and the birth of criminal networks, is gender inequalities. Due to the wage disparities caused by
globalization, gender establishments are said to have become “feminized” and women have been
forced to abandon their households and join the work force in the global economy.39 Based on
these happenings, some critics claim that globalization has had a positive and liberating effect on
women due to the fact that females in developed countries have prospered. However, the effects
are clearly oppressive for those females who have become poorer from the effects of
globalization in non-developed parts of the world. Territories that have become poorer from
globalization experience reductions in housing, food and health. Impoverished women are forced
to crowd urban areas or migrate across borders. In some cases, migratory actions include women
36
Vayrynen, supra note 16, at 2.
Hughes, supra note 3.
38
Finnegan, supra note 4.
39
Jane H. Bayes, Mary E. Hawkesworth & Rita Mae Kelly, Globalization, Democratization, and Gender Regimes in
Gender, Globalization, and Democratization 3 (Rita Mae Kelly, Jane H. Bayes, Mary Hawkesworth & Brigitte Young,
eds., 2001).
37
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and children forced into slavery, prostitution and sex trafficking.40 Even when women are able to
find employment, the jobs are not very attractive. For example, Eastern European cultures appear
to favor males as the dominating gender. Based on this social inequality, while males are
subcontracted for more attractive jobs, women are primarily present in sweatshops of the global
factories.41
The social inequality that exists to the disadvantage of women is present in Ukraine. Namely,
60% of unemployed Ukrainians are females. At the same time, 80% of Ukrainians who lost their
jobs between 1991 and 2000 were female.42
Aside from the impacts of globalization, as described above, why are Ukrainian women seen
as an inferior sex? The answer to this is 300 years of Russian governance and seventy years of
Soviet oppression. Communist ideology, under which Ukraine was dominated by, promoted
gender equality. Specifically, communist ideology promoted gender equalities in employment
and in education. Thus, Ukrainian females became main labor force for tractor drivers, builders
or factory workers and other dangerous jobs, despite the fact that such dangerous occupations
were hazardous to women’s reproductive health. On the other hand, in terms of academics and
prestigious positions, communist ideology created a society where only a small percentage of
women obtained academic grants, obtained prestigious jobs or became political leaders.43
Moreover, while Ukrainian women were treated unequally in practice, despite communism’s
ideology of gender equality, Ukrainian females became a sex symbol in the entertainment
industry. While females were supposedly seen as equals under the communism under the Soviet
Union, Ukrainian culture, through filmmakers, exploited women with images of sexuality on
40
Id. at 7.
Young, supra note 24, at 33.
42
Hughes, supra note 3.
43
Tamara Vornik Govorun, Challenges In the Ukraine, 25 Choice-Sexual Health and Family Planning in Europe 13
(1996).
41
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television programs. Namely, filmmakers fill programs depicting a naked female merely as a sex
object available for men.44
II. UKRAINIAN WOMEN HAVE EMERGED AS A SOURCE TO
STAISFY DEMANDS FOR SEX IN EUROPE
Now that we have an understanding of the impact globalization has in Ukraine and how
women were placed at a disadvantage by virtue of their gender, we can begin to analyze the
emergence of women as a source used to satisfy the demand for sex in Europe via sex trafficking
schemes.
Sex trafficking is a very dangerous and lucrative industry.45 This notion, coupled with the
high demand for sex in European countries, gives rise to organized criminal networks that prey
on the vulnerability of Ukrainian women by taking advantage of the loose Ukrainian border
restrictions and exploit the country’s females into the sex trafficking industry.
Calculating how many Ukrainian women have been exploited in and out of Ukraine’s
borders for the purposes of sex trafficking is difficult.46 Part of this uncertainty can be credited to
the fact that not many government agencies are monitoring the problem.47 Fears have been
increasing centered around migration of trafficked women by means of coercion and exploitation
used by crime organizations forcing women into prostitution.48 These crime organizations consist
of transnational crime networks that take advantage of the open borders in Ukraine, opened up as
a result of the movement to globalize Ukraine, to traffic women into the sex industry.49 The
organized criminal organizations take advantage of the open borders by identifying patterns of
regular migrations in and out of the Ukraine to hide their efforts of trafficking women in the sex
industry. For example, after 1989, numerous Soviet Jews migrated to Israel. About 800,000 new
44
Govorun, supra note 43.
Hughes, supra note 3.
46
Hughes, supra note 3.
47
Hughes, supra note 3.
48
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1678.
49
Hughes, supra note 3.
45
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immigrants moved to Israel. Organized criminal network leaders in Ukraine used these patterns
in migration to move 10,000 Ukrainian women into Israel for sex trafficking purpose.50 Such
trafficking movements have been deemed to be a modern day slave trade.51 Unfortunately, many
impoverished females in Ukraine, those of which are women who are at the highest risk of being
trafficked, tend to view trafficking as a experience that will never happen to them.52
A. Sex trafficking is a lucrative business with a high demand for Ukrainian
women.
Countries with large sex industries create the demands. The demanding countries are known
as “receiving countries” and they obtain women from “sending countries,” such as Ukraine.
These demands in “receiving countries” for women in brothels, massage parlors, bars and
stretches of streets and highways where women are sold to men in prostitution leads crime
networks in newly independent states, such as Ukraine, to fulfill this demand for high profits at a
low risk. Recently, Ukraine has become a major source of young women for “receiving
countries.” In “receiving countries,” men create the demand for a young female supply. With
little attention paid to the legality or legitimacy of this demand, from either the perspective of
Ukraine or the “receiving country,” men are able to use trafficked women for entertainment,
sexual gratification and acts of violence.53
The high demand created by men in “receiving countries” raises opportunities for criminal
networks to engage in the highly lucrative sex trafficking. According to the United Nations,
human trafficking is currently considered to be the third most profitable criminal enterprise in the
world (behind weapons and narcotics), thus giving it its appeal to the criminal society.54 Among
the players involved in this highly lucrative criminal scheme, the transnational trafficking
criminals consist of pimps that take advantage of poor and impoverished Ukrainian women
50
Finnegan, supra note 4.
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1678.
52
Finnegan, supra note 4.
53
Hughes, supra note 3.
54
Finnegan, supra note 4.
51
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possessing dreams of future employment. The actions of these criminal networks, aside from
degrading the status of Ukrainian women, are threatening the social, political and economic
stability of Ukraine in an era of globalization.55
Just how lucrative are sex trafficking criminal schemes to the pimps in Ukraine? The
Chief of Criminal Investigations for the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior, Mikhail Lebed, does not
give an exact estimate, but sheds light on how lucrative the position can be. According to Lebed,
gangsters, pimps, mafia leaders, and other criminals make more money by putting impoverished
Ukrainian women into the global sex trafficking scheme in only one week than what is budgeted
for the Ukrainian law-enforcement in a year. Taking into account the easy access given to
migrants in and out of Ukraine’s borders, as described above, criminals in Ukraine are given the
ability to engage in an industry, sexual trafficking and exploitation, carrying a very low risk of
criminal punishment or sanctions.56
What is to be said about globalization in terms of these transnational criminal enterprises in
Ukraine? Before answering that question it is important to remember that one of the objectives of
globalization is to improve the economic wealth of a country, which includes its local
communities, and its citizens. In effect, however, the exact opposite result is achieved. The
globalization of Ukraine led to loosened restrictions of the Ukrainian borders for free trade to
take place in the global economy. Therefore, two results display how the globalization of
Ukraine achieves the opposite results desired. First, Ukrainian women who are trafficked for
sexual exploitation end up taking home next to none of the money they earned while employed
by pimps as sexual objects. Moreover, Ukrainian females suffer in terms of health, emotional
well being and standing in their communities as a result of their employment experiences.
Second, Ukraine and its local communities do not gain prosperity from sex trafficking criminal
55
Hughes, supra note 3.
Id.
56
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schemes, which were made possible via loose border restrictions. Namely, none of the money
made by organized criminal networks from sex trafficking profits goes towards improving
Ukraine’s wealth. Instead of going to improve poor communities in Ukraine, the profits of
criminal networks are laundered through bank accounts of crime bosses in financial centers in
the United States or Western Europe or deposited in off-shore savings accounts.57
B. Tactics and recruitment tools used to obtain Ukrainian women in the
sex trafficking industry
Being presented with such a profitable opportunity, carrying little risk of legal implications,
criminals are encouraged to devise tactics for recruiting and holding on to Ukrainian women for
sex trafficking, which a growing number of women are vulnerable to.58 These factors include:
force, coercion, manipulation, deception, abuse of authority, initial consent, family pressures,
family or community violence, economic hardships or, more significantly for present purposes,
gender inequality.59
Gaining an understanding of how and why Ukrainian women enter the sex trafficking
industry allows us to develop a greater appreciation of the barbaric tactics employed. Although
some Ukrainian women voluntarily enter the sex industry, seventy-five percent of these women
do not realize that they will be forced into a life of servitude and prostitution.60 Trafficking
Ukrainian women for sex in and out of the country’s border can sometimes be attributed to
kidnapping. However, transporting women across the Ukrainian borders to satisfy sex demands
in other European countries usually results from breached promises of employment, work
conditions, employment destinations, or combinations thereof. As far as tactics are concerned,
female Ukrainian victims of sex trafficking endure threats, violent treatment, forced labor and
57
58
Hughes, supra note 3.
United States Agency of International Development, Ukraine Initiative, Gender Matters Quarterly, Feb. 1999 at
6.
59
Hughes, supra note 3.
Id.
60
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imprisonment from their pimps.61 Just to make matters worse, immediately upon arriving at their
employment destination, victims have their travel documents confiscated and are held in physical
and economic slavery until their debts to their employers/pimps are satisfied.62 After these tactics
are employed, pimps and those who control the sex labor of trafficked Ukrainian women use
beatings, rapes and torture to control their new sex workers. Moreover, these pimps threaten a
women’s family living back in Ukraine. Very few of these victims confront the horrors
associated with sex trafficking ready to put up a fight.63
To aid their efforts, organized criminal networks utilize technological advances to avoid
detection and criminal prosecution. Computer communication technologies have increased the
complexity of international financial transactions. As a result, criminal network leaders are able
to use complex transactions to transfer their profits and launder the money they make.
In terms of recruiting their victims, criminals are using the advertising industry to obtain
victims for the sex trafficking industry. Criminal enterprises employ newspapers to advertise
phony profitable job opportunities in foreign countries with very little skill required. In fact, an
inspection of Ukrainian newspapers indicates that each newspaper investigated found anywhere
between five to twenty suspicious advertisements. Although these findings only suggest that the
advertisements are suspicious, recruitment via media advertisements accounts for roughly twenty
percent of Ukrainian woman who fall prey to sex traffickers. These recruiting efforts are also
known to take place at social events and photo auditions.64
Although media advertisements account for a significant percentage of Ukrainian women
trafficked into the global sex industry, the majority of Ukrainian women, around seventy percent,
are introduced to the sex trafficking industry via “happy trafficking.” Happy trafficking is a
61
Finnegan, supra note 4.
Hughes, supra note 3.
63
Finnegan, supra note 4.
64
Hughes, supra note 3.
62
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technique traffickers have used which entails recruiting Ukrainian women through friends or
acquaintances.65 Specifically, previous Ukrainian prostitutes work off their debts, which are
designated by their pimps and arbitrarily increased with fines and costs, and are released back to
Ukraine subject to their ability to obtain replacements. Through “happy trafficking” we see how
deception is a factor that causes Ukrainian females to enter the sex trafficking scheme. The
former prostitutes must employ persuasive tactics and demonstrate to the potential victims that
the employment opportunity is positive and profitable. Not only is “happy trafficking” a tactic
used to victimize friends and acquaintances, but it is also used to victimize friends, cousins and
daughters of a former prostitute.66 Although the former prostitute does not always deny the fact
that she was in fact a prostitute, she will still employ deceptive tactics by failing to mention the
beatings, rapes, threats and the degrading qualities of the job, such as having no choice about
how many clients they would be required to entertain in one night or whether any protection
could be used.67
In sum, globalization negatively impacts the status of women in Ukraine. A high demand
for females for sex, mixed with loose Ukrainian border restrictions and a highly lucrative
business enterprise, criminal networks jump at the opportunity to traffic Ukrainian females with
very little risks attached. Upon being trafficked, these Ukrainian victims fall prey to a pimp’s
control through beatings, rapes and family threats. Regardless of this harsh reality, governmental
organizations are doing little to account for these victims. Moreover, little governmental effort is
being exerted to control the recruitment efforts criminal enterprises utilize, such as media
advertisements and “happy trafficking,” to combat these efforts. Given the circumstances, in my
opinion the Ukrainian government and world governments need to be held accountable for all
aspects of Ukraine that lead to females becoming victims in the sex trafficking industry if the
65
Hughes, supra note 3.
Finnegan, supra note 4.
67
Id.
66
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country’s borders are to remain open and flexible so that free and open trade can continue on a
global level. I do not mean to say that Ukraine should not be a player in the global market.
However, if Ukraine is to remain a player in the global economy, other global markets and
international financial institutions, who push for or benefit from the globalization of Ukraine,
must be held accountable for the fact that a human rights violation is occurring. Namely, the
globalization of Ukraine is making it easier for criminals to use and exploit Ukrainian females to
satisfy the demand for sex in other global economies.
Globalization seems be providing aid to Ukraine. Business such as travel agencies,
hotels, tour-bus companies, night clubs, accountants, lawyers, doctors, landlords, forgers and
corrupt police officers and political leaders seem to be profiting from the movement of Ukraine
into the global economy. However, Ukrainian women are suffering from being forced or coerced
into an enduring a career as prostitutes.68 Globalization is partially responsible for this movement
because of the increased demand for low-wage workers in jobs offering few advancements.69
Due to this movement, there has been an increase of women migrating across borders who seek
better employment.70 In the case of Ukraine, as just described, migration across borders carries
with it a strong probability that the women migrating are destined to a life of prostitution and
slavery.71
III.
68
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE AND NECESSARY POLICIES TO
HALT OR SLOW THE MOVEMENT OF OBTAINING
UKRAINIAN WOMEN FOR THE SEX TRAFFICKING
INDUSTRY
Finnegan, supra note 4.
Saskia Sasses, Global Cities and Survival Circuits, in Global Dimensions of Carework and Gender 31 (Mary K.
Zimmerman, Jacquelyn S. Litt & Christine E. Bose Eds., 2006).
70
Id. at 33
71
Hughes, supra note 3.
69
19
As described above, migration in the form of human trafficking of Ukrainian women has
become an issue in the European Union.72 Although trafficking is a result of globalization, in
terms of economics and loose border restrictions, we must remember that at the outset we are
dealing with human rights violations of women.73 To recap, briefly, we have seen that Ukrainian
women are being sexually exploited in an underground, secretive and lucrative industry and that
keeping an exact estimate of how many females are exploited is difficult since not many
governmental and non-governmental agencies are not keeping track.74 Difficulty also arises in
monitoring sexual exploitation due to the fact that Ukrainian females are shipped out to
destinations where prostitution is legal, thus not giving much incentive for anyone to monitor.75
That is not to say that no action is taking place. Members of the European Union has begun
to take more aggressive stances against sex trafficking. For example, some member states of the
European Union have taken steps to prevent illegal migration, as will be described in greater
detail below, and integrate already existing immigrants into the societies they already live in.76
This section deals with three primary objectives: first, outline the problems dealing with
corruption that make the sex trafficking of Ukrainian females difficult to monitor; second,
provide details of what movements exist in Ukraine to combat the efforts of criminals in the sex
trafficking arena; and third, provide details indicating that preventative education, protection,
prosecution and other movements that need to be undertaken by Ukraine and other members of
the European Union to combat the efforts of criminals furthering the existence of sex trafficking
schemes.
A. Difficulties Involved with Corruption
72
Govorun, supra note 43.
Vayrynen, supra note 16, at 1.
74
Hughes, supra note 3.
75
Hughes, supra note 3.
76
Vayrynen, supra note 16, at 10.
73
20
The corruption in Ukraine is not a complicated concept. Simply put, Ukrainian governmental
law enforcement officials, either in individual or collective capacities, receive bribes from
criminals. These bribes enable criminals to gain protection and avoid law enforcement
authorities to migrate women outside Ukraine’s borders into the sex trafficking industry.
Criminal networks are allowed to illegally exploit Ukrainian women into forced prostitution
without fear of being caught for their illegal acts. Therefore, cooperation between criminal and
corrupt governmental officials, through bribes and agreements, ensures that sex traffickers can
operate their lucrative business and exploit Ukrainian females with little to no interference.77
Regardless of whether or not sex trafficking criminals in the Ukraine fear getting caught for
their illegal actions, legal ramifications do not serve as a deterrent for illegally migrating
Ukrainian women. The laws that are enacted to deter human sex trafficking do not serve their
purpose. In fact, the laws established in Ukraine help criminals carry on their business, thus
achieving the opposite effect for two reasons: first, prostitution is legal in many places and,
second, the laws against human sex trafficking carry very light punishments and ramifications.78
B. What is being done to stop the movement of obtaining and integrating
Ukrainian women into the sex trafficking industry
Although law enforcement and legislative officials are contributing to the human rights
violations taking place in Ukraine, there still exist efforts and programs implemented to help
prevent sex trafficking of Ukrainian women. Such efforts and programs would be very beneficial
especially for women migrating to destinations where sex trafficking is accepted. For example,
Germany and the Netherlands, two countries where prostitution is legal, are two popular
destinations for Ukrainian females to migrate to and become wrapped up in the sex trafficking
industry. The programs described in the next section would greatly benefit those Ukrainian
77
Hughes, supra note 3.
Id.
78
21
females who have become victims of the sex trafficking industry and migrated into countries
such Germany and the Netherlands.79
1. Policies Against Trafficking
Regarding governmental actions to halt the exploitation of Ukrainian and other European
women in the sex trafficking industry, the European Union has collaborated to advocate several
objectives. First, one advocated measure deals with stricter border controls and increased
cooperation between countries within and outside of the European Union.80 Moreover, these
European Union measures include setting up measures to directly fight the trafficking of women.
For example, such measures include policies to establish training programs for migration
officials, technical assistances and reinforcement of criminal legislation so that punishments for
illegal human trafficking become more severe.81
2. Aiding Victims and Potential Victims
Also intriguing are the efforts being taken directed to the victims or potential victims of sex
trafficking schemes. Such efforts are primarily interested in aiding sending countries, such as
Ukraine.82 Moreover, policies are being advocated to provide assistance for victims of sex
trafficking. Namely, under these advocated measure of the European Union, sex trafficking
victims would be provided with legal and medical counseling, reception centers and assistance
for returning and reintegrating into their home towns.83 These efforts to help victims or potential
victims in Ukraine involve education projects and hotlines for victims or women seeking
79
Id. In 1995, the Netherlands obtained more Ukrainian women for prostitution than anywhere else in the world.
In 1996, the Netherlands was second in how many Ukrainian females it obtained for prostitution.
80
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1678.
81
Id.
82
Hughes, supra note 3.
83
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1678.
22
accurate information about the risks associated with job offers outside Ukraine. Thus, Ukrainian
females are beginning to have access to hotlines that would investigate or provide useful
information about job opportunities in those two countries regarding how legit the employment
opportunity is.84
Informational campaigns are using their efforts in central and eastern Europe to combat the
human rights problem of human sex trafficking.85 Campaigns throughout Europe are targeting
you.ng females, those who are at the greatest risk becoming victims of sex trafficking, express
their messages using multimedia projects such as moves, music and the internet These
informational campaigns either exist on their own or combine efforts with partnerships,
governmental leaders or civil leaders. The messages informational campaigns include: “Open
Your Eyes,” “Don’t Get Hooked,” “Your Are Not For Sale” and “Human Beings Are
Priceless.”86
Informational campaigns also use printed materials as a means to further convey their
messages. One important means of communicating with young females are posters on billboards
or on the sides of city buses. Many posters display a young, beautiful and half-naked female
living in a state of despair that reflect the harsh characteristics of being a prostitute. Posters,
similar to the multimedia efforts, also express messages and sentiments combating sex
trafficking by taking a typical job advertisement appearing to offer good employment
opportunities and labeling it with slogans such as: “The Return Home Won’t Be Easy,” “Are
You Sure You Know What’s Waiting For You,” “Blind Faith Opens Its Eyes Too Late” and “Do
You Think It Could Never Happen To You”87 Other posters may portray females in cages or
other vulnerable situations coupled with the slogan: “Do You Want To Trade Your Dignity,
84
Hughes, supra note 3.
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1679.
86
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1679.
87
Id. at 1679.
85
23
Your Freedom And Your Health For A Cage” or posters may display a female in the hands of a
man exchanging her against money with the slogan: “You Will Be Sold Like A Doll. In Ukraine,
specifically, informational campaigns created posters representing passports with pictures of
young women and stamps reading “Sold” on all the posters. Each poster offers phone numbers to
hotlines providing information to potential victims of sex trafficking who are considering
crossing European borders for employment or that might be unsure about the employment
information they have already received. Informational campaigns have also distributed leaflets,
flyers, postcards, stickers, fact sheets or pocket calendars providing potential victims with
information and hotline phone numbers to Ukrainian females.88
C. What Needs to be done: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution,
Institutional Building, Judicious Regulation of Markets and Social
Policies in the Government Budget
Now for the most important question: After taking into account all information known about
the sex trafficking of Ukrainian females, what is to be done to put this human rights violation on
Ukrainian females to a halt? To end or begin to decrease sex trafficking in and out of Ukraine,
the European Union must adopt and adhere to six policies; three of which are from the United
States Agency of International Development (USAID) and three involving improvement of the
workings of the market economy, which involve prevention, protection, prosecution, institutional
building, judicious regulation of markets and social policies in the government budget.
1. USAID Policies
The first set of polices the European Union must adhere to if they are going to end the
practice of sex trafficking Ukrainian arise from the USAID efforts to create an anti-trafficking
campaign in Ukraine. In the late 1990s, the Ukrainian government invited the USAID to assist
them in developing a national anti-trafficking campaign. The USAID in turn proposed a plan to
88
Nieuwenhuys, supra note 1, at 1679.
24
implement prevention, protection and prosecution. Namely, the USAID campaign sought to
prevent trafficking through public education campaigns, extended legal protections and relief to
already victims of sex trafficking and strengthen the law enforcement and justice system to
catch, prosecute and punish criminals involved in sex trafficking schemes.89
The first policy of the USAID is prevention. As described above, many young Ukrainian
females become victims of sex trafficking through misleading employment opportunities. To
combat these misleading tactics educational programs, such as the ones implemented by
informational campaigns, must be implemented to prevent Ukrainian females from becoming sex
trafficking victims. The surest way to avoid females becoming sex trafficking victims would be
to provide Ukrainian females with legitimate employment opportunities in other European
countries and point out which opportunities might lead one into a trap – becoming a victim of
sex trafficking. Such information would be provided at Trafficking Prevention Centers that, in
accordance with the USAID policies, provides funding for non-governmental organizations
wishing to participate in informational campaigns. Finally, prevention also includes the
incorporation of anti-trafficking materials in the school systems of European countries which
would include training manuals and literature warning young females of the dangers associated
with sex trafficking and how easy it is to fall prey to this dangerous scheme.90
Next, members of the European Union must implement protective measures for those who
have already suffered as victims in the sex trafficking industry. Protection must be given to
female victims if they are going to cooperate with law enforcement authorities and turn against
their former employers/pimps. Furthermore, establishments must be designed to aid victims and
provide medical care. For example, in Ukraine, a non-governmental organization known as La
Strada, which is supported by the USAID, provides clinical and social services and operates a
89
90
United States Agency of International Development, supra note 58.
United States Agency of International Development, supra note 58.
25
hotline to obtain information about human trafficking activities throughout Ukraine. Clinics such
as La Strada are necessary measures to be taken so that Ukrainian female victims are going to be
able to return to their homes and continue to live a normal life.91
Finally, in accordance with USAID’s initiative in Ukriane, prosecution of criminals is
necessary to end sex trafficking. First, the protective measure listed above must be implemented
because prosecution depends on a victim’s willingness to testify against her former
employer/pimp. Second, members of the European Union, specifically Ukraine, must be willing
to prosecute the actual criminals in the sex trafficking schemes and not the victims for violating
immigration, employment and prostitution laws. At the same time the USAID initiative calls for
the training of law enforcement officials and training of border-control officers to detect patterns
of when criminals are migrating Ukrainian females for the purposes of sex trafficking.92
2. Policies Improving the Workings of the Market Economy
Aside from preventative, protective and prosecutorial measures necessary to end the sex
trafficking of Ukrainian females, the market economy must undergo changes.
Globalization increases wealth but is slow to do so with the poor. Economic growth of
globalized states is attributable to globalization. However, the reduction of poverty in globalized
states is very slow. Thus, one negative drawback of globalization is that the poor citizens of
globalized states do not share in the increased wealth. This notion has taken effect in Ukraine.93
In fact, the decline in income and production since Ukraine became free from the former Soviet
Union has been steeper than in other economies that undergo globalization.94 Thus, with a slow
reduction of poverty in Ukraine, young female citizens become desperate to seek employment
91
Id.
United States Agency of International Development, supra note 58.
93
Henri Ghesquiere, Senior IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine, Presentation at the Conference on Economic
Security in Market Reform Strategy: The Case of Ukraine: Making Globalization in Ukraine Work for the Benefit of
All 3 (Oct. 26-27, 2000).
94
Id. at 6.
92
26
and end up being misled or forced into the sex trafficking industry, as described above, which
further decreases the speed at which poverty is being reduced since the lucrative business profits
the criminals and corrupt law enforcement officials. Therefore, three categories of policies,
which would improve the workings of the market economy, are necessary for impoverished
Ukraine citizens to take part in the distribution of wealth attributed to globalization. These three
categories of policies are: institution building, market building and social reformation. As a
result, Ukrainian females would be less likely to seek employment outside their country and run
the risk of falling prey to deceptive criminal sex trafficking schemes.95
The first policy is institution building. Well-functioning market economies will help
countries like Ukraine capture all the benefits of globalization. This requires, first, Ukraine keep
its borders open to the world market in order to compete and attract investors so that income may
be made and allocated resourcefully. Second, institution building requires the private sectors of
Ukraine and the rest of the global economy to invest and expand so that employment for millions
of job seekers may be fulfilled. Third, institution building requires a strong legal structure to
support the transactions taking place in the global economy that might deter investors. For
example, Ukraine is notorious for breaching contracts. Investors are then turned off from
investing in Ukraine resources since the breach their contracts and the law is not enforced. Thus,
Ukraine should honor its contract laws and keep the judicial system independent, professional
and available to all. Improvements in the judicial system would then encourage investment and
economic growth. As a result, Ukraine would appear attractive to outside investors and economic
progress would ensue.96
The second policy that would improve Ukraine in the market economy is market regulation.
Simply put, the Ukrainian markets should be supervised and regulated so that consumers would
95
96
Ghesquiere, supra note 93, at 3.
Id. at 4.
27
be protected and monopolies do not occur. Moreover, economic growth must be achieved at a
steady rate so as to avoid inflation. To achieve this status, regulations must be placed on financial
systems to avoid extraordinary large withdrawals leading to severe macroeconomic
consequences. In essence, financial institutions must implement policies that allow them to
always account for their assets and remain solvent.97
Finally, social policies in the government budget would improve Ukraine status in the market
economy. Namely, the Ukrainian government must realize that not every attempt by individuals
to gain wealth from the impact of globalization (Ukraine’s involvement in a market economy)
will be successfully. Therefore, the Ukrainian government should take precautionary measures to
increase competition and market exposure as a country while protecting its citizens against
unemployment and income loss.98
CONCLUSION
As we have just observed, the movement to globalize Ukraine has resulted in a tragedy.
Loose border regulations created so that increased access to the global market could be achieved
with ease has been taken advantage of by organized criminal networks who migrate Ukrainian
women outside the country’s borders so that the women may be put to work as sex slaves so that
the criminal leaders could make a profit. The institutions pushing for the globalization of
Ukraine have failed to recognize that in order to successfully aid a country through globalization,
there must be consideration for the middle and lower class populations of the country and not a
primary focus on larger more profitable economic firms. Such considerations to all economic
classes, along with strictly enforced territorial border regulations and social welfare programs
would have the effect of reducing females who would otherwise be potential victims in sex
trafficking schemes. As described above in Parts I and II, the globalization of Ukraine has placed
97
98
Ghesquiere, supra note 93, at 4.
Id. at 4-5.
28
the country in the market economy. However, by virtue of the failure to take into consideration
law enforcement and regulations necessary to protect the citizens of Ukraine, while those who
have interests or are leaders in the international financial institutions pushing Ukraine towards
globalization, human rights violations have occurred – illegal smuggling and sex trafficking of
Ukrainian females outside of the Ukrainian borders.99 Implementation of the policies discussed
in Part III would place more of an emphasis on the citizens of Ukraine, especially those who are
vulnerable and susceptible to victimization of the sex trafficking, becoming a sex slave for a
pimp obtaining women via organized criminal networks. As a result, placing legal consequences
on sex trafficking, providing victims with support and legal aid, and implementing policies to
obtain security and control over the market economy would lead to a decline in the number of
organized criminal networks exploiting Ukrainian females as sex slaves in exchange for a profit.
99
Vayrynen, supra note 16, at 1.