Ukraine Among Top Five Suppliers of Sex Slaves
Our country ranks fifth among the top five suppliers of prostitutes to Western Europe, with Nigeria heading the list followed by Albania and Romania. After Ukraine come Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, and Latvia, says the ForUm Internet publication, citing the International Migration Organization (IMO). In total, the share of Ukrainians among working girls in the EU and Balkan states comes to 7-11%, with their numbers varying in different countries. Thus, the percentage of Ukrainian girls trafficked to Bulgaria is 56%, with Moldovans in second place (36%), Romanians third, and Russians fourth. In Austria, the share of Ukrainian prostitutes is also substantial at 14%. Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, Lithuanian, and Belarusian slave traders have flooded Germany, the IMO (www.imo.int) survey states. Russian and Ukrainian prostitutes dominate in the Netherlands play for pay sector, and the popularity of our female compatriots is rising in Spain and Italy. As large a number of Ukrainian hookers ply the streets in Greece.
Incidentally, women slaves from the former Soviet Union have appeared in Europe’s less affluent countries, with 57% of Albania’s foreign women forced to sell their bodies for money being Moldovans. Their number in Bosnia and Herzegovina is somewhat lower at 48%, with 16% coming from Ukraine.
According to the Interpol, Polish and Romanian criminal groups take the lead in trafficking women, with the bulk of sex slaves going through Poland to neighboring Germany and other West European states. Romania is the main transit country for shipping women to Italy, the Balkans, and Middle East.
Most of slave women are aged between 18 and 24, although cases of trafficking 13-14 year old girls have also been reported. 89% of women say they were tempted to leave their countries by promises of employment and did not suspect that they would become the targets of sexual exploitation.
Recently, there have been more cases of criminals kidnapping women and trafficking them abroad under the influence of drugs or death threats, Interpol says. In addition, more and more frequently women slavers pose as respectable foreigners seeking wives. After marrying a girl (typically on a false passport) and a brief wedding trip the cheated girl finds herself in a foreign whorehouse.
A survey done among the women slaves who managed to escape their captors shows that 15% of them are infected with HIV and 35% have sexually transmitted diseases. Every twentieth female victim of the slave trade has attempted suicide.
