NCJ Number
200853
Journal
Organized Crime Watch - Russia Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: February 1999 Pages: 1-10
Editor(s)
Louise Shelley
Date Published
February 1999
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The trafficking of human beings in Russia is profiled in this article from the Center for the Study of Transnational Crime and Corruption at American University.
Abstract
This article suggests that the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics resulted in a breakdown of numerous social, political, and economic institutions, creating chaos, uncertainty, and poverty for many Russian and Ukrainian citizens. Russian and Ukrainian women, seeking to improve their poor economic conditions, are being taken advantage of by savvy and appealing offers of clerical and hotel positions in Asia, Western Europe, and the United States that result in the trafficking of these women. Highlighting a roundtable discussion on human trafficking held in October 1997, the article describes the response to the problem of human trafficking offered by Sergei Boskholov, the Deputy Chair of the Duma Security Committee. Noting that the crime of human trafficking is very secretive, Boskholov suggests that one problem involving human trafficking in Russia is that victims of such crimes often do not count on the aid of law enforcement agencies, keeping silent in order to protect their lives and the security of their friends and families. Also within this document, a member of the United States’ Immigration and Naturalization Service presents a case study involving trafficking, arguing that there are laws permitting the arrest of individuals found bringing prostitutes to the United States. And, the First Deputy Chief of Border Control in Russia details Russian border controls from 1996 to July 1997. Discussing legislative changes made to Part 2 of Article 152 on Trafficking in Minors, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation the article presents trafficking highlights from the Irkutsk Center’s conference in November 1997. A discussion of the trafficking of Russian women and children is followed by a presentation of illegal migration to the Irkutsk Oblast. After a brief discussion of prostitution in Korean, this article describes organized crime in the maritime province and the Far East. News reports from the Vladivostok, Washington D.C., and the Moscow Centers on Transnational Crime are followed by a calendar of events at each of these organized crime watch centers.