Some 10,000 Belarusians victims of human trafficking annually :: Charter'97 :: News

Some 10,000 Belarusians become victims of human trafficking annually, according to Raman Pawlyuchenka of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The total number of Belarusian victims may have reached 50,000, Mr Pawlyuchenka said at a three-day workshop last week. Organized by the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] and IOM, the workshop was held at the Rawbichy sports centre near Minsk from Friday to Sunday [27-29 February].

Once a phenomenon confined to certain areas, trafficking in humans has grown into a global problem, said Hanna Charnyshova, coordinator of UNDP projects in Belarus. It is a well-functioning system of coercion that employs recruiters, intermediaries and intimidators, she noted.

Ms Charnyshova linked the spread of human trafficking in the country to the poor state of its economy and social sphere, as well as to extremely low public awareness. Only 4 per cent of Belarusians have a general notion of the problem, she said.

Although certainly not a world leader, Belarus has been supplying ever more girls and women for world sex slavery, said Mikalay Lukanaw, first deputy chief of the Belarusian Interior Ministry`s drug control and vice office. He said that the police recorded 41 cases of human trafficking in January and February, compared with 141 last year and 114 in 2002.

Mr Lukanaw said the women are mostly transported to Russia, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Greece, Cyprus and Israel. Abducted girls from Hrodna and Brest Regions often end up in Europe, from Vitsebsk an Mahilyow Regions in Russia and the Baltic countries, and from Homel Region in the Middle East. Girls from Minsk are taken to all of the above-mentioned places.

A typical Belarusian victim is a woman from a low-income problem family resident in a small provincial town, IOM experts say. They suggest that instruction in measures against sex slavery should be incorporated in Belarusian school curricula.