Migrant laborers from the DPRK continued to work in Russia, especially in the Far East, often under conditions of forced labor. January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the United States. • Investigate allegations and prevent the use of forced labor in construction projects and North Korean-operated labor camps. As of 2012 (the latest available data on human trafficking), 40,177 cases of trafficking were reported in the 2010-2012 period—and these are only the known cases. The Human Trafficking project team applied existing and new approaches, processes, and tools to strengthen the AML/CFT awareness and understanding of human trafficking, exchange information, and support interagency efforts. There were anecdotal reports the government provided anti-trafficking training to some of its diplomatic personnel. In a new report, the U.S. State Department says Belarus, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan remain among the worst offenders of human trafficking and forced labor. From Social Dislocation to Human Trafficking : The Russian Case. During the 2018 World Cup, Russia relaxed its visa requirements, allowing all Fan ID holders to enter and exit Russia without a visa through December 31, 2018. As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Russia, and victims from Russia are exploited abroad. The cost of a human life in Russia is just 18,000 rubles (US$235). Since then Russia has not adopted any other laws on human trafficking, whereas, all 14 other countries in the post-Soviet region have passed multiple laws related to human trafficking, totaling over 100. Media reported the arrest of a police officer accused of forcing an individual he arrested to work on the family farm. The government reported the identification of 61 trafficking victims in 2019, compared with 19 reported identifications in 2018. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. Definitions and Classification of the Forms of Human Trafficking (HT) 14 1.1.1. Types of Human Trafficking & Forms of Exploitation 21 1.1.3. Coordinator for the Arctic Region, Bureaus and Offices Reporting Directly to the Secretary, Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, Office of the U.S. (3, 11, 38) In St. Petersburg, the municipal government provides the facilities in which the shelter is housed. Women had been disproportionately affected by the transition away from communism and toward the free market. This paper elucidates the nuances of human trafficking, and the methods and mechanisms by which traffickers function, and people are trafficked. The government maintained limited efforts to prevent trafficking. With Lynne Adams, Zoe Aggeliki, Isabelle Blais, Céline Bonnier. It is a transit and destination country to a lesser extent. Although Secretary Kerry said that the tier rankings do not take into account political and other factors, it seems evident that the decision to award Mr. Kekhinde, a person of Nigerian descent, the Hero Award from Russia was a political choice. Many of these migrant workers experience exploitative labor conditions characteristic of trafficking cases, such as withholding of identity documents, non-payment for services rendered, physical abuse, lack of safety measures, or extremely poor living conditions. Traffickers exploit workers from Russia and other countries in Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, China, and the DPRK in forced labor in Russia. Article 127.1 prescribed penalties of up to five years’ prison labor or up to six years’ imprisonment for offenses involving adult victims, and three to 10 years’ imprisonment for those involving a child victim. The government continued the repatriation of Russian minors, including potential trafficking victims, whose parents were alleged fighters with ISIS. Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar business and one of the fastest-growing illegal industries on the planet. As trafficking soared in Russia in the 1990s, foreign and domestic NGOs and some Western governments put pressure on the Duma — the Russian parliament … Then, in 2013, Russia was assigned a Tier 3 ranking in the U.S. government’s Trafficking in Persons rankings, the lowest grade possible, which made it ineligible to receive non-humanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance, and the controversy over human trafficking escalated. Authorities penalized victims for crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking. It did not report comprehensive data on trafficking criminal cases, making it difficult to assess the adequacy or effectiveness of law enforcement efforts. Although the government took steps to repatriate North Korean workers in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCR), citizens from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continued to arrive throughout the year, many of whom likely engaged in informal labor. NGOs provided all protection services, including shelter, food, legal services, basic medical and psychological support, interpretation, facilitating the return of documents or wages, and assisting in the resettlement or repatriation of victims, although few were able to provide specialized assistance specifically for trafficking victims. 2. • Increase efforts to raise public awareness of both sex and labor trafficking, including among minors. Further, the government’s efforts to exert pressure on NGOs through the implementation of restrictive laws also targeted those providing protective services for trafficking victims; the government previously designated two locally registered NGOs working on trafficking issues as “foreign agents” and NGO employees who criticized the government’s anti-trafficking efforts reported receiving verbal threats. There were limited examples of government cooperation with civil society. Global AIDS Coordinator and Global Health Diplomacy, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Special Representative for Syria Engagement, U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Office of International Religious Freedom, Office of the Special Envoy To Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Office of the U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Office of the Science and Technology Adviser, Bureau of Information Resource Management, Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, Office of Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Service, Office of Management Strategy and Solutions, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. The Ukrainian country report was also discussed in the Russian media because the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that “children as young as 15 years continued to take part in active combat as part of the combined Russian-separatist forces.” The TIP Report goes further, positing that Russian-led separatists employ children as young as 12 as informants and human shields, a charge the Russian media called a fantasy, outrageous, and absurd. Broken down, it is a total of 13,392 persons trafficked a year; 36 trafficked every day; an average of one person trafficked an hour. The government published sentencing information for these convictions that included, for article 127.1, four prison terms (five years and four months, four years and six months, four years and six months, two years) and two compulsory labor sentences (six years and four months, five years and six months) and for article 127.2, two prison terms (four years, three years and six months). All Rights Reserved, International History Declassified - Social Movements, Human Rights and US Foreign Policy with Sarah B. Snyder, A Present-Day Concentration Camp in Eastern Europe, High Time for Iran to Free its Political Prisoners, Nasrin Sotoudeh: The Pride and Moral Voice of Iran, A Story from Yemen: A Young Girl's Fight Against Child Marriage, The Repression Clock: A Strategy Behind Autocratic Regimes, Arnaud Kurze: Transforming Justice from the Bottom Up, Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy, Environmental Change and Security Program, North Korea International Documentation Project, Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, The Middle East and North Africa Workforce Development Initiative, Science and Technology Innovation Program, Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, rooted in global patterns of economic and political injustice, Interviews conducted in Russia in 2012–2013, amid concerns of infringement on Russian sovereignty, preformulated conclusions based on fragmentary evidence obtained from dubious sources, scared many politicians away from this issue and from further policy development, provides protective services to African victims of human trafficking who are recruited to Russia and forced into prostitution, often at his own expense and notwithstanding threats on his life. NASHI, a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada-based organisation that opposes human trafficking by raising awareness through education, established a vocational school in Lviv, Ukraine to teach girls and women carpentry, sewing, information processing, and cooking so they won't become trapped in Ukraine's human trafficking network. ILO reports that labor trafficking is the most predominant form of trafficking in Russia. The government decreased already minimal law enforcement efforts. From its policy of silence on human trafficking, the passage of a number of laws aimed at closing shelters that assist trafficking victims, and the promotion of government-sponsored media that politicize trafficking, it is clear that the Russian government views human trafficking as layered in political controversies. If you are a victim of trafficking or know someone who i… Articles 127.1 (trafficking in persons) and 127.2 (use of slave labor) of the criminal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Traffickers have been known to pose as landlords renting rooms to migrant laborers in order to recruit victims and coerce them into forced labor. Prior to 2018, the DPRK sent approximately 20,000 North Korean citizens to Russia annually for work in a variety of sectors, including logging in Russia’s Far East. JetSmarter is under investigation for Russian mob ties, and Smart Jet for trafficking girls into misery, rape and death. However, inconsistent with the definition of trafficking under international law, these articles established the use of force, fraud, or coercion as aggravating factors, rather than essential elements of the crime. Authorities frequently prosecuted Russian and foreign victims of sex trafficking for engaging in commercial sex and did not take proactive measures to identify victims during raids on brothels. But what is definite is that Smart Jet Aviation is being investigated for human trafficking with Dragonara Alliance used for the communications; and Donald Trump is being investigated for human trafficking with Trump Models. The award choice underscores the controversy behind the entire TIP Report rankings, which are seen by many as a political statement lacking transparency and promoting U.S. political interests. Human traffickingis the physical movement of people across and within borders through deceptive means, force or coercion. They're a profitable commodity in the multi-billion-dollar industry of modern slavery. In limited instances, Moscow city police informally provided “permit letters” valid for one year to individuals the police determined were trafficking victims. Russia did not have a national action plan; legislation that would implement a coordination framework continued to languish at the highest levels within the presidential administration. The Facebook page of his organization appears to be a testament to the many people his organization has helped. Recruitment agencies that sought to employ Russians overseas were required to obtain a license from the ministry of internal affairs, but no such requirement existed for agencies recruiting foreign workers, which increased the vulnerability of such workers to forced labor. At least, that’s how much Anton Pogorelov was sold for in 2015 when he became a slave in a brick factory in Dagestan. Read more, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NWWashington, DC 20004-3027. The government continued to operate regional migration centers where migrants who did not also need visas to enter the country could obtain work permits directly from the government; however, an international organization estimated only half of eligible migrants obtained these permits as they entailed large upfront and monthly fees and sometimes required multiple time-consuming trips to the center. • Allocate funding to state bodies and anti-trafficking NGOs to provide specialized assistance and rehabilitative care to victims. Russian criminal groups threaten family members in order to coerce women into prostitution in Russia and abroad. While these raids took place with some regularity, the use of undocumented or forced labor remained widespread due to complacency and corruption. 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