Capitalizing on Transition Economies: The Role of the Russian Mafiya in Trafficking Women for Forced Prostitution

• NCJ Number: 178838
• Journal: Transnational Organized Crime Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: Winter 1997 Pages: 42-73
• Author(s): Gillian Caldwell; Steve Galster; Jyothi Kanics; Nadia Steinzor
• Editor(s): Phil Williams
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 32 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Based on a study by the Global Survival Network (GSN), this article examines the prevalence and tactics of Russian organized crime's trafficking in women for forced prostitution across international borders; recommendations are offered for addressing this crime.

Abstract

For the purposes of this analysis, trafficking is defined as "all acts involving the recruitment or transportation of persons within or across borders." This recruitment involves deception, coercion or force, abuse of authority, debt bondage, or fraud for the purpose of placing persons in situations of abuse or exploitation, such as forced prostitution, sweatshop labor, or exploitative domestic servitude. GNS conducted an investigation from April 1995 through the autumn of 1997 to uncover the rapidly growing trade in Russian women for purposes of forced prostitution. Due to the underground nature of the trade, the study combined conventional and unconventional research techniques, including open interviews with more than 50 women who had been trafficked overseas and police as well as government officials in Russia, Western Europe, Asia, and the United States. The research also involved the establishment of a dummy company that purportedly specialized in importing foreign women as escorts and entertainers. The study focused on trafficking of Russian women for prostitution into Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Macau, and the United States. In this paper attention is given to trafficking in children, the reasons Russian women are vulnerable to such trafficking, and the network that controls the trade. The collusion and corruption involved in the receiving countries are also addressed. The recommendations for addressing trafficking for prostitution involve a broad-based strategy that focuses on the traffickers instead of the women victims as violators of immigration laws and on educational and economic strategies that will make women less vulnerable to recruitment. 104 notes