Sex Trafficking in Russia: An International Crisis Overlooked
https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/news/7-facts-you-didnt-know-about-human-trafficking%3Futm_source%3Dtest
Edited by Eli Bardash, Jordan Collinson, Owen Andrews, and Sarah Ahmad
Sex trafficking is one of the darkest human rights violations of our time, and yet in Russia, it thrives with impunity. Both a source and destination country for trafficking victims, Russia is quickly becoming one of the world's leading countries for sexual exploitation. Despite repeated admonishments from international organizations, the response from the international community has been muted. Russia's corruption and unwillingness to enforce the law have both been contributing factors enabling this crisis to persist. The international community must now act and hold Russia accountable for its role in human trafficking.
Russia's political and geopolitical position has made it a global center for human trafficking. Victims from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and beyond are imported into and through Russia for exploitation in the form of forced labor and sex trafficking. The U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report ranks Russia as being a Tier 3 country, the worst designation, and indicates that Russia has failed to achieve even minimal anti-trafficking efforts.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also has reports in the record that reflect the prevalence of trafficking in Russia, where crime groups are exploiting vulnerable people like migrant workers and women from economically undeveloped regions. The government of Russia has failed to act against such groups even when they’ve had clear descriptions of overall trafficking. Instead, they remain silent while allowing the traffickers to continue their practice unobstructed.
Perhaps the worst aspect of this issue is that the Russian government actively enables traffickers to keep the business alive and thriving. Police are lawless in attitude, blind to the situation, and may get involved themselves. In addition, the surviving victims are deported, imprisoned, or re-trafficked rather than being provided what is rightfully theirs in protection and aid. As stated by the Harvard International Review, this is achieved through widespread corruption, where government officials turn a blind eye to forced labor since traffickers' networks are long established in the illegal economy, something that oligarchs and even state-owned companies directly benefit from. The Trafficking in Persons Report: Russia also confirms that government officials routinely bribe or openly protect traffickers from prosecution and thus enable such abuse to function with impunity.
Anti-trafficking efforts are also being hampered by the repressive behavior of the Russian government against independent NGOs and media that research and report on human trafficking. According to reports from Open Research CEU, groups that attempt to assist victims are forced to shut down or go underground due to oppressive laws and political suppression. There is no independent monitoring and campaigning, and the traffickers still exploit the victims as the government turns a blind eye.
Where Russia has been economically sanctioned on a geopolitical level due to the conflict with Ukraine, it has not otherwise been economically or diplomatically sanctioned to any great degree regarding trafficking into or through its borders. The world has not collectively attempted to put pressure on Russia to implement meaningful reforms to block trafficking.
Additionally, multinationals are still in Russia unaccounted for to allow supply chain worker exploitation to be attributed to trafficking. There have been cases of forced labor and large-scale exploitation documented by the International Labour Organization, but the companies still lack accountability for such violations.
The world should not turn a blind eye to Russia's lack of action regarding human trafficking; harsh measures are necessary in order to hold Russian officials accountable for trafficking gangs and provide victims with justice. The United States and the European Union need to implement stricter sanctions publicly on Russia for doing absolutely nothing regarding such trafficking. The U.S. and EU have had no issue implementing sanctions on Russia for its political and military actions—human trafficking deserves the same attention as well. International organizations like the United Nations must be more vocal in condemning Russia’s inaction and demand concrete steps toward reform.
The world cannot stand by and watch Russia's human trafficking plague spread. World leaders, big business, and human rights groups must unite and bring these atrocities to light and demand action. Through coordinated sanctions, policy reforms, and sustained international pressure, we can begin dismantling the infrastructure of exploitation. The cries of the vulnerable must be heard, not ignored. It is silence that perpetuates injustice, and in that quiet, systems of abuse are allowed to grow stronger, unchecked and unchallenged by the global conscience.