Despite credible reports of forced labor and slave-like conditions of North Koreans working in Russia, the Russian government did not report any investigations into those conditions. Moreover, DPRK authorities reportedly arrested, imprisoned, subjected to forced labor, tortured, and sometimes executed repatriated trafficking victims. 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. Observers noted authorities often did not recognize foreign victims as such when they were unlawfully present in Russia, which resulted in the penalization of foreign victims rather than their referral to care. 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. Statistics are scarce, but data from Russia's Interior Ministry obtained by The Moscow Times contained about 900 cases of human trafficking, … The winner of the TIP Report Hero Award from Russia, unveiled on June 30, 2016, by Secretary of State John Kerry, is Oluremi Banwo Kekhinde, a Nigerian-born activist living in Russia who helps Nigerians and other immigrants from Africa who are victims of human trafficking in Russia. He has helped over 240 Nigerian women escape conditions of modern slavery in Russia, often at his own expense and notwithstanding threats on his life. Russia has one of the worst worldwide records in fighting forced labor and sex trafficking, according to an annual report from a U.S. government anti-trafficking agency. Traffickers exploited this system to bring foreign sex trafficking victims into the country, especially from Nigeria; NGOs report many victims remain in Russia. The people who commit human trafficking offences are motivated by the continuing exploitation of their victims once they reach their destination country. 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. The presidential administration sought to take its own approach and included two criminal code articles on human trafficking in a bill already introduced in the Duma, rebuffing international pressure, mostly from the United States, to adopt encompassing legislation because of financing concerns. This chapter describes the cause of prostitution in Russia in the 1990s. The government maintained negligible efforts to protect victims. 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. International organizations estimate up to 40 percent of these migrants were working unofficially and vulnerable to both forced labor and sex trafficking; most identified victims of forced begging in recent years are Ukrainian. According to press reports, 2.3 million Ukrainians resided in Russia, including more than one million who went east to escape Russian aggression in Ukraine. In recent years, criminal cases have involved Russian officials suspected of allegedly facilitating trafficking by enabling victims’ entry into Russia, providing protection to traffickers, and returning victims to their exploiters; in some instances officials have engaged directly in trafficking crimes. Associated Press AP, Madrid, Spain, 7 April 2007 The government decreased already minimal law enforcement efforts. Despite reports that the government ceased issuing new work permits to North Korean laborers, observers noted many laborers continued to enter the country via fraudulent channels to work informally, for example by obtaining tourist or student visas, which increased their vulnerability to trafficking. Implement a formal policy to ensure identified trafficking victims are not punished or deported for unlawful acts their traffickers compelled them to commit. 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 government did not consistently provide comprehensive information on prosecution efforts, but the limited available data and media reports suggest prosecutions remained low compared with the scope of Russia’s trafficking problem. 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. 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