Most prostitution arrests in Sweden in March involved Ukrainian women
Most prostitution arrests in Sweden in March involved Ukrainian women
- 30 of 38 men arrested for prostitution had seen Ukrainian women
- Swedish police operation made the shocking discovery in March
- “It is obvious that the women recently came from Ukraine, but these men do not care”
- The war in Ukraine has created ideal conditions for human traffickers
- NGOs fear refugees who risk human trafficking, prostitution, organ donation
A Swedish police operation that swept up 38 men who visited prostitutes found that 30 of them had paid to sleep with exploited Ukrainian women, some of whom were refugees from the war.
“Operation Cod”, which was carried out in March, made the shocking discovery that Ukrainian women, who often flee their homeland alone or with children, were exploited and smuggled to Sweden to work as prostitutes.
– It is startling, says police inspector Simon Häggström to SVT.
“It is clear from the ads that the women have recently come from Ukraine, but these men do not care.”
– More or less all the women we talked to say that it is the war that has led to prostitution. You have no choice but to sell your body to help your families who are in Ukraine or who are on the run, Häggström added.
Ukrainian refugees walk on the platform after arriving on a train from Odesa to the Przemysl Glowny train station in Poland. Sex traffickers are known for approaching female refugees at train stations with offers of transport and accommodation
Photo: Suspected sex traffickers at the Polish / Ukrainian border at Medyka, Poland (their faces have been pixelated for legal reasons)
A former British army soldier talks to a Ukrainian refugee mother and a child at the Polish / Ukrainian border. (His face has been pixelated to protect his privacy)
Häggström said that many of the women are attracted to sex traffickers in Sweden via advertisements on the internet that promise cash and housing in exchange for them working as prostitutes.
“The smugglers are enticing [women] with package solutions where they pay for travel and accommodation.
– Then there are so-called operators who act as intermediaries between the women and the sex buyers. Everything is very organized, says Inspector Häggström.
The war in Ukraine caused a huge increase in migration and displacement as more than four million Ukrainians have fled their homeland as refugees, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR – mostly women and children, as men were expected to stay.
This has created chaotic conditions at border crossings and train stations with neighboring countries such as Poland, which are ideal for sex traders to operate in.
Shirin Tinnesand, refugee and migration coordinator at the NGO, said that Ukrainian refugees risk being exposed to human trafficking, prostitution, organ donation.
“Only the imagination sets the limits.”
Ukrainian refugees arriving at a welcome and information hall in Nynäshamn harbor, about 60 km south of Stockholm, Sweden. Many sex traffickers dress up as humanitarian workers to blend in and operate undetected.
“It is a fact that human traffickers pretend to be volunteers who go to places where it is chaotic and where there is no clear organization and the more people who come, the more insignificant it becomes and thus it is easier for smugglers and criminal organizations to operate. . , in Tinnesand.
Tinnesand claims that videos seen by her organization seem to show a man wearing a yellow vest with a volunteer written on his back as he approaches Ukrainian women at the central station in Krakow, Poland and offers them free food and accommodation for a year if they go on board a “special bus” to Germany.
“We can not say that he is a trafficker, but that is often how they work, that they come to collection areas and strategically seek out single women, young women,” said Tinnesand.
She added that many of them dress as humanitarian workers to blend in and work undetected.
“It is a fact that human traffickers pretend to be volunteers who go to places where it is chaotic and where there is no clear organization and the more people who come, the more insignificant it becomes and thus it is easier for smugglers and criminal organizations to operate. . , in Tinnesand.
With Putin’s war in Ukraine entering a new phase and the Ukrainian government ordering all civilians to leave Donbass, the flow of refugees to Europe will not relax any time soon.
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