KIEV -- Hoping to earn money to pay for college, Yulia accepted an offer to work as a nightclub dancer in Moscow, but her new employer beat her, stole her passport and forced her to work as a prostitute.
The 24-year-old's ordeal is increasingly common among citizens of Ukraine, whose country was cited in a recent U.S. State Department report as one of the prime sources of men, women, and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor.
The report sharply criticized Ukraine's previous government for failing to take decisive action against the problem. The issue could impede new President Viktor Yushchenko's drive to get Ukraine into the European Union.
The Interior Ministry this year put combating human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children on its list of key priorities, forming a unit dedicated to the task and beefing up border checks. The country's new government also plans to create a National Bureau to Combat Human Trafficking.
But the low salaries and unemployment that force thousands of Ukrainians to seek employment abroad persist, continuing their vulnerability to exploitation.
Yulia said she left her hometown of Donestk four years ago for a job in one of Moscow's luxurious nightclubs that she heard about through acquaintances, planning to earn money to pay her way through college. But once in Moscow, Yulia's new employer seized her passport and beat her for several days before sending her out to work the Russian capital's streets as a prostitute.
"Now I understand that I could have conducted myself in another way at some points," said Yulia, who spoke on condition that her last name not be used. "But then a terrible fear paralyzed my will and deprived me of any opportunity to resist."
Most Ukrainian victims of trafficking end up in Turkey and Russia. Prostitutes working in Turkey are commonly called known as Natashas whatever their country of origin.
Youth and Sport Minister Yury Pavlenko said that about 7 million Ukrainians lived abroad and "many of them are a target for human traffickers."
The real number of trafficking victims is unknown, as the majority of victims do not want friends and family to know what happened to them, said Mikhaylo Andrienko, the chief of the Interior Ministry human-trafficking unit.
The International Organization for Migration says it has helped more than 2,100 Ukrainian trafficking victims since 2000 but estimates that number is only a small portion of the victims.
The Interior Ministry registered 42 cases of human trafficking in 2000 compared with 269 last year and 148 during the first five months of this year. Ministry officials said the increase was due to the new attention being paid to the problem.
But the court system still has not caught up -- last year, traffickers were convicted in only 67 cases. Under Ukrainian law, traffickers face sentences of three to 15 years imprisonment and seizure of their property, Andrienko said.
"This punishment is rather low," Helga Konrad, special representative on combating human trafficking of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said during a visit in June.
Most Ukrainian officials, however, believe the solution lies not in severe punishment but in preventive measures, including improving awareness in this nation of 48 million.
"Each time I talk to victims, I am surprised by their trustfulness toward almost unknown people," Andrienko said.
The government is also scrambling to raise living standards and create 5 million new jobs.
A 41-year-old man named Zenoviy said he left his village last year for Macedonia to earn money doing construction work to support his three children. He expected hard work -- but not the conditions of near slavery that he experienced. "We had to work about 20 hours a day and received for it only $30 a month," said Zenoviy, speaking on condition that his last name not be used.
His health suffered and he could not even afford the return ticket home.
"But I went there because I had no chances to feed a family in my native country," he said.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt met with victims of trafficking during his visit to Ukraine last month and said he was shocked. He told of meeting a 13-year-old who was sold and taken to an unidentified country, where he was forced to beg. The child's two other siblings were also sold into slavery. "Their stories were compelling and motivated me to multiply my efforts," Leavitt said.
Yulia says there is hope for victims who make it back home. She is now a businesswoman, running her own hair salon. But Yulia keeps her past a secret -- even from her parents, who do not know what happened during the months she spent in Moscow before escaping.
Wendy Lu McGill, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian office of the IOM, said: "People are looking for a better life, but what they find in reality is totally different."
The 24-year-old's ordeal is increasingly common among citizens of Ukraine, whose country was cited in a recent U.S. State Department report as one of the prime sources of men, women, and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor.
The report sharply criticized Ukraine's previous government for failing to take decisive action against the problem. The issue could impede new President Viktor Yushchenko's drive to get Ukraine into the European Union.
The Interior Ministry this year put combating human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children on its list of key priorities, forming a unit dedicated to the task and beefing up border checks. The country's new government also plans to create a National Bureau to Combat Human Trafficking.
But the low salaries and unemployment that force thousands of Ukrainians to seek employment abroad persist, continuing their vulnerability to exploitation.
Yulia said she left her hometown of Donestk four years ago for a job in one of Moscow's luxurious nightclubs that she heard about through acquaintances, planning to earn money to pay her way through college. But once in Moscow, Yulia's new employer seized her passport and beat her for several days before sending her out to work the Russian capital's streets as a prostitute.
"Now I understand that I could have conducted myself in another way at some points," said Yulia, who spoke on condition that her last name not be used. "But then a terrible fear paralyzed my will and deprived me of any opportunity to resist."
Most Ukrainian victims of trafficking end up in Turkey and Russia. Prostitutes working in Turkey are commonly called known as Natashas whatever their country of origin.
Youth and Sport Minister Yury Pavlenko said that about 7 million Ukrainians lived abroad and "many of them are a target for human traffickers."
The real number of trafficking victims is unknown, as the majority of victims do not want friends and family to know what happened to them, said Mikhaylo Andrienko, the chief of the Interior Ministry human-trafficking unit.
The International Organization for Migration says it has helped more than 2,100 Ukrainian trafficking victims since 2000 but estimates that number is only a small portion of the victims.
The Interior Ministry registered 42 cases of human trafficking in 2000 compared with 269 last year and 148 during the first five months of this year. Ministry officials said the increase was due to the new attention being paid to the problem.
But the court system still has not caught up -- last year, traffickers were convicted in only 67 cases. Under Ukrainian law, traffickers face sentences of three to 15 years imprisonment and seizure of their property, Andrienko said.
"This punishment is rather low," Helga Konrad, special representative on combating human trafficking of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said during a visit in June.
Most Ukrainian officials, however, believe the solution lies not in severe punishment but in preventive measures, including improving awareness in this nation of 48 million.
"Each time I talk to victims, I am surprised by their trustfulness toward almost unknown people," Andrienko said.
The government is also scrambling to raise living standards and create 5 million new jobs.
A 41-year-old man named Zenoviy said he left his village last year for Macedonia to earn money doing construction work to support his three children. He expected hard work -- but not the conditions of near slavery that he experienced. "We had to work about 20 hours a day and received for it only $30 a month," said Zenoviy, speaking on condition that his last name not be used.
His health suffered and he could not even afford the return ticket home.
"But I went there because I had no chances to feed a family in my native country," he said.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt met with victims of trafficking during his visit to Ukraine last month and said he was shocked. He told of meeting a 13-year-old who was sold and taken to an unidentified country, where he was forced to beg. The child's two other siblings were also sold into slavery. "Their stories were compelling and motivated me to multiply my efforts," Leavitt said.
Yulia says there is hope for victims who make it back home. She is now a businesswoman, running her own hair salon. But Yulia keeps her past a secret -- even from her parents, who do not know what happened during the months she spent in Moscow before escaping.
Wendy Lu McGill, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian office of the IOM, said: "People are looking for a better life, but what they find in reality is totally different."