Belarussian women get a helping hand

Prostitutes from Eastern Europe end up in Zurich too Ex-press

New hope is dawning for Belarussian women caught up in forced prostitution, and Switzerland can take some of the credit.

The non-governmental organisation La Strada, which helps to put them back on their feet, has been receiving Swiss financial aid since 2004.

One of its major services is housed in the anonymity of a typical Soviet-style building in one of the bleak residential areas of the Belarussian capital, Minsk.

Anonymity is just what La Strada wants. It has rented a three-bedroom apartment here – but it is no ordinary apartment. Indeed, it’s unique in the whole country: a shelter for women who want to rebuild their lives after escaping the clutches of people smugglers.

“Many women are afraid that they will no longer be able to live in Belarus, because their situation has only got worse since they left,” Irina Alkhovka of La Strada told swissinfo. Many are also worried that the traffickers will track them down again.

Swiss support

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been supporting not only La Strada but also the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in their fight against people smuggling.

Dietrich Dreyer, head of the Swiss cooperation office in Minsk is pleased with the result. Since 2005 the number of registered cases has dropped by nearly a half, to about 180. 2008 will show if this is a consistent trend.

But the number of unregistered cases must be many times higher. The focus is not only on helping to put the victims back on their feet, but also on trying to stop other women from suffering the same fate.

Since August 2005 the SDC has allocated SFr383,000 ($368,000) for this project, which finishes at the end of July.

“We are glad that the state is taking over again,” says Dreyer, explaining that the Swiss had only wanted to stop a gap.

Sold into slavery

Marina (not her real name) is one of those who have been given shelter by La Strada. When her partner died, her best friend persuaded her to move to Moscow, telling her that she could work there selling jeans for someone the friend knew, and that the change of scene would help her get over her grief.

But when she arrived in Moscow she was taken to a sordid flat. A number of women were sleeping on mattresses on the floor. A pimp told her she had to work in a brothel to earn the money to pay back her ticket. Until then he was going to hold on to her passport.

Marina’s friend, who had also been forced into prostitution, got her freedom in exchange. “She sold me,” says Marina bitterly. “Me and our friendship.” It was only when she became pregnant that she was allowed to go.

A well-practised trick

It is often young, uneducated women like Marina who fall victim to the people smugglers, Alkhovka explains. The trick is almost always the same.

“The women are offered a lot of money for a job that needs absolutely no qualifications. Then they travel on a tourist visa and are forced to work as prostitutes rather than as nannies or waitresses.”

There is a real need for the information provided by La Strada and the authorities. Through campaigns, films and events the NGO tries to warn groups potentially at risk – like schoolgirls, students and apprentices.

La Strada passes on its knowledge not only to teachers, but also to other NGOs.

“There are almost no cases being registered in the cities now,” says Dreyer.

Even after the Swiss financial support comes to an end the women of La Strada will continue their work. They already have the support of a number of foundations.

Punishing the right people

Switzerland’s involvement has not only been at the financial level. It has also strengthened La Strada’s hand in its dealings with the Belarussian bureaucracy, says Alkhovka.

The organisation was able to lobby the government to pass more effective laws against human traffickers. Now smugglers face several years in jail. Marina’s tormentor, on the other hand, was released after only a few months.

“In Belarus no one dares organise people smuggling any more,” says Dreyer. Any smugglers now operating are working out of neighbouring countries.

But many foreign countries where the victims of human trafficking end up persist in treating them as illegal immigrants who have violated the visa regulations, La Strada points out.

“That’s why many of them don’t go to the police,” Alkhova explains. “They are not looking to make a lot of money, they just want to survive.” Many of them need the money to feed their children or to help their parents. “That’s not something anyone can condemn them for.”

When Marina returned to Belarus she had to begin again from scratch. La Strada helped her to find a flat and is now financing a training course for her. The worst thing was not being able to tell anyone what had happened to her.

“No one knew where I had been during that time.” It was only with the women from La Strada that she was able to tell her story.

swissinfo, Erik Albrecht in Minsk

Human trafficking

Human trafficking involves the recruitment and transportation of people by means of violence, deception or duress, mainly for forced labour or sexual exploitation.

Figures of those affected are hard to determine. The UN Children’s Emergency Fund believes that only about a third of cases in eastern Europe are covered by official statistics.

The UN Population Fund estimates that between 700,000 and two million people are trafficked across international borders annually.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) believes that about 12.3 million people world wide are being exploited for their labour or for sexual services, of whom about 2.45 million have been trafficked.

It says 80% of the victims are women, and up to 50% are minors.