NEWS - November 2006 (#4)

City of Moscow partners with Angel Coalition in city-wide counter-trafficking campaign

Billboards on the roads leading to all international airports in Moscow advertise the Angel Coalition trafficking helpline

During 2006, MiraMed and the Angel Coalition worked closely with the Moscow City Duma, the Moscow regional government, and the directorates of the three international airports to develop a city-wide public information campaign focusing on the risks of answering ads to work abroad. By June, billboards lined the roads to Domodedovo Airport , followed in October by the other two international airports, Sheremetovo 1 and 2. Booklets designed and printed by the Angel Coalition are distributed daily in all three airports, which contain information about how to prevent being lured into trafficking and on what to do if a person finds themselves in a trafficking situation.

Starting in October 2006, with the help of the Moscow City Duma, we were allocated pro-bono advertising space throughout Moscow and the Moscow Metrorail System. Posters were hung above the escalators in the six busiest metro stations and at bus stops along routes commonly traveled by students. Billboards hung throughout the city were more highly concentrated in regions of Moscow populated by young professionals.

This significant in-kind contribution from the city of Moscow represents a growing awareness of the issue of trafficking on the part of the city and an acknowledgement of the good work of MiraMed and the Angel Coalition.

Bus stop Sukharevskaya Square	Metro escalator at Chekhovskaya

 

Over 3000 people were reached during the anti-trafficking campaign along the Volga River

Between December 2005 and October 2006, MiraMed Institute, the Angel Coalition, and Project Kesher, together with European Women's Lobby (EWL) and the Coalition against Trafficking in Women (CATW), conducted an informational campaign aimed at preventing human trafficking in three cities on the Volga River where poor economic opportunities for women make them easy targets for criminal traffickers promising good jobs overseas.

The “Campaign on the Volga River ” sought to change the community's attitude toward trafficking as an organized crime against women. Over 3000 people participated in the activities of the informational campaign, and over 7500 posters, stickers, and booklets with

Campaign posters

preventive messages and contact information for local hotlines and the Angel Coalition nationwide help-lines were distributed. The campaign received wide radio, television, and newspaper coverage, and it was clear to the organizers that the level of knowledge about trafficking among journalists has increased significantly in the past few years. Overall, 1095 people completed campaign surveys. Results show an increased awareness in the population about human trafficking and how to better ensure one's own safety following the campaign, as well as a decrease in the number of people expressing a desire to go abroad, particularly in hopes of finding a spouse or a job.

 

Representatives from Russian NGOs, Angel Coalition, and Janice Raymond of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, meet in Moscow

 

The Angel Coalition launches its toll-free help-line in Switzerland

Angel Coalition staff explain Russian help-line aspects to Swiss government people.

The Angel Coalition is expanding its ambitious international toll-free help-line project, and the first destination country to be connected to the system after two years of its operation is Switzerland . It was clear from the very beginning that the first set of countries that we covered ( Germany , Belgium , the Netherlands and the USA ) was not enough to turn the line into a comprehensive and all-inclusive tool for prevention and rescue. To advance the initiative, we reached a preliminary agreement with the Swiss Government earlier this year, which was solidified by a formal contract in July.

Switzerland is obviously an important destination for trafficking, as it took a highly tolerant stance towards prostitution as early as in the 1940s, and since then a network of cabarets with striptease services has swollen in all the cantons. Government officials have long suspected that the rights of dancers are being violated, and girls are being forced, or lured, into performing sexually too (which is illegal according to Swiss law), but the extreme latency of the cabaret life bars government from getting clear on this. There are many Eastern-European girls in Switzerland 's entertainment industry, which fuels the suspicions.

To get more information, and build a network for cooperation between the Angel Coalition and relevant NGOs/government bodies in Switzerland , three AC staff visited Bern and Zurich August 2006. The Swiss partner arranged crucial meetings with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (an analog of the USAID) and the country's most prominent NGO working against trafficking and having a history of fruitful collaboration with government (FIZ). In Zurich , there was a seminar, at which Foreign Ministry officials were present. The Angel Coalition learned how that cabaret system worked, and what legislation

At a meeting with Switzerland 's NGO “FIZ”: working out a list of reference organizations.

Switzerland had to regulate it. It became clear thatlegislation was faulty, allowing abuse to be part of dancers' everyday life. Working together, the AC staff and their hosts pinpointed some weaknesses in the Swiss law on cabaret operation. We know that some amendments are being introduced to it this autumn, and hope that the shortcomings will be taken care of. We bilaterally agreed to launch our help-line in Switzerland on December 1, 2006. In preparation for the endeavor, the Angel Coalition is currently getting brochures, stickers and calendar-like cards printed for massive distribution in December. The AC electronic database of rescue/repatriation and rehabilitation facilities is being updated to accommodate Swiss organizations. We expect to make a huge difference with this pilot project.

 

International help-line call volume doubles in 2006

In the first ten months of 2006, the number of calls to the Angel Coalition Trafficking Victim Assistance Center in Moscow doubled in comparison to the same period in 2005 .  Of these, 78% of callers requested information on how to safely travel abroad , while 22% of calls were from trafficking victims and those desperately seeking help for trafficked relatives.  Some of the cases assisted by the TVAC include the following: A victim's sister called us on the help-line asking us to help free her sister who was being held in an underground brothel by traffickers in Greece . The victim had managed to call her sister, who threatened to commit suicide if she wasn't rescued soon. Thanks to cooperation from NGOs and police in Greece , we were able to save this girl and shut down the criminal operation.

In another case, a mother called saying her daughter had allegedly been taken from a Russian village to Moscow to work for a Swedish company, and gave us a Moscow address. We asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Investigative Committee to verify the location and safety of this girl and were told that the address was nonexistent. The victim was eventually able to call home and communicate that she was not in fact in Moscow , but in another Russian city, and gave the address. She and a few other young women were about to be sent to Turkey . We passed the data along to the Police Investigative Committee who put the apartment under surveillance, freed the young women and arrested the traffickers.

Currently, the help-line telephone number is being advertised on billboards, metro placards and bus station posters throughout Moscow as well as on MTV in Europe, Russia , and the Middle East .

 

“Angels” and “Kvinnoforum” have reached Siberia

Throughout its activities Angel Coalition constantly underlined the importance of having support from law enforcement bodies and full-fledged participation of Militsia and Prosecutor's Office in drawing complex and, which is most important, realistic programs for help to the victims of trafficking and for suppression of criminal activities. Developing positive changes, caused by introduction of Article on punishment for human trafficking into Criminal Code, and strengthening the effect brought by our regional trainings and conferences, which were held during recent months, we together with our experienced partners, NGO Kvinnoforum ( Sweden ), carried on an important conference in Irkutsk in June.

In this large industrial and cultural capital of South-East Siberia Russian and Swedish experts, representing public sector, legal science and law enforcement bodies, have had useful meetings with acting and prospective staff of agencies for law and order. For example, at the Institute of General Prosecutor 's Office there was a discussion, where participated 60 of senior investigators, who were having at that time their professional extension training. They come from regional and district Prosecutor's Offices from more than 20 regions of Siberia and Far East . At the East-Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Interior Affairs we have met with 90 cadets on professional probation and active officers. The audience showed great interest in problems raised in discussions. We have discussed a whole range of issues, from moral and legal aspects of prostitution to social-economical discrimination of women as a source of trafficking phenomenon. Naturally, presence of Swedish experts and practitioners in counter-trafficking prompted audience's interest toward practical aspects of investigator's and operational work. All the meetings were marked with open and useful exchange of experience.

Participants did not omit Swedish experience of criminalization of demand for sexual services. The opinions varied on applicability of this principle to Russian reality: many thought it does not apply and may cause transformation of prostitution into more latent forms. However, everybody agreed that it is impossible to solve the problem of prostitution and trafficking in women and children as its consequence without affecting potential customers of sexual services, at least by education.

The dialogue was of mutual benefit as for Russian so for Swedish party. The event in Irkutsk has become an important landmark as problem was presented to the next generation of Russian law enforcement system officers.

Russian and Swedish experts at a panel discussion at the Eastern-Siberian Institute of the Russian Ministry of Interior.	Police officers and cadets were active participants of all discussions.

How we combined work and vacation

Moscow office of Angel Coalition has been working for three years already, coordinating activity of regional partners, establishing cooperative ties with government structures and lobbying legislative measures. In order to thank the office our faithful partner and sponsor “MiraMed Institute” ( USA ) provided workers of the office with opportunity to combine work and summer vacation. In July we, together with representatives of other programs supported by “MiraMed Institute” in Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod, spent three unforgettable days in vacation complex “Zavidovo” in Tverskaya oblast.

We were quite unusual type of guests at this complex: representatives of Moscow office of Angel Coalition, MiraMed Institute, NGO Women and children first and Theatre for Change of Nizhniy Novgorod were not only having rest, but also actively worked. We discussed strategies for development of our organizations, ways to cooperate and to search for new donors. We found out that it is useful to meet each other more often: as a result of discussions and brainstorming representatives of different organizations found a common ground and opportunities for cooperative projects. For example, more close contact with social theatre from Nizhniy Novgorod has brought an idea to use interactive puppet art in all prevention programs of other participants of this seminar. Also, we tried to take a look into the future of our organizations and understand what can be done, changed, improved in order to achieve sustainable development, which would not depend 100 % on foreign donations.

"Angels" after one of the heated discussion

Participants of weekend seminar in complex "Zavidovo"

Practical and academic cooperation between the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation and the Angel Coalition

The Angel Coalition, in cooperation with the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation is preparing an instructional textbook entitled “Prevention, Disclosure, and Investigation of Human Trafficking.” This textbook is intended to be a methodological guide for law enforcement regarding action in the process of prevention, investigation, and disclosure with regard to human trafficking. A part of this textbook will be for official use.

The Angel Coalition is working on the section entitled: “The repatriation and rehabilitation of human trafficking victims.” In this section, various aspects of the rehabilitation process are described (psychological, medical, social, legal); procedures for the rehabilitation of human trafficking victims, general principles for rendering aid and protection to victims; and how to render aid to trafficking victims still in the destination country. The General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation notes the importance of this section to the work of law enforcement agencies. An understanding of the problem of human trafficking in Russia is, overall, a new thing, both for society, and for law enforcement agencies, who are the first to come in contact with this problem, and are obligated to take measures about it. Therefore, a very important part of this section is the determination of the status of human trafficking victims, the identification of trafficking victims and provision for the non-criminalization of victims.

Angel Coalition is providing theatrical tour around Russia for the Moldovian theatre group

Within the framework of the project on prevention of human trafficking, which Angel Coalition carries out together with Swiss government, Moscow office of AC organized the Russian tour of the troupe of Molodva's National theatre named after Mikhai Eminesku (Kishinev). The actors of theatre have united to stage the performance “The Seventh Cafana”, which is telling about East European women, desperate that they were not able to provide living for their families and find employment at their home countries, and who went to find a job abroad and fell in the networks of human traffickers.

The main sponsor of the theatrical tour in Russia is Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation open with Embassy of Switzerland in Russian Federation . Our role was organizational help, as we agreed with our partners in Russian regions about renting the theatre halls, delivery and posting of the posters advertising performance, distribution of booklets, and etc. The first performance was shown on 17 of October in Moscow State Theatre of Nations, and further this thrilling artistic work, leaving strong impression on viewers, was seen by inhabitants of Tver, Borovichi (Novgorod oblast), Saint-Petersburg, Tula, Voronezh, Oriol, Novocherkassk (Rostov oblast). It must be noted that all performances were shown free of charge. The majority of the cities and towns themselves demonstrated this gesture of good will, when they provided the stage of their theatres. Tremendous role in this was played by our partners such as Kesher Project (Tver', Tula , Oriol, Novocherkassk ), public movement of women “Mstinka” (Borovichi), Crisis Center for Women (Saint-Petersburg) and others. Thus, they and cities and towns, which they represented, have also become sponsors of this project.

Judging by the effect which has been imprinted on viewers (many of them were crying during the performance), this theatre tour became – and may become in future – very serious instrument of preventive activities.

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The Angel Coalition NewsServ Team
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