Abstract
For the Russian Federation, human trafficking for labour exploitation has become particularly acute due to the country’s special socio-economic situation and geographical location. In Russia, the collapse of the USSR was followed by a sharp increase in socio-economic inequality and a rise in unemployment and poverty, which created a socio-economic rationale for the involvement of sizeable socio-demographic groups among the Russian population in trafficking. Russia is not only a source and destination country for internal and external trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation, but by virtue of its geographical location and size, Russia has become a country through which a significant number of migrants from Asia, Africa, and the Near East attempt to enter Europe. The aim of this research is to identify trends and patterns in human trafficking for labour exploitation as well as related irregular labour migration in the Russian Federation under the current socio-economic conditions and to formulate recommendations to combat these adverse phenomena. In this research trafficking for labour exploitation is considered from a broad perspective, not only focusing on the legal definition of trafficking for forced labour but also on less legally severe cases of labour exploitation that constitute and facilitate the context in which a trafficking situation can occur. Slave labour and trafficking for labour exploitation are utilized as synonyms to trafficking for forced labour throughout the article of authors. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s2p67
Highlights
The modern Russian economy may be described as “migrant-dependent” as between 1.5 million and 2 million official labour migrants come to the country each year
In 2011, a sizeable proportion of foreign nationals were given permission to work in Russia in unskilled professions and as construction workers engaged in mining, mine development and installation and repair work (24%)
The statistical method, which included gathering and processing statistical data regarding human trafficking offences, use of slave labour and human smuggling provided by the Russian Ministry of Interior and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the years 2009-2012; data from the Russian Federal Migration Service concerning the quantity and structure of permits for work in the Russian Federation issued to foreign citizens, and data concerning the number and breakdown of Russian citizens employed abroad between 2006 and 2012
Summary
The modern Russian economy may be described as “migrant-dependent” as between 1.5 million and 2 million official labour migrants come to the country each year. The majority of them are nationals of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) who are fully entitled to enter Russia without a visa, but do not subsequently receive permission to work. This category of migrant workers is the most liable to be drawn into a situation of human trafficking for labour exploitation. Rough estimates from Interpol suggest that around 170 thousand Russian citizens across the world are currently living in conditions of slavery This number is composed mostly of women who have been taken out of the country for labour exploitation and sexual exploitation in the USA, Western Europe, Japan and China (Kolisnichenko, 2013; and US acted against human trafficking in Russia, http://lenta.ru/news/2014/06/21/slavery/)
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