GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRIME REVIEW
Orphanage trafficking refers to the recruitment of children into institutions for exploitation and financial gain
After the invasion of Ukraine , over six million people have been recorded as refugees globally . 1 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) highlighted that the vast majority of displaced people and refugees are women and children . According to UNICEF , “ The war in Ukraine has forced more than 2 million Ukrainian children to flee the country and displaced more than 1 million children inside Ukraine .” 2 Moreover , it is estimated that nearly 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia and the territories occupied by Russia since February 2022 . 3 However , this may only be the tip of the iceberg since this number only includes the reports of children who have been removed according to witnesses such as parents or guardians . In fact , the number of children forcibly taken to Russia or Russian-held territory could reach hundreds of thousands , according to some activists . 4
Among the Ukrainian displaced children , some have been placed in at least 88 orphanages or similar institutions throughout Russia and Crimea . 5 According to a study , the Russian government may be operating a “ Large-scale , systematic network of camps and other facilities that has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine ” since February 2022 . In this regard , 43 facilities in Russia and Russianoccupied territories have been identified . 6 Children have been placed in institutions like orphanages either because they were orphans prior to the war or because their parents or guardians died due to the conflict . Some children have also been placed there voluntarily by their parents or guardians to avoid conflict between Ukrainian and Russian fighting forces . In contrast , others have been forcibly separated from their parents or guardians . These institutions and temporary accommodations are overcrowded and unable to handle the influx of children being placed in them , and they have long been considered outdated , underfunded and rife with corruption and bureaucracy .
Children and institution-related trafficking
The link between institutions for children and human trafficking ( HT ) was recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 2019 . 7 The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs , Ylva Johansson , emphasized that there are “ Reports of criminals taking orphans from orphanages in Ukraine . Crossing the border pretending that they are relatives to the child and then using them for trafficking purposes .” 8 The 2022 U . S . Department of State ’ s Trafficking in Persons Report ( TIP ) highlighted that , “ The approximately 104,000 children institutionalized in state-run orphanages are at especially high risk of trafficking . Officials of several state-run residential institutions and orphanages have allegedly been complicit or willfully negligent in the sex and labor trafficking of girls and boys under their care .” 9 The children affected by the Russia- Ukraine war are particularly at risk of disappearing from these institutions or being abandoned in them .
Disability Rights International ( DRI ) expressed concerns about institutions in Ukraine being used as a recruitment tool for criminal networks , enabling traffickers to find vulnerable children for exploitation , based on a three-year investigation on human rights violations perpetrated against approximately 100,000 Ukrainian children segregated from society in these institutions . 10 Anti-trafficking organizations and former residents of institutions reported to DRI that children are systematically trafficked within or outside of these institutions for various forms of exploitation .
Orphanage trafficking refers to the recruitment of children into institutions for exploitation and financial gain . These institutions are seen as doing good , but instead , they provide a perfect cover for criminal networks . Criminals use deception , coercion and violence to ensure a pipeline of children for these institutions . Orphanage managers may exploit the social and economic disparity of parents by paying “ child finders ” to persuade parents into placing or selling their children to these orphanages with false promises of opportunities for children and families . Nevertheless , it is worth pointing out that children can also be placed into orphanages because of disability or poverty or because their parents are considered unfit to keep them . Once in these institutions , children can be subject to various forms of exploitation to generate financial profit .
Orphanage trafficking typically involves falsely constructing children ’ s identity as orphans , known as “ paper orphaning .” This practice includes methods such as forging identity documents , falsifying parental death certificates , producing birth certificates and creating paperwork attesting to abandonment or relinquishment . In other instances , children are coached to pose as orphans in the presence of volunteers and visitors .
114 acamstoday . org