Human Rights Watch Exposes Rampant Trafficking of Migrants in Russia

by Amanda Kloer · 2009-02-11 17:34:00 UTC
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Human Rights Watch issued a new report yesterday, entitled "Are You Happy to Cheat Us?", which exposed the prolific trafficking of Central Asian migrants into labor industries across Russia, and the Russian's government's lackadaisical attitude toward their workers.

The documents documents that at multiple construction sites across Moscow, withholding of wages, physical violence, failure to provide required contracts, and unsafe working conditions were common. It specifically details cases in which workers were forced into labor or deceived by employment agencies that promised construction jobs in Russia, but then confiscated their passports and forced them to work without wages.

"Whether it's employers trying to intimidate their workers, police roughing them up during a shakedown or hate-motivated attacks by regular citizens, migrant workers are vulnerable at almost every turn," Jane Buchanan, researcher in the Europe and Central Asia division of HRW and a co-author of the report told the Moscow Times.

Sadly, this news of the prevalence of trafficking in Russia and the inaction of the Russian government is not surprising news.  Russia has been on the State Department Trafficking In Persons Report's Tier 2 Watch List (the second lowest score a country can get on it's anti-trafficking initiatives) since the category was invented in 2004.  The U.S. hasn't dropped them down to Tier 3 because of the diplomatic implications of censuring Russia like that, but they really should be there.

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
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