Two Ukrainian girls sit at a refugee camp at the Hungarian border.Haven Orecchio-Egresitz/Insider (Credit: Yahoo News Fri, April 22, 2022, 2:53 PM)
As droves of Ukrainian women and children crossed borders into neighboring countries during the first few days of Russia’s unprovoked war, there was little infrastructure in place to meet them in their host countries.
- Ukrainian refugees are at risk of human trafficking as they flee war.
- A UN official who leads a unit dedicated to trafficking spoke to Insider about the danger to women and children.
- Predators may sexually exploit them, or use them to work the fields in the upcoming harvest season.
As droves of Ukrainian women and children crossed borders into neighboring countries during the first few days of Russia’s unprovoked war, there was little infrastructure in place to meet them in their host countries.
In Beregsurany, Hungary, volunteers and locals showed up to the border to help in any way they could.
Soon, though, the scene became chaotic and volunteers from a local organization began seeing “suspicious people” approaching women and children offering rides. When representatives from the organization approached them to get details, they wouldn’t provide them, Imre Szabtan of the religious charity Magyar Máltai Szeretetszolgálat, told Insider at the camp.
“There were suspicious people approaching women and children, picking them up or offering rides, but they were not registered,” Szabtan said in early March. “We told them we were happy to welcome their help, but that they should register first, and they were reluctant to do that.”
Since awareness of the threat of human trafficking grew, the border was closed to individuals crossing by foot. Instead, the organization arranged for registered buses to pick up refugees at the border and take them directly to a refugee camp that was set up less than a mile away.
There, police and volunteers are on site to monitor who is coming and going.
Ilias Chatzis, who leads a United Nations team dedicated to countering human trafficking, told Insider that this is the direction that most border countries have gone in as awareness of possible predators has spread, but Ukrainian women and children remain vulnerable to trafficking as they move around Europe looking for stability.