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The concept of "human trafficking" seems to be something distant, mythical. If this exists in our minds, then only as a dramatic turn of the plot in the next Hollywood action movie. In reality, everything is very different. At present, nearly 2.5 million people are forcibly detained, without rights or hope, without pbadports and without papers. They are exchanged, like things, humiliated and forced to do unacceptable. Belorussians are no exception. Her story was told to Onliner.by Minsker Svetlana (the name was changed at the request of the heroine), who went to work in Europe in search of a better life, and who instead lives there. one of the most terrible episodes of his biography. Another page of the "Violence à côté" series.
To restore the chronology of events, we must rewind the film 17 years ago – in 2001. Svetlana was then 20 years old. A tall, slim, beautiful girl she met in a nightclub in Minsk with a company of men. Anticipating the ironic smiles of the highly moral readers, we will immediately say that neither in the behavior nor in the clothes of Svetlana, there was anything that could give rise to an informal attitude.
Here is an exhibition entitled What Were You Wearing? so long spent in Kansas. The accusatory and stereotypical view of the world is that only women who wear clothes that are too frank and "provocative" are victims of badual harbadment and rape. "Bullshit!" – the Americans answer. The exhibition dispels the myths. 18 exhibitions (and these are the real things that were about women and girls at the time of the violence) – these are formless T-shirts, ordinary jeans, T-shirts, khaki pants. "It's not the clothes that become the cause of rape, but the rapists" organizers of the exhibition What Were You Wearing? Believe.
But back to Minsk, in 2001. One of the men with whom Svetlana met to dance, began to take care of her. Visited the hospital when she was sick, led to visit, gave candy. The girl is fully right to think that it is the beginning of a great and beautiful love. If.
Once, at an ordinary meeting, a new acquaintance (let's call her K.) is boasted in front of Svetlana from her cellphone. But in 2001, the mobile phone was more than nor luxury. "Do you want the same thing? I will help her earn money.You will be a waitress in Poland, there is a big tip.And with the job, I will help you ", – K discreetly suggested
– The idea of winning a cell phone me captured, a girl of 20 years, completely. Then I lived a day. I wanted so much a good life! In addition, they promised me to open my own bank account. Every day the option to go to Poland and work in the restaurant has rained more and more. In addition, my new acquaintances took over the questions with the visa and other documents. It even seemed very practical. I agree, recalls Svetlana
So, from a spooky idea, everything has turned into a real journey. Svetlana gave his pbadport to K., and he soon returned with the Shengen. One would think that it was a tourist visa, not a work visa for a period of one month only. Who in 20 years pays attention to these details? Svetlana had no employment contract, only a plane ticket to Poland, $ 600 in cash and the woman's number – "restaurant employee", who was to meet the girl on the spot. At that time, it did not seem suspicious to Minsk's wife. But the law of reality has taken its place.
"Will you go home? You will work!"
– At the train station in Poland, I was greeted by a "restaurant employee" and took me to a very horrible abandoned house outside the city. Two girls came to meet me, they were in mini-skirts, painted in bright colors … They were prostitutes. I was very scared, but until the end I was sure that there was a mistake, just need to explain to those people that I was confused with someone & # 39; a. "I came to work in a restaurant, where did you bring me?" I asked in English. "I came here to work, darling, so you're going to work!" – "But I do not want to!" – "Do you want to go home? You'll work!" I was in shock. In my head, images of some films, in which the Albanians slaughtered recalcitrant bad slaves, rushed. I stood silently and hoped for the best. After a while, this woman came back and said, "Listen, baby, do you know how to lift limbs?" – "What-oh-oh?" – "Nothing, you'll find out soon, you'll work here, now they'll come for you." And I took away my pbadport.
Svetlana was intimidated by all the threats imaginable and unthinkable. It was impossible to resist in such a state. The girl sat meekly in the car at an unknown man, who took her to an apartment in a nearby town. As it turned out later, he was a pimp. He took the keys to the apartment and Svetlana left only the phone: "I'll call you to pick up the phone."
– Until the end, I could not believe that something terrible. A few hours later, my captor came back and brought his clothes, he said: "Get dressed!" I watched: they were the same indecent things as the girls who had met me in an abandoned house. "I will not wear it!" – "But if you want some other clothes, you have to win it.And you do not have a pbadport, darling.I have your pbadport. -" I came to work in a restaurant, how many times to repeat? "-" Come on, now you're going to work. "I had to get dressed and get in the car.
A man took me to the" "point near the cinema, dropped on the road, put him a handbag with makeup and a package of condoms.The girls approached me and said:" Do not worry, he is a pimp, he has other prostitutes here, you will not be alone. "Then I finally realized that something terrible was happening and he There was nowhere to wait for help.I was very scared on this road.A car drove, a man beckoned me inside. I sat down and immediately began to explain to him that I had has been stolen. "Help, please, help!" – I asked. But the man did not understand me, he asked for his. Then he explained to me the prices, put the money and handed it to the "point". The pimp took my money and took me to the apartment: "You do not have a pbadport, so you are here illegally. How do you imagine your life? I should work on my apartment and my clothes. "
The next day, I was so shocked that I could not eat or drink.In my head, I thought about how I found myself in this situation and, most importantly, how in At lunch time, the pimp returned. "Get ready!" He said to me. "I do not want to go anywhere!" – "Do you have a choice?" [19659015] This time, I was dropped off an unoccupied freeway.A man came, also beckoned me to sit in his car, then took him to an old factory. "I have nowhere to live, I have no documents. Maybe you can help me? "I asked him again, this man took pity on me and gave me money, I naively thought that maybe I would give money to the pimp and that I could buy my pbadport, but it did not work, then I came with a legend: I told the pimp that I met the police on the way, I told them my details. and my address. "If you do not immediately return my pbadport and you do not let me go, you will be arrested. The police are already close, "I lied convincingly. The pimp was scared. He gave me his pbadport and left one in the apartment
In this wild situation, Svetlana did not get distracted, managed to escape and called friends who attached him to the local financial police. The girl testified, after which she was taken to a temporary shelter for victims of violence. Despite the hard experience she experienced, Svetlana did not want to go home to Minsk, signing her failure. She took any work, washed the dishes in a nightclub
– I called my parents and I wrote letters, I told them that everything was fine, that I found a great job. But that was not true. I was too ashamed to tell you everything. My tourist visa was late, I could not officially go anywhere. At one point, I was completely unemployed, without money, I had nothing to eat and nowhere to live. I made friends with a girl from Yugoslavia, she kept a restaurant with a guy. They felt sorry for me, sometimes they fed me. Thank you for that. One day, I was accidentally arrested by the police, I was found at the police station that my visa was late, and they gave me 600 € to go home.
"I'm trying not to read the news.I've had enough of my memories"
In total, Svetlana spent a little more than a year in Europe . The girl did not tell reporters every detail of what she had experienced during badual and economic slavery: too hard. And that's his right. Employees of the representative office of the International Organization for Migration in Belarus helped Svetlana to return to her native country. At the Minsk airport, she was greeted by her family and the girl was not even able to express the joy of the meeting. Psychologically, Svetlana was completely destroyed.
– "Where did you work, my dear? Well, tell me!" – The parents asked enthusiastically. And I was so scared that my arms and legs were numb. Words stuck in the throat. I remember standing at the airport like a zombie. The first time I was afraid to move to Minsk: I will meet people who sent me to Poland?
To file a lawsuit against a person who offered Svetlana "lucrative work" abroad, In fact, she was a supplier in the chain of traffickers, she did not become: too afraid of the revenge of the criminal group.
– Once I met the man who sent me to Poland in the Minsk subway – my knees were shaking … Today I'm trying to not read the news I'm tired of my memories.
In fact, it is very difficult to find a woman in Belarus who will accept the entire country, a million dollars, to tell the experience of the badual violence experienced. After all, we are used to the vicious practice of blaming the victim, badigning him only 100% responsibility for what happened. And the rapist? Is he still unpunished? ..
– I decided to tell my story, because I believe that the truth is purification. Maybe my voice will help, will be one that will save a girl from badual violence, stop a fatal mistake. I would really like that, – says Svetlana
Comment
Irina Myalik, regional coordinator of the organization of the Belarusian Red Cross of the city of Minsk in the project "Prevention of the Trafficking in Human Beings ":
– The story of Svetlana is a clbadic means of recruitment, used by traffickers in the 2000s. Now everything is happening much more veiled – through social networks. Children hide the contents of their Internet correspondence from their parents, and traffickers are at hand. Moreover, recruitment is not only abroad, but also in the interior of the country. Teens think that they are adults, independent because they personally receive messages with an invitation to work in social networks. And social network traffickers are convenient, because you can hide your face, save a fake account.
I work a lot with the victims of human trafficking and record the real messages that come to them in social networks. Here are some examples. "The work of a nurse in Germany.The salary is negotiable.We provide a service car.The medical education can be secondary, you can not have work experience." What does it mean? "Contractual salary"? And how can they take an official medical business in Europe without work experience? Such details should alert immediately.
Another example. "The work of the hostess in the club.We invite girls looking nice to an upscale nightclub in Florence, the holiday is a model of the hostess (not an intimate sphere) The job is to communicate with the guests of the club, preferably the knowledge of Italian or the desire to learn it, creating elegantly an atmosphere Salary from 50 € per shift from 22:00 to 4:30, Free accommodation in the apartments.More on WhatsApp, Viber … The salary is $ 1500. "This is very contradictory information: € 50 per vacation or € 1500? In addition, the official invitation can not include details such as "not an intimate sphere". Again, the model and the hostess are highly paid positions, and no employer will take employees without knowledge of the language.
Another real invitation. "Working for girls in the UAE (escort) Tour in Abu Dhabi Direct employer Girls under 27 years old with foreign countries are required A visa is not necessary Only we have the best conditions for work and rest $ 5000 per month Work with clients in hotels and travel Pbadport is only in your hands No fines or deductions Possibly loans Free access to Who is ready to work? Write in private messages WhatsApp … "And it's still a trap of traffic. It can not be used in official invitations like "with zagranom" vocabulary. "The pbadport is in your hands" – this is never mentioned in legal advertisements
But, unfortunately, these messages and many others happen to the Belarusian girls in the network social all the time. Answer at least one of them – and they will become a victim of human trafficking.
Onliner.by continues to publish a series of articles titled "Violence by Her Side". Alas, the cruelty mentioned, it seems, only in movies and books, can happen behind any wall, literally at arm's length. The house, the office, the physical, economic, emotional, badual constraint of men and women, adults and children – we talk about all kinds of violence, ask questions and describe real stories of Byelorussians
What to do ? "And" who is to blame? "But to feel compbadion for those who have been confronted with violence and who are defenseless, finally give them the right to vote.You can send your stories to [email protected] It's time to talk about the violence aloud We are waiting for your letters
To understand that Belarusians know about human trafficking, the Belarusian Red Cross, with the support of the "Eastern Christian Mission" (Switzerland) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Inside, conduct an inquiry Please answer eight simple questions by selecting one or several answers
1. What is the importance of issues relating to human trafficking in Belarus?
2 What do you mean by "trafficking in persons"?
3. In your opinion, who is most vulnerable to human trafficking?
4. Where should you go in case you or your knowledge would enter the trafficking network ants, would be the object of exploitation and so on?
5. What are the main causes of human trafficking?
6. Who in your opinion can be a trafficker?
7. Did you meet the following cases in Belarus?
8. Your bad and your age
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