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Informational/ Educational Campaign about Trafficking in Women in the Volga Region

On December, 1, 2005, the international organizations European Women's Lobby (EWL), the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women(CATW), MiraMed institute, Angel Coalition and Project Kesher started a campaign against trafficking in women in three cities of the Volga Region: Kostroma, Kineshme and Tver.

The purpose of this campaign is to change the attitude to the problems of violence against women as a whole in these communities. This includes gender inequality, domestic violence, trafficking in women and prostitution. The campaign will be carried out by Jewish women's association in coalition with public organizations in these municipalities. The campaign is part of a larger project to prevent trafficking in women for sexual exploitation, conducted by women's organizations in the whole Eastern Europe.

Marianna Solomatova, Director of Development at Angel Coalition reported that "Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo/Albania and Hungary also participate in this project. These countries and Russia, because of their transitional economy and unstable political situation, have become, the primary countries of origin for the women trafficked into prostitution in the countries of the European Union. We selected three Russian cities on the Volga river— Kostroma, Kineshma and Tver— to participate in this project. They are situated in central Russia, from where there come large flows of internal and external migration for economic reasons. Against the background of the shortage of information in these regions (it simply it does not reach them from the center), the high rates of unemployment and the low wages, young women and girls from there are a very vulnerable group for the risks of trafficking".

Svetlana Yakimenko, Director at "Project Kesher" in Moscow, stated in her presentation: "The roots of the problem of trafficking in women are: violence in society as a whole— domestic violence, gender inequality, and the use of women as commodities (prostitution). The public tend to blame women for the fact that prostitution exists. But in reality, prostitution is only a visible part of the general relation between women and men in society. For the first time in history of Russia, the phenomenon of prostitution and trafficking in persons will be examined from the point of view of questioning demand and not supply. The attitude of absolute disrespect, and complete depreciation of women is present everywhere. So in order for women not to be sent abroad, they must be protected from violence and unjust treatment at home."

The campaign began with a seminar for the teams of the 3 cities in Kostroma, which took place 6–8 December 2005. There, the strategy of the campaign for the whole year was developed. In the course of 12 months, conferences, seminars, distribution of printed materials, TV- and radio shows will be carried out in these three cities. During May 2006 Janice Raymond of CATW (USA) plans to visit to Russia. The funds for the campaign are given by the U.S. State Department Office for Trafficking in Persons and CATW.