So says the Russian-Ukrainian Katja Didenko, who has lived in the Netherlands since she was ten. As a social worker she has a lot of contact with Ukrainian refugees. She has already received signals from volunteers at the border that human trafficking is taking place. “Yes, our volunteers have sometimes seen people get into a car that suspects something is not right.”
Vulnerable
The vast majority of Ukrainian refugees are women and children. That entails the necessary risks, says Didenko. “The war is a chaotic situation in which people are not always able to make good choices. There is often also trauma. That makes people on the run vulnerable, especially women and children.”
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Ina Hut, director of the Coordination Center for Human Trafficking (Comensha), also says that she has received various signals of human trafficking, in the Netherlands and abroad. “On social media people are already asking about Ukrainian women for the sex industry, but also about suitors,” she says. “Refugees are very vulnerable and people are trying to take advantage of that.”
According to Didenko, refugees can be exploited in different branches. “Like in the agricultural sector, transport world and prostitution.” Hut adds: “They can also be forced to transport drugs, work in cannabis cultivation or be criminally exploited.”
Social media
Much of the human trafficking starts on social media, Didenko explains. “Someone offers them purposeful accommodation with possible work after a short conversation via Telegram, WhatsApp or Instagram. In the speed they say yes than no. As a result, they end up in a situation they know nothing about. work they have to do.”
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According to Hut, the dangers of a large influx of refugees are that people slip through. “That there is insufficient supervision and no registrations take place.”
Major concerns
In view of the signals that human trafficking is taking place, also in the Netherlands, there are great concerns. “There are people who see a certain business in this,” says Didenko. “That is dangerous. People are not only exploited, but also suffer a huge trauma, in addition to the trauma they already have.” Hut also emphasizes that. “We are therefore starting a publicity campaign to inform the public so that they know where to report a suspicious situation.”
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‘We’re on top of it’
State Secretary Eric van der Burg of Asylum and Migration does not advise against collecting people at the border, but neither does he encourage it. “If you want to pick up a loved one, family member or friend from, for example, the Polish border and want to live here, we think that’s great,” he says. “The fact that people may disappear from the radar will not be remedied or limited by this.”
Van der Burg says that it will undoubtedly be the case that there are people who abuse the situation. “And we are fully on top of that,” he says. “That goes through the police and the judiciary.”
The State Secretary calls on Ukrainian refugees to register. “There are now about 2300 Ukrainian refugees in shelters in the Netherlands,” he says. “But that figure is actually higher. Many refugees are also with friends and family. That is why it is important that everyone who has arrived in recent days registers. Then we get an even better picture.”
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