RUSSIA
Case Study
The Russian government has made some efforts to combat child trafficking, including convicting traffickers and establishing processes for the safe return of Russian children trafficked abroad. However, significant gaps remain in terms of meeting minimum standards more broadly.
Institutionalised children are particularly vulnerable as orphanages in Russia are overcrowded and poorly resourced. The lack of monitoring and oversight of institutions in Russia means that they have become centre-points for child trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, and acts of forced criminality.
There have been reports of cases where institutionalised children are trafficked out of the institutions by orphanage staff for sexual exploitation and then returned to the orphanage, thus reinforcing a cycle of abuse. In other cases, children in orphanages were themselves involved in trafficking their peers, selling girls living at the orphanage for sexual exploitation.
Additionally, girls in orphanages were groomed by pimps and trafficked out of orphanages for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Boys are more likely to be trafficked for labour exploitation and various forms of forced criminality. In conflict situations, institutionalised children in Russia have also been trafficked out of orphanages to be used as child soldiers and violent non-state actors in conflict situations in the Middle East.