Announcing the formation of the
"ANGEL COALITION"
of the Russian Federation.
During a twelve day intensive training/work session in Moscow and Kiev, MiraMed Institute and 20 Russian NGO partnering organizations created the "Angel Coalition," an international association of organizations with the mission of stopping the international sexual trafficking of Russian women and children and providing aid to sexual trafficking victims.
According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United States State Department, over 500,000 women and girls from the former Soviet Union, mainly from the Russian Federation, have been coerced by international organized criminal groups into seeking legitimate work oversees only to find themselves with their passports confiscated and forced to work as prostitutes in over 50 receiving countries - including the United States.
The impact of sexual trafficking is felt mainly in the rural and economically depressed townships of Russia and the NIS. As economic and educational opportunities for women decline, they are easy targets for traffickers posing as legitimate businesses offering lucrative work abroad. At the current time, Russia has no enforceable laws relating to the trade in human beings and traffickers cannot be prosecuted. Thus, they are free to operate without fear of consequences.
As a response to this situation, 22 NGO's from 15 regions of the Russian Federation convened in Moscow on October 8 where they began a 12-day intensive training session co-sponsored by MiraMed Institute of the United States and La Strada of Ukraine and funded by a grant from the United States Information Agency. In Moscow, they met with representatives of international organizations and with Dr. Vladimir Lisichkin, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Committee of Labor and Social Problems to discuss anti-trafficking legislation which is pending in the State Duma.
On the night of October 9, the group of 22 NGO representatives and 5 MiraMed staff traveled by overnight train to Kiev where the remainder of the training took place in the facilities of La Strada, Ukraine. During the following ten days, the group reviewed the extensive experience of La Strada and other Ukrainian and international organizations and received all materials necessary to begin anti-trafficking lobbying campaigns in their regions. At night, the group worked to create the mission statement, position paper, bylaws and all legal documents necessary for the registration of the "Angel Coalition" in the Russian Federation as an international NGO.
A Board of Directors was elected:
Natalia Khodrieva, Women's
Psychological Crisis Center of St.
Petersburg, President
Maria Mokhova, Syostri (Sisters) of Moscow - Director of Aid to Victims
Svetlana Uralova, Angara, Irkutsk - Director of Public Education
Elena Logish, Women of Pre-Kamia,
Perm - Director of Lobbying and
Legislation
Dr. Juliette Engel, MiraMed
Institute, USA - Director of International
Relations
The "Angel Coalition" plans
to rapidly expand to include as many NGO
groups from as many regions
of the Russian Federation as possible before
the next conference of all
members which will take place in July of 2000
in Irkutsk. As the Soroptimist
International "President's Project," the
"Angel Coalition" will expand
to include NGO representatives from the
former republics who will
participate in a similar training in Kiev
during the year 2000.
The "Angel Coalition" is
posting a website which will serve as a
reference library of trafficking
materials in the Russian language and
is actively seeking funding
to support its mission.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Juliette M. Engel, Director of
International Relations