Trafficking Victims Return Home Case Stu (1)

CASE STUDY OF POLAND

By Elżbieta M. Goździak, Ph.D. Research Professor Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM)

Georgetown University

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elżbieta M. Goździak is Research Professor at the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) at Georgetown University. Formerly, she served as Editor of International Migration and held a senior position with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). She taught at the Howard University in the Social Work with Displaced Populations Program, and managed a

program area on admissions and resettlement of refugees in industrialized countries for the Refugee Policy Group. Prior to immigrating to the United States,

she was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funding for this research was provided by the Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research-Exploratory (IBSS-Ex) program of the National Science Foundation (Award #1416769). Warm thanks to our NSF Project Officer, Dr. Brian D. Humes for his assistance throughout the life of the grant.

This report benefited greatly from the contributions of many individuals. Dr. Stana Buchowska and Mr. Maciej Kotliński provided invaluable assistance in interviewing service providers and survivors of trafficking living in Poland. I am also grateful to the representatives of the Polish Ministry of Interior, the La Strada Foundation, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for discussing with me the challenges and successes in providing protection to and integrating survivors of trafficking into local communities. They all shared their knowledge and insights and

I am grateful for their generosity of time and wisdom.

My graduate research assistants, Charles Jamieson and Nicole Johnson, provided indispensable assistance in conducting literature reviews, analyzing existing anti- trafficking laws and data, and masterfully copy-editing and formatting this report.

INTRODUCTION

Trafficking of people for forced labor and sexual exploitation is believed to be one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity and one that is of increasing concern to the international community. Trafficking is commonly understood in terms of the activity, the means, and the purpose, where: (1) The activity refers to some kind of movement either within or across borders; (2) The means relates to some form of coercion or deception, and (3) the purpose is the ultimate exploitation of a person for profit or benefit of another (Martin & Callaway, 2011: 225).

While understanding and recognition of trafficking in persons has improved in recent years, there is little systematic and in-depth analysis of the full life cycle of cross- border human trafficking—from pre-trafficking and recruitment through exploitation to return home or integration into a new community. An area in which very little is known are the experiences of trafficking survivors after return to their home countries. Who returns to their home countries? What is the process for return? After return, are survivors still subject to the same situations that caused them to be trafficked in the first place? What are their health and mental health, education, employment, and other needs after return? Do they receive services that will enable them to reintegrate and, if so, for what period and with what efficacy? What types of stigmas persist over time, particularly for those who were sexually exploited and abused? What are the risk factors for being re-trafficked? To what extent is information available about the incidence and prevalence of re-trafficking? This information is of particular import given the fact that many countries provide survivors with respite assistance, but lack long-term immigration relief.

This report is part of a larger research project, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aimed at collecting empirical data in Poland, Moldova, Thailand, and Nepal to provide answers to the above questions. This report was informed by an extensive literature review as well as field research in Warsaw and Cracow in the summer of 2015. In-depth interviews with representatives of the Ministry of Interior, National Consulting and Intervention Center for Victims of Trafficking (Krajowe Centrum Interwencyjno-Konsultacyjne dla Ofiar Handlu Ludźmi--KCIK), La Strada Foundation, Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) were conducted. Additionally, we interviewed 19 survivors of human trafficking for sexual exploitation and other forms of labor; ten of the survivors are Poles who returned to Poland from other parts of Europe and nine are foreign- born victims who are receiving assistance in Poland before departing for their countries of origin.

We begin the report with a brief discussion of contemporary Polish migration patterns, followed by presentation of information about human trafficking from, within, and to Poland—including legal frameworks and available statistical information—to contextualize field research findings, and end with policy and programmatic recommendations.

MIGRATION IN POLAND

Poland has been an emigration country for more than a century. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, coupled with unrestricted entry to the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ireland, caused one of the biggest emigration flows in Poland’s postwar history. On November 19, 2006, the New York Times reported that 800,000 Poles left the country since Poland joined the EU. The number of Polish residents who stayed abroad for at least two months tripled between early 2004 and early 2007 from approximately 180,000 to 540,000 (Kaczmarczyk and Okólski 2008). In May 2011, Germany opened its doors fully to jobseekers from Poland paving the way for a flood of cut-price carpenters, plumbers and other budget labor of the kind that swept Britain in 2004 (Hall et al 2011). Norway and Belgium have also become destinations for post-accession Polish migrants (Mostowska 2013 and 2014). With this exodus Poland became one of the largest exporters of labor within the enlarged European Union. According to the Polish Census Bureau, 2,3 million Poles have resided abroad for at least three months at the end of 2014; this represents a 5.65 increase in comparison with 2013. The majority of Polish migrant lived in the European Union countries, including United Kingdom (685,000), Germany (614,000), Ireland (113,000), the Netherlands (109,000), and Italy (96,000) (GUS 2015).

While the scale of Polish migration has remained on the rise, Polish permanent emigration has been steadily decreasing giving ways to new migration patterns. The fairly stable migration flows that marked the post-WWII period have dissolved into more complex, transitory patterns in terms of temporary settlement and shifting migration status (Engbersen, Van der Leun and de Boom 2007). Polish migration no longer takes the form of unidirectional movement from country of origin to destination country that ends with permanent settlement. Post-enlargement migratory movements from Poland have become much more differentiated and have led to a more diverse and floating populations (Danilewicz 2010, Urbańska 2009). Paraphrasing Bauman’s (2000, 2005) work on ‘liquid modernity,’ Polish international migration has become ‘liquid.’ Polish migrants, who for decades regarded the United States as the ‘promised land,’ shifted their focus to Western Europe, much more geographically accessible. Polish migration took a form of ‘pendulum’ or ‘circular’ migration and in some cases transnational commuting. These movements have been governed by the ebb and flow of economic demands and the state of labor markets at home and abroad (Favell 2008; Mostowska 2013).

Poles are now not only free to leave Poland, but also are free to leave and to come back. They use their spatial mobility to adapt to the new context of post-communist space and EU enlargement. Rather than relying on transnational networking for improving their condition in the country of settlement, many Poles tend to settle within mobility, staying mobile as long as they can in order to improve or maintain a particular quality of life, enhance their professional qualifications, and pursue educational goals. Their experience of migration becomes their lifestyle, their leaving home and going away, paradoxically,

a strategy of staying at home, and, thus, an alternative to what international migration is usually considered to be: emigration or immigration. This does not mean that some Polish migrants do not “extend their stay abroad” and decide to settle outside Poland (McGhee 2013; Ryan et al 2009; Ryan and Sales 2013).

Mobility as a strategy can be empowering and can result in ‘success.’ It can become a tool for social innovation and agency as well as an important dimension of social capital provided that migrants retain control over their migration projects. Mobility, however, may also reflect increased dependencies, proliferation of precarious jobs, and labor exploitation that end in ‘failure.’

There are conflicting reports on the outcomes of recent Polish migration. Social workers circulate alarming stories about homeless and jobless Poles in London (Goryńska-Bittner 2010). Researchers study Polish ‘rough sleepers’ in different European capitals (Garapich, 2013; Mostowska 2012, 2013). News media report that instead of finding the opportunities that they heard of back home, thousands of Poles have ended up on the streets of London. Newspapers publish articles about Polish migrants addicted to alcohol and drugs (Ramesh 2010). Polish organizations are reporting high levels of suicide, depression, and poverty among migrant workers (Shields 2008; Lakasing and Mirza 2009). Heavy alcohol intake is considered a likely contributing factor (Ranzetta 2007). Alarmed by the increasingly common sight of Poles sleeping rough in Britain and fearful that they will turn to drugs, prostitution and crime, Polish charities send delegations to London to persuade their compatriots to return home. In Poland, migration is often presented as a necessary evil regardless of the outcomes of migration projects. For example, educators and researchers point to adverse effects of migration on children left behind by parents working abroad (Walczak 2009; Urbańska 2010). On the other hand, researchers and popular accounts alike investigate successes of Polish high-skilled migrants (see Klagge and Klein-Hitpass 2007; Duvell 2004).

In the interviews conducted during this study, some staff at anti-trafficking programs worried that the increased mobility of Polish citizens—especially those with no fluency in the language of the country they want to live in, temporarily or permanently, might result in heightened levels of exploitation and trafficking. However, there is no way to ascertain whether these hypotheses translate into tangible data as there is no baseline data on the scale of trafficking of Polish nationals over time. Additionally, this assertion contradicts the data provided by the Polish Ministry of Interior that indicate that the vast majority of trafficked victims assisted by anti-trafficking programs were living in their country of origin at the time of being recruited to work abroad. Some of the Polish survivors of trafficking were also trafficked within Poland. These observations are based on relatively small samples and caution ought to be exercised when making generalizations.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN POLAND

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORKS

Poland is party to the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention and has ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children . It is also bound by European Union legislation and directives on human trafficking.

Nonetheless, until 2010, Poland did not have a definition of human trafficking, despite the fact that its Criminal Code specified a minimum penalty of three years of imprisonment for “whoever performs trafficking in persons.” Instead, the Polish Criminal Code criminalized the forcing of an adult or minor into prostitution and abduction of a person with intent to force them into prostitution abroad. The Act of May

20, 2010 concerning changes to the Criminal Code added a definition of trafficking in human beings which was introduced in Article 115, paragraph 22, of the Criminal Code, and a new Article 189a was added concerning the legal classification of trafficking. These amendments took effect on September 8, 2010.

Article 115, section 22 defines trafficking as:

(…) recruitment, transport, transfer, giving away, harboring or receipt of a person by means of: 1) violence or unlawful threat; 2) abduction; 3) deceit;

4) by misleading someone or by means of abusing someone’s mistaken view or a person’s incapability of an adequate understanding of his or her actions; 5) misuse of a position of dependence, abuse of a distressful situation or of a state of helplessness; or 6) giving or receiving financial or personal benefits or the promise thereof to a person that takes care of or supervises another person for the purpose of his or her consent, especially in prostitution, pornography or other forms of sexual abuse, in labor services of a forced nature, in begging, in slavery or other forms of exploitation that violate the dignity of the human being or for the purpose of acquiring cells, tissues, or organs contrary to law. If the action of the perpetrator pertains to a minor, it shall be seen as trafficking in human beings, even if the measures and means set forth in points 1-6 have not been used.

In order for trafficking to take place, one of the following elements must have been used: recruitment, transport, transfer, giving away, harboring, and receipt of a person. The definition of trafficking used in Poland is broader than sexual exploitation. In practice, however, for quite a while policy and programmatic focus has been on trafficking for sexual exploitation. More recently, cases of financial exploitation of male labor migrants are slowly shifting the country’s attention to trafficking for other forms labor exploitation.

The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report issued by the U.S. Department of State every year has placed Poland in Tier 1 for several years. The TIP report indicates the Government of Poland fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking (TIP 2016).

SURVIVORS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN POLAND

Below we present information provided by the Polish Ministry of Interior regarding human trafficking in Poland. The latest data the Ministry was able to provide covers the period of 2012-2013. The data is based on an anonymous survey of survivors of human trafficking who received benefits from Krajowe Centrum Interwencyjno-Konsultacyjne (KCIK) or National Consulting and Intervention Center for Victims of Trafficking. The survey included 237 victims of human trafficking, both Polish nationals and foreign-born survivors. Seventy-five percent of the survey participants received an official status of trafficked victim from the Polish Police or Border Patrol, while the remaining 25 percent were deemed to be victims of human trafficking by the La Strada Foundation. The latter cohort did not want to collaborate with law enforcement and therefore was not included in the official cohort of victims.

While the sample is relatively small, the Ministry indicated that it is very illustrative of the latest trends in terms of characteristics of the victims and the nature of the recruitment process.

GENDER The majority of the beneficiaries were women. It is, however, noteworthy, that the

number of male beneficiaries is increasing steadily. During the 2009 – 2011 period, male beneficiaries comprised 21 percent; the percentage increased to 26.1 percent in 2012, and reached 27.8 percent in 2013. The majority of the male beneficiaries are foreign-born men. In 2013, of the 173 individuals surveyed only seven were Polish men.

AGE Ninety percent of the beneficiaries were adults. All children under the age of 18 included

in the survey were mostly foreign-born. In 2012, KCIK assisted 15 minors: 10 from Romania, three from Poland, one from Bulgaria, and one from Vietnam. In 2013, KCIK provided assistance to 13 minors: eight from Romania, two from Bulgaria, and one from the Czech Republic, Russia, and Vietnam. According to the 2016 TIP report, Poland ought to improve training and efforts to identify trafficked victims more proactively, particularly among unaccompanied children, irregular migrants, and children exploited in prostitution. It is difficult to ascertain why the authors of the TIP report think there might be many more minors trafficked to Poland. There is no baseline data or empirical research to warrant such estimates.

CITIZENSHIP

TABLE 1: COUNTRY OF CITIZENSHIP OF TRAFFICKED VICTIMS

Country of citizenship (N = 237) 2012 2013 Total

Czech Republic

Russia

Citizens of Poland constituted the largest—38 percent-- group of beneficiaries assisted by KCIK, followed by citizens of Romania (29%), Bulgaria (11%), Vietnam (10%), and Ukraine (5.5%). It is noteworthy that the number of Ukrainian victims has decreased considerably. Between 2009 and 2011, Ukrainians were the second largest group of beneficiaries after Poles.

MARITAL STATUS Seventy percent of the beneficiaries who declared marital status were single. 1 The

remaining 30 percent were either married or lived with partners. PLACE OF RESIDENCE

The majority of the beneficiaries (204 survivors) lived in the country of origin at the time of being recruited to work abroad. The vast majority (94%) of Polish survivors lived in Poland at the time they were recruited. This data contradicts the assertion discussed above that increased mobility of Poles after the accession to the European Union puts them at risk for trafficking. In 2013, only 11 of the 75 foreign-born victims were outside their countries of origin at the time of recruitment; nine in Poland, one in Germany, and another one in Ukraine.

EMPLOYMENT STATUS Three-quarters of the beneficiaries were unemployed at the time of recruitment. An

additional 14 percent were students. One person was retired. A mere seven percent had

a job at the time of being approached by a recruiter.

Analyzing these data, KCIK concluded that unemployed persons are at the highest risk for being trafficked, especially if unemployment is accompanied by a family crisis such as illness or domestic violence. More than 78 percent of the victims decided to migrate in order to improve the economic situation of their families. Additionally, 12 percent of the beneficiaries decided to go abroad as a result of a family crisis and/or to escape domestic violence. Seven percent of the surveyed victims left under pressure from family members.

1 Of the 237 survivors 44 did not share information about their marital status with the programs staff .

Social workers indicated that in the latter case, the family was actively involved in the trafficking process.

Some 13 percent of the surveyed beneficiaries decided to migrate in the hopes of securing both a better economic and emotional situation. Half of this group left their family home in search of new adventures, to meet new people, but without precise plans what to do once they get to the destination country. The second half had matrimonial plans and left home to marry a particular person, usually the trafficker.

THE RECRUITERS

The vast majority of recruiters 2 were Polish citizens.

TABLE 2: COUNTRY OF CITIZENSHIP OF RECRUITERS

Country of citizenship of

recruiters (N = 194)

Poland 44 53 97 Bulgaria

0 3 3 Czech Republic

0 1 1 Nigeria

0 1 1 Russia

2 The data provided by the Polish Ministry of Interior differentiates between the different people involved

in the trafficking process as in many cases the recruiters are distinct from the people who transported the victims to their employers. In some cases, the latter were colluding with the traffickers, but in some cases they were unaware of the trafficking.

The table below presents information on country of citizenship of the recruiters. Comparing this information with the data on citizenship of victims, it appears that in most cases the traffickers come from the same country as their victims.

While in many cases the recruiters were co-ethnics, in the majority of cases they were strangers. Analogously to previous years, 64 percent of the surveyed survivors were recruited by strangers, followed by 22 percent of survivors who were recruited by an acquaintance (znajomy). In the remaining 14 percent victims were recruited by family members or partners.

METHODS OF RECRUITMENT In three-quarters of the cases, the traffickers recruited victims by contacting them directly.

In 24 percent of the surveyed cases, traffickers used indirect methods, including Internet advertisements (15%) or employment agencies (9%). There were no cases of kidnapping or other forcible recruitment. No dating agencies were involved in cases when traffickers approached their victims with a romantic proposal. It seems that perpetrators try to hide their criminal intents from potential victims for as long as they can in order to not spur suspicion.

In the majority of cases (91%), the traffickers offered their victims financially lucrative employment. Every tenth survivor was lured with a promise of marriage. One percent of the surveyed individuals were promised financial assistance (sponsorship) and an additional one percent were tempted with offers to see the world. None of the surveyed individuals indicated that the recruitment offers included assistance with irregular migration.

DESTINATION COUNTRIES In most cases the recruitment offers included the same country where the surveyed

survivors of human trafficking were victimized. It is noteworthy that 49 percent of the Polish survey participants were recruited to work in Poland. In 2013, 22 Polish women were offered employment in Poland, while 23 Polish citizens (men and women) were offered work abroad, mainly in Germany, but also in the Netherlands, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

TRANSPORT It seems that the transport stage is much more diverse than the recruitment stage. This is

due to the fact that in some cases the victims were recruited hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the place of exploitation, and in other cases, recruitment and victimization took place in the same locality and transport was limited to travel by taxi and did not have to be organized by a criminal group. Sometimes victims had to use several different modes of transportation to reach their destination. Private cars were used most often (62%), followed by public bus (over 33%), airplane (20%), private bus (15.5%) and taxi (10%). Trains and ships were used very rarely, in four and 0.6 percent of cases, respectively.

Three-quarters of the survivors crossed international borders, but only in two percent of the examined cases the border was crossed clandestinely.

EXPLOITATION The vast majority of the KCIK beneficiaries were exploited within Poland (83%),

followed by Germany (12.5%), the Netherlands (2.2%), and the United Kingdom (1.3%). In 2013, 71 foreign-born and 26 Polish citizens were exploited in Poland. More than half of the surveyed beneficiaries were trafficked for sexual exploitation, including 44 percent who were forced into prostitution. Additional 25 percent were trafficked for labor

exploitation and 22 percent for begging. Six percent of the beneficiaries were enslaved 3 ,

4.3 percent were forced to commit criminal offenses, and 2.2 percent were victims of forced marriages.

Available data suggest that the type of exploitation of Poland-born and foreign-born victims remains the same as in previous years (2009-2011). Sexual exploitation and begging far exceed other forms of exploitation. Polish citizens are trafficked predominantly for sexual exploitation, while foreign-born individuals are trafficked for forced labor and begging

CONTROLING VICTIMS In order to control their victims, traffickers used a wide range of methods, including

direct threat (75.4%), physical force (52%), and restriction of freedom of movement

3 The information provided by the Ministry of Interior does not define slavery .

(51.3%). In most cases, more than one way of oppression was utilized. Indirect threat was used in 36 percent of cases, seizure of documents in 27 percent, and coercion and/or kidnapping in 21 percent. In about 14 percent of cases, traffickers prevented their victims from accessing medical care, and in additional 14 percent deprived them of access to food. Although debt bondage is thought to be the most prevailing characteristic of human trafficking only eighth victims reported debt bondage as a method of exploitation and control by the traffickers.

RESCUE The majority (96%) of the surveyed KCIK beneficiaries were no longer in the trafficking

situation at the time when they signed up for assistance. More than half of the survivors escaped from the traffickers on their own. In 40 percent of the cases, victims were rescued by law enforcement. A small percentage—nine percent—of the surveyed survivors were released from the exploitative situation by the traffickers.

AFTER RESCUE The majority of the beneficiaries were referred to KCIK assistance programs by Polish

law enforcement, mainly the police (45%) and Border Guards (23%). Nearly 13 percent of the victims went to the Centre on its own initiative. In the remaining cases, family members, consulate personnel, or NGO staff referred the victims to available assistance programs.

For foreign-born victims of trafficking access to immigration relief is usually one of the most pressing needs. This is true anywhere in the world. The majority (95%) of the 145 foreign-born survivors assisted by KCIK resided in Poland legally; 65 percent of the survivors had EU citizenship, and additional 30 percent held either a residency permit or

a work visa. None of the foreign-born victims entered Poland on a tourist visa.

Persons who were in need of immigration relief after being rescued, were granted temporary residence permits for victims of human trafficking under the Aliens Act. Fourteen individuals were granted residency permits under this provision. Additionally, four foreign-born victims applied for international protection that would allow them to remain in Poland. In one case, residency permit could not be issued because of lack of identification documents. However, at the time of our research the victim continued to

be assisted by KCIK and measures to regulate their situation continued to be sought. It is be assisted by KCIK and measures to regulate their situation continued to be sought. It is

In addition to legal aid, KCIK also provides other types of assistance, including job placement, psycho-social services. Of the 237 survivors, 231 individuals took advantage of the available support; the remaining six survivors declined offered assistance.

Half of the respondents participated in a special program aimed at protecting foreign- born victims of human trafficking willing to collaborate with law enforcement and the courts in prosecuting their traffickers. In recent years, the majority of foreign-born victims have participated in the program (80-84%). According to the law of March 12, 2004 pertaining to social assistance, victims of human trafficking are entitled to social benefits. In 2013, 20 victims (12 foreign-born and eight Poles) received social benefits. In 2012, only two victims benefited from such assistance. Table 3 below presents the type of assistance victims—both foreign-born and Polish citizens—received from KCIK and its affiliates.

TABLE 3: TYPE OF ASSISTANCE

Type of assistance (N=237)

Temporary housing

Long-term housing

Emergency medical assistance

Long-term medical assistance

37 87 124 Psychological support

Vocational training

Employment

Family mediation

Financial assistance

85 76 161 Clothing, food

53 65 118 Transportation

Legal consultation

Specialized legal aid

Assistance with return to home country

Assistance with legal documents

No assistance

COOPERATION WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT Hundred and two of the surveyed survivors indicated that they decided to actively

participate in the criminal proceedings against their traffickers. Nineteen individuals indicated that they refused to testify in the court of law. Given that only 50 percent of the surveyed survivors provided answers to questions regarding cooperation with law enforcement, it is difficult to draw conclusions regarding willingness to collaborate with law enforcement or possible reasons for declining to provide testimonies. According to the 2016 TIP Report, some foreign-born victims did not participate in the protection program because it did not provide for the right to work.

IN SUMMARY

While the data elicited through the periodic surveys conducted by the Ministry of Interior provides a rather detailed portrait of survivors of human trafficking in Poland, it does not shed any light on the scale of the trafficking phenomenon in the country. The While the data elicited through the periodic surveys conducted by the Ministry of Interior provides a rather detailed portrait of survivors of human trafficking in Poland, it does not shed any light on the scale of the trafficking phenomenon in the country. The

Both the survey data and administrative data collected by different assistance programs include information on survivors receiving support in any given calendar year. However, according to interviews conducted in the course of this research, many survivors are being assisted by the same programs for several years. The collected data does not differentiate between new program beneficiaries and those that entered a particular program in previous years. The Polish law is also not clear on the length of time victims are eligible for services. Lack of this kind of data makes any sort of analysis on the efficacy of assistance provided to returned victims very difficult.

PREVENTION, PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO TRAFFICKED VICTIMS

In most countries anti-trafficking initiatives are organized around the 4 Ps: prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships. This framework does not include a specific focus on re-integration of survivors of human trafficking into the larger society, be it in their country of origin or in the destination country. Poland is no exception.

According to the 2016 TIP Report, the Polish government demonstrated progress in prevention of human trafficking. In 2015, the government allocated 135,000 zloty ($34,500) for the implementation of the 2013-2015 national action plan for combating trafficking. The government drafted and began the implementation of the 2016-2018 action plan. It is difficult to say what will happen to this plan as the new government in Poland has replaced many of the staff members of the inter-ministerial anti-trafficking team who used to work quite productively with a working-level group of experts. These teams met regularly to coordinate efforts and develop national anti-trafficking policies.

The government sponsored information campaigns, several of which targeted schoolchildren, migrant workers in Poland, and Poles seeking work abroad. The labor inspectorate continued to inspect job recruitment agencies for fraud, which resulted in the removal of several agencies from its official register. The government also provided anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel.

The 2016 TIP Report includes criticism of the Polish government for not providing specialized care for child victims of trafficking or establishing a standard protocol to determine whether unaccompanied minors may be victims of trafficking. The report was much more impressed with what the government is doing in terms of protecting adult victims of trafficking.

In 2015, the Polish government allocated 1.1 million zloty ($280,800) to two NGOs that run the National Intervention-Consultation Center for Victims of Trafficking (KCIK); this marked an increase from 1 million zloty ($255,300) in 2014. Stakeholders interviewed in the course of this study indicated that the same amount of 1.1 million has been allocated in 2016.

As indicated above, KCIK offered victims medical and psychological care, legal counseling, shelter referrals, and welfare support. KCIK also ran two shelters for adult female victims and was responsible for finding safe shelter for male victims. Local governments also funded and operated crisis intervention centers; 18 were designated specifically for trafficking victims in 2015, compared with 23 in 2014. Virtually all of these services constitute emergency assistance. No resources have been allocated for longer- term reintegration programs.

The government’s witness protection program provided foreign victims with a temporary residence permit, medical and psychological care, and shelter for those who cooperated with prosecution. The government enrolled 38 trafficking victims in this program in 2015, compared with 62 in 2014. Foreign victims were entitled to a three- month reflection period, during which they could stay legally in Poland to decide whether to assist in the criminal process; 33 victims availed themselves of this reflection period in 2015.

In 2015, 27 foreign victims who joined the witness protection program agreed to participate in the prosecution of their traffickers, compared with 52 in 2014. Although victims could file civil suits against traffickers and judges could order compensation for victims in criminal cases, observers reported very few trafficking victims have ever received compensation from their traffickers. Six trafficking victims were convicted for illegally crossing the Polish border in 2014, but in 2015, the Supreme Court returned the case to the lower court for reconsideration.

In the next section of this report we present findings from field research in Poland, including interviews with Polish and foreign-born survivors of human trafficking and program directors and staff members of several NGOs working with returned victims

INSIDERS’ POINT OF VIEW: INTERVIEWS WITH SURVIVORS OF TRAFFICKING

Nineteen interviews with survivors of human trafficking have been conducted in 2015 by the Georgetown research team. Ten of these interviews were with Poles who have returned to Poland and nine with foreign-born individuals who were trafficked to Poland. We included the latter group to ascertain the availability of services for victims trafficked to Poland who want to return to their country of origin and to understand their decision-making processes related to return.

The agencies assisting these women and men referred to them as ‘trafficked victims.’ However, given the narratives we were able to elicit, in some instances it might have been more appropriate to call them ‘exploited workers.’ With few exceptions, the women that were classified as victims of sexual exploitation entered the sex industry voluntarily and the main complaints they launched related to levels of compensation and freedom in choosing clients. These seem important distinctions to make, especially in the context of the scale of human trafficking in Poland.

POLISH SURVIVORS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING The ten Poles interviewed in the course of this research included five women and five

men.

WOMEN . The women, ranging in age from 22 to 40 at the time of trafficking, were mainly trafficked for sexual exploitation (4). Most entered the sex industry voluntarily, but in the end felt exploited and defrauded. They imagined they would receive better monetary compensation and have a lot more freedom in choosing clients, and would be less dependent on and controlled by the clubs’ owners.

Sister Imelda describe Alina 4 as a young woman ‘sold into prostitution by her own mother.’ In an interview Alina admitted that at first she did not mind being a sex worker. Alina worked first in the streets of Warsaw, but later was hired by an escort agency. She

4 All names used in this report are pseudonyms.

got pregnant by one of her clients and had a baby daughter. At that point Alina wanted to leave the agency, but she worried that if she returned to her maternal home, her mother would “put her back in the street.” With no savings and no other housing prospects, Alina stayed with the agency for another five years. He daughter, Ewa, grew up in the escort agency and the agency staff helped taking care of Ewa when Alina was working. It is unclear how good the care Ewa received was. The nuns who were helping Alina when she finally left the escort agency indicated that Ewa was showing signs of being sexually abused. The nuns were not trained psychologists and made these assertions based mainly on Ewa’s propensity to take off her clothes when it wasn’t warranted.

Celina and Barbara were trafficked to Germany and Italy, respectively. Both women left Poland to work in the sex industry. Celina, a divorced mother of two children, ages seven and four, was 24 when she travelled to Germany. She left her children in the care of her former husband. Barbara grew up in orphanages. At the time of making a decision to work as a sex worker she was 22 years old. Although both women made a choice to engage in sex work abroad, when they arrived at their work places, the conditions they encountered were not what they imagined.

Celina ended up working in a nightclub where she was abused physically, psychologically, and sexually. After the German police raided the club, Celina was referred to an anti-trafficking program and returned to Poland. Barbara provided sexual services both in apartment buildings (“w mieszkaniówkach”) and in nightclubs. Fairly soon after her foray into the sex industry, Barbara got addicted to drugs, especially to amphetamines. Under the influence of the drugs, she made two suicide attempts. The first time she jumped from a window and broke her foot; the second time she threw herself under a moving car. The carabinieri (Italian police) referred Barbara to an anti- trafficking organization, which in turn made arrangements with PO-MOC (HELP), a Polish assistance program for victims of trafficking, to have Barbara returned to Poland.

Ola, a 25-year-old from Łódź, signed up for an EU training course to prepare her to be a masseuse in Germany. When she arrived, it turned out that “the course” was an escort agency ran by three women and two men. She believes she was given some sort of drugs in the drinks she was served. After a week, Ola took advantage of the traffickers’ momentary inattention and escaped.

Izabela, a 27-year-old woman from a small village, was promised a job on a farm in Great Britain but ended up in forced labor in a plant sorting recyclables. She believes her employer had no idea that she was forced to work for him. Unfortunately, Izabella does not speak any English and was not able to explain to him what was happening. After five Izabela, a 27-year-old woman from a small village, was promised a job on a farm in Great Britain but ended up in forced labor in a plant sorting recyclables. She believes her employer had no idea that she was forced to work for him. Unfortunately, Izabella does not speak any English and was not able to explain to him what was happening. After five

BCHA, a program that works with the homeless and victims of trafficking. 5 Upon return to Poland, the La Strada Foundation assisted Izabella.

MEN . All of the men, ranging in age from 18 to 45 at the time of trafficking, were trafficked for labor exploitation. Only one of the men was trafficked for both labor and sexual exploitation. All of the interviewed men were trafficked to Great Britain. Florian and Stefan are victims of a new form of exploitation. None of them spoke good English therefore the brokers who facilitated their employment in Liverpool and Dover, respectively, offered to help the men open bank accounts. Being privy to the banking information, including passwords and PIN numbers, the brokers kept on withdrawing the money from Florian’s and Stefan’s accounts as soon as their employers deposited their salaries. Service providers in Poland told us about several similar stories.

The jobs that Mariusz and Jerzy were promised never materialized. Jerzy was taken to many offices where he was asked to sign papers he did not understand since he doesn’t speak English. His social worker speculated that the traffickers enrolled Jerzy in some sort of assistance programs to collect his financial benefits. Alex was forced to work in a recycling plant although he was recruited to work in a manufacture producing wooded fences. Florian worked for a building company and liked his job, however, the salary which his employer deposited in his bank account kept mysteriously disappearing. Florian didn’t speak any English and could not as his bank manager what happened with his paycheck. He also did not know of any programs helping migrant workers. The only people Florian could communicate with was the Polish family who brought him to Liverpool.

The length of time the men were in the trafficking situation ranged from one week to two years.

FOREIGN-BORN SURVIVORS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING The nine foreign-born trafficked individuals included eight women and one man. The

women hailed from Ukraine (3), Romania (1), Philippines (2), Vietnam (1), and Uganda (1). The only man in this cohort was born in Vietnam.

5 More information about BCHA, a subcontractor of the Salvation Army, can be found here http://www.bcha.org.uk/our-services/support-to-stay-safe/human-trafficking /

WOMEN. The women ranged in age from 15 to 41 years of age at the time of trafficking. All were trafficked for forced labor. Some experienced sexual exploitation or harassment in addition to labor exploitation.

Larisa, a Roma woman from Ukraine, lived in Poland legally for 17 years prior to being exploited by a fellow Roma. Larisa lived in a Roma encampment with her family and begged in the streets to support herself and her children. One day a Roma man spotted Larisa in the city center and started extorting money from her. Larisa wanted to strike a deal and offered him half of her earnings, but he demanded more and in order to control her started to physically and sexually abuse her and her children. She was under the man’s control for two, perhaps three years, she told us.

The other two Ukrainian women, Olga and Natasza answered an employment agency add to work as a housekeeper and a short-order cook, respectively. Both ended up working in restaurants for a fraction of what they were promised. In fact, both were not paid at all for the first few weeks or months.

Florica is a Roma from Romania. She and her family travelled to Poland several times, always to beg in the streets or in railroad stations. During one of her trips to Poland Florica developed a romantic relationship with a Polish young man. Florica’s father, who promised her in marriage to her cousin, did not like the budding romance with a gadje (a non-Roma). The family lured her away from her boyfriend’s house saying that her mother was gravely ill. The family took her to a different town, tied her up, beat her, and eventually took her to Romania. When she returned to Poland, the cousin whom she was to marry raped her and beat her up. Florica called her Polish boyfriend, Janusz, who came and rescued her from her cousin’s house.

Sylvia, a woman from Uganda, was 30 years old when a distant uncle sold her to two men who brought her to Europe. Sylvia had no idea what her destination was supposed to be; she shared with us that the men gave her something to drink that made her very sleepy and disoriented. While being transported from an airport by car, Sylvia somehow escaped and after hours of walking on foot reached a police station in one of the towns in South-East Poland.

Marla, age 37 at the time of trafficking, and Carmen, age 41, are from the Philippines. Both came to Europe to make money to support their families. Marla has five children whom she had hard time feeding on what she was making in the Philippines. Both ended up in forced labor situations.

Xuan was the youngest of the interviewed women. She just turned 15 years of age when she was trafficked to work in a sewing plant in Moscow. After a few months another group of traffickers tried to take her from Russia to Germany. She was found hiding in a spare wheel of a tractor-trailer on the Polish-Byelorussian border and referred to the La Strada Foundation.

MEN . Duong, a Vietnamese man, was 26 when he was trafficked to Moscow and forced to work in a sewing plant. He paid the broker who arranged his employment an equivalent of $2,000. He was not allowed to leave the sewing plant and never received any wages for his work.

THE TRAFICKERS The traffickers who exploited the survivors of human trafficking interviewed in the

course of this study—both Polish and foreign-born--were not members of large organized criminal networks as is typically imagined. Rather, they included opportunists who saw vulnerable people that could be easily taken advantage of or legitimate recruiting firms the survivors contacted to secure employment contracts abroad. In few instances the traffickers included family members (mother and a stepfather), but in other instances the traffickers were strangers. Florica and Larissa, the two Roma women, lived or travelled to Poland multiple times and ended up being exploited by members of their own communities. Sylvia, from Uganda, was trafficked by her foster father and his son who exploited her sexually and forced her to be their domestic servant before they sold her and two strange men to another trafficker.

In some instances, employers were not involved in trafficking victims across international borders but collaborated or colluded with the traffickers or simply pretended they did not know what was going on. The owner of the restaurant where Olga worked belongs to the latter category. The recruiter who placed Olga in the restaurant did not pay her for the first few weeks saying that workers are not paid during probationary periods. Later on he paid approximately 50 percent of what the contract stipulated. In the end, he did not register Olga with the appropriate authorities—despite assuring her that he took care of all the paperwork--and she was working in Poland illegally. He threatened that he would report Olga to the border patrol. Fearing deportation, Olga worked long hours—

12 to 14 hours seven days a week--which led to physical exhaustion and repeated fainting spells. The employer knew what was going on but chose to ignore the situation.

Izabela thought that her British employer in the recycling plant had nothing to do with her traffickers. “He simply didn’t know,” Izabela said. “I don’t speak English so I couldn’t tell him,” she added. In the interview Izabela focused mainly on her recruiter, Piotr, and the network of kin he had in England. Once she arrived in the U.K., Piotr’s brother, Antek, picked her up at the bus station and took her to his father’s home where Izabela was to live. When Antek was not around, his wife “controlled” Izabela.

ASSISTANCE RECEIVED BY POLISH VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING Alina received a wide range of assistance from one of the NGOs that is part of KCIK,

including emergency shelter, food, healthcare services as well as legal aid. Additionally, Alina was placed as a volunteer in a hospice where she received vocational training in elder care. She completed the training successfully, but had to quit her job in the hospice after injuries she sustained in a bus accident. Alina found another job as kitchen help in