Russia’s visa relaxation is a ‘real present for traffickers’

– Human traffickers are planning to exploit relaxed Russian visa controls for next month’s World Cup to sell Nigerian women into sex work, state officials and anti-slavery activists said.

Officials in Nigeria said they had intelligence showing plans were well under way to traffic local women into Russia for the football tournament, exploiting a move by Moscow to let spectators enter the country with just a ticket and a fan pass.

“This is a real present for traffickers,” said Julia Siluyanova of Russian anti-slavery group Alternativa.

She said Russia’s strict visa process had typically made trafficking people into the nation time-consuming and costly but the eased visa rules had now left the system open to abuse.

Many women and girls have been lured from Nigeria in recent years with promises of work and good wages only to

Abuja

end up trapped in debt bondage.

The World Cup could see the number of victims arriving in Russia soar, according to Alternativa.

“We discovered that about 30 victims (Nigerian women) were brought to the Confederations Cup in Moscow last year.

“We expect to face the same problem during the World Cup this year,” Siluyanova said.

Visa-free entry was trialled at the Confederations Cup and will apply to the entire World Cup, which runs in 11 Russian cities from June 14 to July 15, and the 10 days on either side of the start and end.

Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons said it had received intelligence that human traffickers were planning to take advantage of the tournament.

The agency said it was working with the Russian embassy in the capital of Abuja to tackle the issue. – Reuters