Ukranians Enslaved

[Andrej]

IOM says 24 Ukrainians rescued from slave-like labor on Russian vessel
Jan 06 2006, 19:07

GENEVA (AP) - A group of 24 Ukrainian men has been rescued from slave-like labor on board a Russian vessel, which was crab poaching off the North Pacific island of Sakhalin, the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration said Friday.

The Ukrainians, aged between 18 and 50, were lured from poor fishing communities on the Black Sea with bogus job offers to work on industrial fishing vessels for salaries of $750-$1,000 a month, the agency said.

"Once the men arrived in Russia's Far East, their passports were confiscated and they were put to work in slave-like conditions, without adequate food and water," IOM spokesman Jean Philippe Chauzy said.

The men were forced to work on the boat without pay for between six and 10 months, until patrolling Russian coast guards impounded the vessel and found the Ukrainians exhausted and half-starved, locked in the hold with tons of poached crab, Chauzy said.

"The men suffered from severe sleep deprivation," said IOM's Fred Larsson in Ukraine. "They were only allowed to sleep less than three hours every second day. At times, the men were forced to eat crab bait consisting of raw fish and were both physically and psychologically abused."

Local prosecutors in Russia have initiated a criminal case for the use of slave labor, Chauzy said.

IOM, a 116-nation intergovernmental organization, says it has provided direct help to about 2,600 Ukrainians trafficked for sexual or forced labor abroad in the last five years.