Possible abuse and exploitation of Ukrainian child models

[JasonRichmond]

I would appreciate any information (except actual names and addresses)that would help me to narrow down just where in Ukraine people should start looking for, and asking about, a place called the 'Ukrainian Angels Studio'.

The following email string should be self-explanatory.


Important note: if you have any sensitive / personal information, such as, names and addresses of models or studios, please do NOT send it to me. I am trying to find an appropriate, secure email address to which that type of information could be sent (such as Б─■ for example only Б─■ the authentic email address of the office of the Bishop of Kiev, or someone of that stature).

Jason


Subj: Enquiry: Possible sexual exploitation of Ukrainian child 'models': Update
Date: 16/12/2002
To: ukembinf@sovam.com


To the British Embassy in Kiev (human rights department):

I am sending you this update for your information and as a matter of courtesy, as I refer to the Embassy in the emails that follow. The first of these was sent to the Jewish Foundation of Ukraine and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kiev; the second was sent to the forum of Ukrayinska Pravda; the third was sent to a moderator of a yahoo group called banlolita.

Copies of this message will be forwarded to, among others, the Euro-Atlantic Forum of Ukrainian Students and representatives of the Ukrainian community in the UK.


Subj: Possible sexual exploitation of Ukrainian child 'models': please help if you can
Date: 16/12/2002
To: jfu@mbox.com.ua
CC: logos@impuls.zhitomiv.ua


Dear Sir,

I am sorry I don't speak your language, but I am writing to you and leaders of other religions in Ukraine, because I am trying to find people who are held in trust and high esteem by their community who can perform a particular role in helping to locate the children and the places where they are being abused or exploited.

Below this message, I include two emails which explain the situation.

My task at the moment is to find at least one trusted person within each community, in whom people could confide, who would collect information leading to the discovery of one or more 'professional' studios and the child 'models' themselves. That person would use such means as are at his disposal, to advertise the problem and ask for information.

In my country, the UK, people would feel safe in going to the police, but I have read about corruption within the government and other authorities of your country. I do not know how far that corruption extends, it may extend into this area, and I am under the impression that many people do not trust the police anyway? Moreover, I am not certain that there are laws against child pornography in Ukraine?

I realise that, as a religious leader in a time of political and economic crisis, you are having to make terrible decisions about priorities, and I can understand if this particular project does not become one at the present time.

However, I cannot think of anybody who is better placed to undertake this task than a person of your stature, should you feel that you can do so. I cannot do it: I am just a student whom nobody outside the UK knows personally, and there is no reason why anybody should trust me with sensitive information that might lead to the location of the studio or the children, or their identity. The staff of the British (or any other) Embassy cannot do this because it would be incompatible with their diplomatic status. Charities cannot become involved because such a task probably lies outside their remit / scope of operations and might threaten their continued charitable status within Ukraine.

There would also be a need for one central office at national level where all the information and intelligence that is collected, would be stored. I have many contacts in the USA who monitor the 'Lolita' web sites in which the pictures of these children appear. Those people also need an authentic email address to which they can send relevant information in confidence.

I apologise for knowing very little about religious and ethnic tensions within Ukraine, but this project would, of course, require all of you to work together at local and national level.

If and when the studio and the children are located, what you do about it is, of course, for the relevant people in your country to decide. We (the West) should assist you in dealing with this matter as and when you ask us to, not the other way round. That is why I feel that my role in this should be marginal, not central, in the future.

Thank you for reading this, and for anything you can do to help.

Jason
(Jason Richmond)


Date: 13/12/2002
To: protectthem@yahoogroups.com
CC: banlolita-owner@yahoogroups.com

Date: 13/12/2002
To: ukembinf@sovam.com

I am copying you in on this message that I have posted to the forum of Ukrainska Pravda, as a matter of courtesy and in the hope that the British Embassy may be able to advise or assist. [.....]


Subject: Possible abuse of Ukrainian children: please help if you can

To the forum of Ukrayinska Pravda:

George asked me to post this message in which I answer his questions and explain again what I am trying to do.

I do not represent any organisation. I am acting on my own with the help of volunteers. This matter relates to the social science degree I am studying for, but I am independent and trying to discover the truth. I am not on anybody's side except the side of the children. I sympathise with the opposition movement in your country but I do not have any links with any political organisation anywhere (except that I am a supporter of the British Labour Party but they have no involvement in this).

I am trying to locate a place called the 'Ukrainian Angels Studio'. This studio is part of a modelling business which uses hundreds of girls aged 7-16. These girls pose naked and semi-naked for thousands of 'soft porn' pictures which appear on a large number (possibly hundreds) of 'Lolita' web sites.

These web sites, and their webmasters, hosts, servers, etc. are all registered in the USA. They have names such as 'Ukrainian Angels', 'Ukrainian Nymphets', 'Magic Lolitas', etc. They have thousands of subscribers (customers) who each pay between $30 and $50 US dollars a month, using their credit cards. This is a big business that makes big money.

I am hoping that someone in your country can find out exactly where this studio is, who the girls are, how they are being treated and how much they are actually paid. I would like answers to questions about their welfare. Are they kept as slaves? Are they raped? Do they go to school? Do they get to see their parents? Do they have parents?

Everybody I have spoken to about this is certain that this business is controlled by the Ukrainian mafia. However, even gangsters have standards: many will not harm children. It is possible that these child models, in a purely material sense, may be better off than most Ukrainian children at the present time. It is also possible that their lives are a nightmare. [.....] I am trying to reserve judgement and approach this problem like a social scientist. But we will never know the answers to these questions until someone finds the studio!

I will not reveal my sources, so please don't ask. To be honest, I do not know how reliable they are anyway, but here is what they tell me about the pictures. Many are taken in outdoor locations; a coastal location is often used, and that may be in or near Odessa. Some pictures are taken in houses / apartments. Many more are taken in a studio. All the photographs are highly professional. There may in fact be more than one studio. The studio or studios may not even be in Ukraine. Maybe the girls are Ukrainian but they live in another country (Russia?); but why does the name of your country appear over and over again on many of the web sites, if there is no Ukrainian connection? That is all the intelligence I have so far; sorry it is not very good.

I have never visited your country and I know very little about it, but it seems to me that this mission Б─■ to find the studio(s) and the children Б─■ could be very dangerous. Only you can assess the risks. How far can your Government agencies and police be trusted? Can your mafia be bargained or reasoned with? Is there anything the West can do to assist? Do you think it is worth approaching the British or American Embassies, or development agencies, in Kiev?

Whatever you decide to do, I feel that, as Ukrainian citizens and political activists, you have a right to know about this matter.

Jason


Date: 15/12/2002
To: safetsurfa@yahoo.ca

Hi,

Thanks for helping me with this project, and for your concern, though I doubt that I would register even a blip on a Ukrainian gangster's radar, especially as they have more important issues to worry about at the minute, like possible civil unrest and a change of government. The heads of their corrupt political masters might roll Б─■ literally. In the extremely unlikely event that anything does happen to me, I hope you do read about it; at least that would mean that the profile of this issue has been raised to such a level that somebody might finally get off their ass and do something about it!

That is a little unfair on the British Embassy in Kiev, though, they have only had since last Thursday to reply to my email, copies of which I sent to the protectthem group and the owner of your group. Please feel free to post both that message and this one to the group, or not, as you see fit.

I am hoping that, before long, I can liaise with a member of the human rights staff of the Embassy. [.....] Most of the intelligence, including the location of any studios, will be gathered in Ukraine, and there is actually no need for me to know any of the details of that. One day, those details might enter the public domain, but I can't see that happening until the studio has been closed down. (I can't prove this but, just for the record, I can't afford to swan off to the next town at the moment, let alone Eastern Europe!)

If indeed the studio is in Ukraine and is controlled by gangsters, the Ukrainian authorities would have to be clean themselves and capture it from them, a humanitarian relief programme would have to be set up for the children, and they would need a chance to recover, before they could be surveyed as part of any research project. And that would probably require a change of government.

The only other possibility is, whoever controls the operation may allow a journalist to have access to the children in return for guarantees that neither the location of the studio nor the identity of anybody who is involved, are disclosed to anybody. By definition, that could only conceivably happen in the least-worst scenario: in which the models are just that; they do nothing worse than what can already be seen on the web sites (though many, of course, think that is bad enough). Maybe their masters even see to their education and recreation. If that is the case, then they will have a public-relations point that they may think is worth making.

However, I would guess that most of the money is made by the businessmen and middle men who control the American end of operations. At best, we are dealing with the exploitation of child labour which, of course, still happens to the majority of the world's children in one form or another.

As if there were not enough obstacles already, Ukrainian journalists are on strike because two of their bravest colleagues, who were hot on the trail of government corruption, were murdered for their trouble.

My Ukrainian contacts tell me that, because of the political and economic crisis, there is an exodus, especially of families with young children, from the country. I have nothing else to go on, but this makes me suspect that the people traffickers are involved in the modelling operation, directly or indirectly. Desperate people, who would otherwise starve, are selling their children in order to raise the thousands of dollars that the traffickers demand for forged visas, passports, transportation, etc.

[.....]

Jason

[withref2]

Jason,

You have most likely already obtained this information, however here is what Sam Spade shows regarding the Ukrainian Angels site:

http://www.ukrainian-angels.com resolves to
205.252.23.215

Mail for http:/www.ukrainian-angels.com is handled
by ukrainian-angels.com (10) 205.252.23.215

http://www.ukrainian-angels.com
ukrainian-angels.com is registered with NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC. - redirecting
to whois.networksolutions.com

Registrant:
NSI Holding, Inc. (AZAXACYHFD)
21355 Ridgetop Circle
Sterling, VA 20166
US

Domain Name: UKRAINIAN-ANGELS.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
NSI Holding, Inc. (YMZSAAPQGO)
http://www.samspade.org/t/refer?a=ns...g@verisign.com
NSI Holding, Inc.
21355 Ridgetop Circle
Sterling, VA 20166
US
888-642-9675 fax: NULL

Record expires on 28-Aug-2004.
Record created on 13-Nov-2002.
Database last updated on 20-Dec-2002 15:52:26 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.XSITEHOSTING.NET 216.189.20.12
PINKY.WORLDNIC.COM 198.41.1.13


Also, Jason, if there is anything I can do to help you in your efforts to find the location of the studio, the children etc, please contact me at : withref2@(nospam)yahoo.com

Good luck.

[JasonRichmond]

Yes, someobody else had already sent me those details, but thanks for taking the time and trouble anyway, in case they hadn't. I wonder if it's worth sending a physical letter to the physical address in Virginia, and asking them if they can obtain verifiable evidence of the models' welfare and treatment, from their Ukrainian contacts? (It is probably a mail-forwarding address, but it might be forwarded to somebody.)

It is a nightmare trying to work out who can be trusted in Ukraine, especially among the Deputies of their Parliament, but I have hitched my wagon to Ms Yuliya Tymoshenko by confiding in her about this. So, I would be interested to know about her human rights record.

My understanding is, her bloc and the Socialists have the best track record of trying to push through democratic reforms, especially in relation to the public finances, and defending the rule of law against oligarchy.

It also seems, from where I am standing, that, given the recent murders and strange car accidents, and the Parliamentary coup, the position of these politicians has become perilous.

I would have thought that the West has a vested interest in the survival of these two blocs, unless they want to wake up one morning and find that the world has another rogue state with a nuclear capability. Therefore, should not Bush and Blair make it clear to Kuchma that certain consequences would follow (beyond the current economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation) if he so much as lays a finger on Tymoshenko or her allies? Is it worth a letter-writing campaign or something to urge them to do this? And what form should those consequences take?

Jason

[Kathy]

Hello Jason. When I came across that particular site, I reported it to Interpol and the FBI. There is a lot of child porn produced in Russia and Ukraine, and their laws have not caught up with this tragedy.

I think finding the users of child pornography and monitoring them is more important than shutting down sites, which will continue to proliferate.

[Watchman]

Greetings, Jason;

I am glad that somebody else wants to end this tragedy. You have probably noticed that if you "surf" these alleged child modeling sites, banner ads soon pop up depicting children involved in all manner of explicit sexual activity. This is child rape. My understanding of U.S. law is that only material sent through the mail is the jurisdiction of the U.S. Postal Service. Therefore, I have written to the U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner about the matter, however, his phone number is 202-927-1000. The Customs Department's Chief of Investigations is Richard J. Hogland, and his number is 202-927-1600. In addition to a number of law enforcement agencies and child advocacy groups (such as Odyssey House in New York), I have also written to the First Lady Laura Bush (c/o The White House, Washington D.C. 20502), appealing to her instincts as a mother and woman of religion, and I got a polite response back from her Director of Correspondence, Sydney R. Johnson. Because of the social problems besetting Eastern Europe in the wake of communism's demise, I am not sure these poor exploited little children can expect protection from their own police agencies. I had suggested that Ms. Bush use her political influence to have the U.N. ratify a treaty banning the production -- not just the distribution -- of child pornography. The more people who get on board and contact Mr. Bonner and Ms. Bush, bringing their attention to the glut of kiddy porn coming out of Eastern Europe, the more likely they will take some action. This is all very distressing, but my experience in dealing with the victims of child sexual exploitation is that they are robbed of their childhoods, their psyches are permanently scarred, and they end up emersed in all sorts of self-destructive anti-social behavior in adulthood. Protecting a child now, means saving the future.

Yours,
Watchman

[JasonRichmond]

Thanks for your post, Mr Watchman.

I am still at the stage of trying to get the facts of the child modelling / porn (whichever it is) industry in Ukraine, and then hopefully the relevant agencies will respond accordingly.

It it works (lol), I am going to copy and paste the most recent update on the situation that I posted to a Pete Townshend fan forum. He was working on just such a project just before he was arrested, which tells you all you need to know about the real priorities of the so-called child protection system.

BTW, different cultures have very different notions of childhood than ours does. What we in the west would call a 'stolen childhood', would be regarded elsewhere as not being held back from learning, growing and developing at a natural pace, so that one is less vulnerable to abuse in the first place. However, I believe that the fundamental difference (in terms of human rights) between a sexually mature human asserting her sexual rights, and being forced or pressured into sexual activity against her will or deepest sensibilities, is universal.

Here is the message that I sent to the Pete Townshend group......


Subj: Re: [PeteTownshendWitchHunt] Digest Number 37
Date: 03/03/2003
To: PeteTownshendWitchHunt@yahoogroups.com


Matthew Parris is my fave journalist because, when he sees a bandwagon he runs the other way!

In this article, he doesn't develop the answer to one of his 'what if' questions (what if the children in the pictures were real). However, he successfully proves his point that, the fact that people don't care whether they were real or computer-generated, betrays that the paedophile witch hunt is motivated by the taboo that anybody under the age of 16 could be sexual or sexually desirable, rather than by compassion for children or a desire to protect them.

Something else lets that same cat out of the bag, too. That is, the chasm between the resources and priority that are given to hunting for 'paedophiles', compared with finding and helping the kids who pose for the pictures.

I tried for some time to find the girls aged 7-13 who posed for pictures at a studio called the 'Ukrainian Angels Studio'. I have a source somewhere in the western hemisphere (her Dad works on a US security-sensitive contract, so she can't be more specific about where she is) and a source in Russia. They tell me that the pictures this studio produces are used by several web sites and they are classed as 'soft porn' because there is no sexual contact between any of the children in the pictures.

Of course, that doesn't mean the kids are not being sexually abused behind the scenes. A number of scenarios are possible, ranging from relatively benign to absolutely scandalous. They might be sex slaves of Ukrainian gangsters; or they get treated and paid as professional models, and the more they earn from that, the less they have to earn from street prostitution.

The only clue I have so far is a report I read in an online newspaper called Obozrevatel about an outfit in Odessa called 'Studio 13'. It was closed down. The article says the girls turned up freely at the studio every morning and went home at the end of every day. Some were accompanied to / from the studio by their parents. They were paid almost double the national minimum adult wage in Ukraine.

There are thousands of street children in Odessa. They sleep in the sewers by the underground heating pipes, and many of them work at the docks, having commercial sex with sailors. That story favoured the 'benign' scenario. I emailed Obozrevatel to try and find out what happened to the models after the studio was closed down [ed: fearing that many of them had returned to the far worse conditions of street prostitution]; but they never replied.

My head is still smarting from the number of brick walls I banged it against. Ordinary Ukrainians were desperately keen to help, but they were looking for needles in haystacks. On the other hand, the western development agencies, news agencies, Ukrainian politicians and the human rights department of the British Embassy in Kiev [ed: and the Bishop of Kiev], all had better things to do than respond to any of my requests for help.

I respect Pete Townshend because he was working on a similar project to mine just before he was arrested. You can see what's coming, but if any of you guys are interested in picking this up and running with it, please be my guest and I will dig up my contacts for you.

BTW, Matthew Parris takes an interest in Ukraine. He visited the country a couple of months or so ago and wrote a piece on it (a cultural / historical article with some keen observations of the people he met in the east of the country). The Times doesn't publish an email address for him, so you would have to go through the editor.

Jason


Obozrevatel still haven't replied to my email.

[cougar2003]

I appreciate what yuo're doing, i want to know more about child abuse in ukraine.
for example this kind of sites have the same ip and they are linked to a site mother administrated by a known person.
is possible that in ukraine this kind of site aren't outlaw. isn't it.
I would like to have some legal notice about.
I hope i can help you in some way.