"Money Offered to Shoot Pornography"... Ukrainian Women Targeted by Desire

Rapid Increase in Searches for Refugee Sexual Exploitation Material
Advertisements Luring into Prostitution Also on the Rise

Ukrainian women who have lost their homes due to the Russian invasion are becoming targets of 'desire.' The global demand for sexual exploitation material involving Ukrainian refugee women has surged sharply, and advertisements luring them into prostitution are also increasing.

On the 27th (local time), according to the British daily The Guardian, academic and research service company Thomson Reuters analyzed global search engine traffic and revealed that as of March last year, one month after the outbreak of the war, searches for sexually exploitative terms related to Ukrainian refugees increased by 300% compared to before.

[Image source=Getty Images Bank]

By country, in Spain and Poland, searches for sexual exploitation material related to Ukrainians increased by 600% and 130%, respectively, compared to six months before the outbreak.

In the UK, searches related to prostitution targeting Ukrainians jumped by 200%.

The number of views of sexually exploitative videos featuring Ukrainian refugees also surged over the past six months.

Thirteen videos reportedly related to them recorded 275,000 views in January alone.

This phenomenon has been widespread in Western countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, and Switzerland.

Even Advertisements Seeking Women for Prostitution Increase

A woman is looking at the rubble of a destroyed building in Sloviansk, eastern Ukraine, on the 27th (local time). [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Pimps seeking to profit from this demand are also increasing. Advertisements looking for women to appear in pornography or engage in prostitution, using the vulnerable economic situation of Ukrainian refugees as bait, have increased.

Valiant Rich, the OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, said, "We have found direct evidence of recruitment attempts (for appearing in sexual exploitation material) in chats used by Ukrainians."

Earlier, in November last year, UN Women pointed out that 65% of trafficking-related crimes occurring after the Russian invasion involved women, most of whom suffer from sexual exploitation.

Women who lost their homes due to the Ukraine war [Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Thomson Reuters, in cooperation with the OSCE, is conducting campaigns to prevent sexual exploitation of refugees and raise awareness about it, but such demand online shows little sign of abating.

Representative Rich stated, "This analysis shows how important it is to safely protect women and children fleeing the war."

Heather Fisher, Thomson Reuters' senior advisor on human rights crimes, also criticized, "The internet demand for despicable material related to Ukrainian refugees is encouraging traffickers to sexually exploit women and children."