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Sex tourism in Ukraine is visiting the country for the purposes of sexual activity. It is on rise as the country attracts many foreign visitors.[1] The main reason for the situation stems from the combined effect of various factors. Currently, in Ukraine, the effect is constituted by a high level of populationpoverty and its feminization, limited options for social mobility and a very active system oforganized crime.[2]
The majority of the Ukrainian sex industry exists underground and prospers due to poorlaw enforcement and widespreadcorruption.[3] Despite making the criminal penalties forhuman trafficking and coerced prostitution tougher, the laws criminalizing organized prostitution have had little effect.[1]
In 2013 sex tourism within Ukrainian borders was reported to be growing considerably, raising concern in Ukrainian society and attracting condemnation fromfeminist activists such asFEMEN.[4]
The Ukrainian magazineKorrespondent had reported that after the government launched the visa-free policy withWestern Europe, the number of western visitors traveling to Ukraine went up and continued to rise. In 2004, the total number of tourists was around 8 million, in 2006 it was 16 million, and in 2008 it had gone up to 20 million. Each foreigner spends about€106 (₴3,388) per day in Ukraine.[5] For many people who travel to Ukraine for sex, the reputation of the country became a rival to that ofThailand.[6]
According to Ukrainian mass media, the country became a center for motley hordes of sexual adventurers because the price of a visit to Ukraine does not exceedUS$1,500 (₴40,456).[6] After theEuromaidan protests of late 2013 to early 2014, salaries plummeted, while inflation skyrocketed.[7] As a result, an hourly rate for sex with local women typically ranges from $10 (₴270) to $75 (₴2,023), and is much lower than in other European countries. It was noted that after the political turmoil of 2014 and thewar in Eastern Ukraine, the Western guests started to perceive the country as an "unstable black hole." Nevertheless, Ukraine became a very popular destination for Turkey's middle-class visitors, who have a special predilection for Slavic women. The trips to Ukraine for sex tourism created a stereotype in Turkish culture promoted by movies and books.[7] American formerpickup artistRoosh V published a travel guide describing his experience of dating Ukrainian women. After public release, the manual attracted a lot of coverage in Ukrainian media[2] and outrage fromfeminist organizations.[8]
An aspect of sex tourism in Ukraine is related to the business of marriage. Marriage agencies run scams throughout the country, emptying tourists' wallets as they go. With regards to the situation, theUnited States embassy published a list of typical local fraud techniques for Americans who visit Ukraine to meet their prospective spouses.[9]
Involvement of adolescent boys into prostitution in Ukraine has raised a number of special concerns.[10]
It was noted that the Ukrainian legislation system has no such term as "sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism". In addition to this, low living standards, neglected children, ubiquitous corruption and socialconsumerism make Ukraine a fast-growing market for child sex services. The problem is aggravated by many other reasons, such as geographical situation in theEuropean continent, large economic gaps between the home countries of sex tourists and locals, absence of visa requirements for many tourists, low prices for alcohol, reputation of a corrupted society and high chance to avoid any kind of criminal prosecution.[11]
According to the collected statistics, 26% of Ukrainian families with one child and 39% families with two children (4.4 and 6.6 million correspondingly) are struggling to survive whilst living below the poverty line. Poverty leaves no other option to many people except providing sex services for rich and wealthy foreign guests.[11]
A 2008 research of the Ukrainian sex workers' lifestyle revealed that 39% of them do not use condoms regularly and that 22% are drug users.[3]
Child-sex trafficking is a serious problem in Ukraine, with different studies coming to different estimates about its incidence. A study by the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research, carried out in 2001, found that 31% of prostitutes in Ukraine were under 18.[12] A 2021 demographic study of 560 sex workers from Dnipro showed much lower rates of child prostitution than the 2001 study, with over 75% of sex workers being 22 or older and 93% having completed high school (the 7% of those who did not have high school degrees included both prostituted minors and adult sex workers who never graduated). However, the study still found girls as young as 14 who were being prostituted, attesting to the ongoing problem of child-sex trafficking in Ukraine.[13]
Ukrainian media regularly covers the topics ofhuman trafficking,prostitution, and sex tourism in Ukraine. Especially, a great amount of media attention was brought to these issues in regard to final rounds ofEuropean Football Championship 2012. For example, in the Polish press, all football fans traveling to Ukraine were depicted as sex tourists and all Ukrainian women as potential sexual targets. Also, the Ukrainian people were derogatorily labeled by the Polish media as poor, corrupt, criminal,HIV-positive and undemocratic.[14] As a result, in 2012 there was an outbreak of hysteria over "sex tourism" among Ukrainian soccer fans. At the peak of the obsession, roving gangs of local vigilantes even attacked foreigners who ordered prostitutes, and posted the videos of beatings online.[7]