“Extra cash for girls on student visas. Wax and massage in Manhattan spa. Will train.”

This is one of the many ads submitted to Russian Bazaar that will never end up on our pages after it passes through our editorial review.

There are, however, newspapers that are riddled with similar ads. Every imaginable dance agency, massage parlor, night club, spa, bar, and export service (generally “prestigious” and located in Manhattan) is seeking women aged 18 to 30 (sometimes even to 45) who are beautiful (resembling a model), sociable, and responsible. The young women are promised the moon: fantastic salaries (frequently in cash), socializing with wealthy clientele, free training and transport, help with housing and immigration issues, etc. Additionally, these young women are guaranteed safety and confidentiality. Some ads even make a firm promise of “no sex!” along with all the other enticing proposals.

Of course, it would be great to believe that all these “prestigious” clubs, massage parlors, and dance agencies are really just spas and clubs. But, alas, life does not always reflect eye-catching ads. Recently, a young woman who had experienced this first hand visited our offices.

A J-1 visa holder, she responded to an ad for a position at a Manhattan spa. During a telephone interview, she was asked among other questions about where her parents were. The answer – that they were still in Russia – satisfied the interviewer, who continued with questions about her age and appearance. The unsuspecting student gladly answered all the questions. Then she was given a cell phone number and asked to call a young man in Brighton, Brooklyn. Next came another interview and an invitation to come to Brighton for a face-to-face meeting, “Because, you know, we don’t need girls whose hair roots show.”

The young woman was offended by the “appraiser” and refused further contact. Replaying the entire conversation from the beginning with the courteous woman from Manhattan and then with “our colleague in Brighton,” she understood what kind of “work” she would be getting into.

But, alas, there are young women who are not so wise and, sooner or later, fall into the hands of predatory swindlers who not only force them into prostitution, but also turn them into a kind of sex slave.

Today, the word “slave” rarely makes us think of Uncle Tom, Mammy or even Isaura the Slave. Modern-day slaves are men, women, and children who have been transported from one country to another or who have been enticed by seemingly respectable businesses that then force them into hard labor or prostitution.

Over the past 10 years, globalization has led to a huge demand for cheap labor, with many businessmen from prosperous developed countries focusing on less developed countries as a supply of cheap labor at construction sites, factories and in private homes, as well as in the agricultural sector. Traffickers, that is to say modern-day slave traders, come to the aid of these businessmen. Sometimes, people sell their relatives to traffickers. Sometimes, traffickers themselves entice people into their network using various subtle methods. And sometimes, people get caught in financial serfdom and have to work off their debt (for example, they must pay traffickers for illegally taking them to a foreign country).

Then merciless exploitation begins, bringing enormous profits to modern-day slave traders and slaveholders; unlike a bag of drugs, a person can be sold not once, but many times.

The U.S. State Department annually publishes a Trafficking Persons Report, which examines the fight against this type of crime and evaluates the situation in different countries.

Going by the recently published report for 2006, more than 800,000 people, mostly women and children, were victims of trafficking. Some were used as slaves, others as prostitutes. Sometimes a child, initially used as a slave, becomes a sex slave.

The report, which examines 149 countries, gathers encyclopedic information based on concrete actions.

As a result of the research, the countries were divided into three categories:

1. Countries whose governments are in full compliance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which was adopted in 2002.

2. Countries which do not fully comply with this law, but are applying themselves and want to pull themselves together. This means that they fight slave traders, arrest and try criminals, and help victims. Within this category, there are countries that fall into a Watch List, and are being observed for suspicious activity, making them candidates for third category of states, the least law-abiding.

3. Countries that do not comply with the above-mentioned law and that are not making any effort to comply and stop human trafficking. Twelve countries fall into this category: Belize, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Africa are on the second category’s Watch List, which also includes 29 countries like Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Kuwait, Mexico, and Russia. Three Arabic countries are also on the Watch List – Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, but this is like a promotion for them because last year they were in the third, least reliable category. Slovakia, meanwhile, won the approval of those fighting traffickers and jumped from the Watch List into the second category.

Germany fell into the respectable first category. However, according to John Miller, the Ambassador-at-Large for International Slavery, Germany is undeserving of this. Miller states that during the recent World Cup, thousands of prostitutes or, rather, sex slaves, were brought into Germany.

Commenting on the State Department’s report, John Miller was pleased to note that some progress is being made in this area. He says that several years ago only hundreds of people worldwide were arrested for human trafficking. Last year that figure reached 3,000, and this year, 4,700 people have been arrested and put behind bars. Additionally, governments in 41 countries have adopted human trafficking laws.

“We Americans acknowledge that victims of modern-day slave traders are also brought into our country,” said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. “But we are doing everything we can to get closer to the day when no man, woman, or child will be deprived of their rights and their human worth on American soil.”

We, colleagues at Russian Bazaar, have also decided to make a contribution, however small, to the fight against modern-day slavery, specifically by warning young people from Russia and the CIS who came to the United States on J-1 visas for temporary work. After all, they are the ones, the innocent newcomers, who are most often lured into the snare of clever slave traders. And some ads are even addressed directly to “new arrivals.” Dear J-1 holders! We advise you, we implore you – be careful!

Incidentally, we turn to you, esteemed readers, with a similar request. If you notice any suspicious ads in the pages of Russian Bazaar that somehow managed to slip through our censors, let us know. We will be endlessly grateful.