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 stem from the combined effect of various factors. Currently, in Ukraine, the effect is constituted by a high level of the population poverty and its feminization, limited options for social mobility and very active system of organized crime.[2]
The majority of the Ukrainian sex industry exists underground and prospers due to poor law enforcement and widespread corruption.[3] Despite making the criminal penalties for human 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 growing considerably, raising concern in Ukrainian society and attracting condemnation from feminist activists such as FEMEN.[4]
The Ukrainian magazine Korrespondent had reported that after the government launched the visa-free policy with Western 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 the Ukraine for sex, the reputation of the country became a rival to that of Thailand.
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 exceed US$1,500 (₴40,456).[6] After the Euromaidan protests of late 2013 to early 2014, salaries plummeted, while inflation skyrocketed. 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 the war 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. American former pickup artist Roosh 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 from feminist organizations.[7]
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, the United States embassy published a list of typical local fraud techniques for Americans who visit Ukraine to meet their prospective spouses.[8]
See main article: Child prostitution in Ukraine and Street children in Ukraine. Ukraine along with Moldova and Portugal reportedly became a European center of child sex tourism. An involvement of adolescent boys into prostitution has risen a number of special concerns.[9]
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 social consumerism make Ukraine a fast-growing market for child sex services. The problem is aggravated by many other reasons, such as geographical situation in the heart of the European continent, large economic gaps between the home countries of sex tourists and locals, absence of visas for many tourists, low prices for alcohol, reputation of a corrupted society and high chance to avoid any kind of criminal prosecution.[10]
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.[10]
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] Most part of Ukrainian sex workers are prostituting in tourist resorts of the Black Sea during the summer season, around 30 — 40% of them are between 11 and 18 years old. A strong link connecting the prostitution of Ukrainian children and child sex tourism can be seen within the country.[11]
Ukrainian media regularly covers the topics of human trafficking, prostitution, and sex tourism in Ukraine. Especially, a great amount of media attention was brought to these issues in regard to final rounds of European 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.[12] 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.[13]