Fears are growing that the nearly three million women and children fleeing from war-torn Ukraine could fall prey to human traffickers in Europe.

They are being greeted with hot meals, toys, SIM cards, blankets and offers of rides and shelter – but these could be ways to lure them into forced prostitution or other forms of trafficking.

In recent days, Germany has become a hub for refugees pouring in via Poland and warnings have already been issued about criminals ‘on the move’ at Berlin’s train stations.

‘Please note that there may be criminals on the move at Berlin central station who want to profit from the situation of war refugees’, the local government said on a website it set up for people arriving from Ukraine.

As a result, police have displayed signs in German, Ukrainian and Russian at the central station, warning people travelling alone to not accept suspicious offers of help.

So far, there is no concrete evidence of refugees being tricked by gangs or kept against their will, a police spokesperson told Reuters.

The interior ministry said 300,000 private homes were offered nationwide by Thursday last week.

Instead of approaching refugees on arrival, people with spare rooms are being urged to register their help on coordinated websites.

Authorities in Poland, where a 49-year-old man was detained on Thursday for allegedly raping a 19-year-old Ukrainian woman, have also issued similar warnings about gangs preying on vulnerable people.

The country’s human rights ombudsman Marcin Wiacek, who visited the border region on Tuesday, said: ‘Police officers… are very conscious of these risks and we’ve already had instances where there was a suspicion of such situations.’

In Przemysl, in southern Poland, signs have been put up around shelters in Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and English, listing precautions that should be taken before anyone takes up an offer of transport with a private driver.

‘Take a selfie with the driver – if they refuse, don’t go with them’, some say.

A phone app registering drivers and refugees who are travelling with them was also made available a few days ago by the city and so far, at least 20,000 people have used it.

With nine in 10 people running from Russia’s aggression being women and children, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that trafficking remains a ‘grave issue’ in eastern Europe.

Spokesperson James Elder said: ‘To give a sense of the border that I used to visit – the main border, Medyka, Poland to Ukraine – it is scores of people standing around buses and minivans calling out names of capital cities – or at least it was a week ago – people getting onto those.

‘The vast, vast majority of course are people with wonderful intentions and great generosity, but there is no doubt given what we understand of trafficking in Europe, that that remains a very, very grave issue.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article