By Inna Bruter April 9, 2001
Trafficking human beings is now the third largest source of profits for organized crime, behind drugs and arms trafficking, generating billions of dollars annually. The former Soviet Union is the largest new source of trafficking for prostitution and the sex industry, with over 100,000 women and children trafficked each year from that region, according to the U.S. Department of State. This was the topic of “Trafficking in Human Beings: Russian Organized Crime in Comparative Perspective,” one of the lectures given at the conference held in honor of the late George Gibian, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Russian Literature and Comparative Literature. The talk was presented by Louise Shelley ’72, director of the Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at American University. Shelley called her lecture “a fitting tribute to George,” who died in 1999 when he was a member of the faculty in the Departments of Russian Literature and Comparative Literature. She stated that the trafficking of women in the former Soviet Union is carried out by powerful criminal organizations, run by top-level officials, that have expanded globally when the collapse of the USSR in 1991 brought with it a decline in the rule of law. Some prostitution existed before the break-up, but the problem has escalated tremendously in the post-Soviet period, when “women are plundered like the precious metals … of the former Soviet Union,” she said. At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, women were educated and employed in the work force. “Women were able to become an integral part of the Soviet economy,” Shelley said. But the post-Soviet period brought with it the impoverishment of women. Voucher privatization, which gave Soviet citizens a share of the privatized state, redistributed property only to those who enjoyed power prior to the collapse, she said. Women were therefore at a disadvantage in the redistribution of state property and received a very little share in the enterprises in which they worked. Women’s ability to obtain property was largely hindered by the rise of organized crime. “Women were physically barred from auction of state property by leaders of organized crime,” Shelley said. Further adding to the impoverishment of women was the loss of the social safety net. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they lost all their social benefits such as childcare, summer camps and other programs, she said. “Women had few economic alternatives left,” Shelley said. They “retained a sense of responsibility to provide for their families, and they were therefore vulnerable to financial offers from the traffickers.” “Women had no property, no employment, the only thing they had were their bodies,” she said. In the post-Soviet period, they became “commodities rather than contributors to economy.” According to Shelley, women were often coerced or duped into the sex trade. Then their passports were confiscated at the time of arrival in the foreign country, leaving them with no way out. She discussed the story of a woman who had been crowned Miss Azerbaijan, who had been duped into going to Turkey for what she thought was a pageant celebration. Instead, her passport was taken and she disappeared into the trafficking trade. For both small-scale operations and large organizations, trafficking in women is a “significant source of economic activity,” Shelley said. “There is a demand for attractive Slavic women.” Although no region of the former USSR has been untouched, “Ukraine is the largest source of trafficking in women from the former USSR,” she noted. Shelley stressed the difficulties the women face in trying to get out. She spoke of the case where a woman’s boyfriend tried to buy her out of prostitution. They were both killed. According to Shelley, Russian law enforcement officials do nothing because they view the trafficked women as deserving of their fate. Furthermore, they are pressured to stop the investigations they have begun, since with all the problems facing the country, inquiries into this matter are considered a low priority. ICPO-Interpol, the international criminal police organization, has had much difficulty in responding to the trafficking of women from the former USSR because it is not getting any assistance from the Russian side, she noted. Asked about what Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to do to ameliorate the situation, Shelley replied that he is “not a free actor, he’s beholden to corrupt elements for his election … He’s focused on improving legal regulations to make the economy function.” However, it is too late — “the cat’s out of the bag already,” she noted. Unfortunately “there’s not a ‘Putin-plan’ that exists.” The conference was applauded by Gibian’s widow, professor Karen Brazell, Japanese literature and theater, who said the “speakers really did exemplify George’s loves in his intellectual life … George was a very diverse man in terms of his interests, that’s why they named the conference ‘Cosmopolitan Crossings: Contacts and Connections Across Cultures and Disciplines.'” Gibian’s son felt the same way. “It’s very nice to reminisce about him although it’s only been a year and a half since he passed away. It’s very nice of Cornell [to hold this conference in his honor],” he said. The conference was sponsored by the Russian Literature and Comparative Literature departments, the European Studies Program, the Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Society for the Humanities, the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, the University Lectures Committee and the Kroch Library Rare and Manuscript Collections.Archived article by Inna Bruter
By ryan April 9, 2001
This time instead of gazing to the rafters of Oxley Equestrian Center for answers, women’s polo head coach David Eldredge ’81 could spend half-time making sure the celebration champagne was being well-chilled. By intermission during Saturday’s women’s national championship game, the lady riders held a commanding 14-5 advantage on the visiting Virginia Cavaliers. A seven-goal outburst in the third chukker sealed the 24-11 victory for the Red, which captured its second straight national title and ninth in the program’s storied history. Unlike many efforts throughout the season when Cornell has been troubled by first-half complacency, the defending national champions began this match in fine form. The triumvirate of juniors Liz Antzcak and Melissa Riggs and sophomore Taylor McLean started for the Red. Less than a minute into the contest, Riggs fired a backhand nearside shot to open the scoring. After the Cavs’ Lissa Green evened the score less than a minute after, McLean gained control of the ball along the left endwall and sent a blistering backhand shot from 10 yards out over the white line to put Cornell ahead. Erin Dougherty, the Cavalier’s stud, would even the score once more before the Red embarked on a scoring barrage. After a No. 1 penalty gave the Red a 5-2 lead, Antzcak dazzled the crowd, taking control of the ball at midfield and racing straight in for her second marker. The first chukker blitzkrieg concluded with the scoreboard reading Cornell 8, Virginia 2. Consistent execution in front of the goal enabled the offensive onslaught. “We really picked it up and played our game,” McLean commented. The second stanza saw much of the same. After Virginia closed to within five on a penalty shot, Riggs won the ensuing throw-in and sent a rocketing shot across three-quarters of the field to put two more points on the score sheet for the homeside. That score prompted another string of Cornell goals, including a convincing effort from McLean who gathered a penalty shot that went short and wide and worked along the end walls to put the ball in. For Riggs, the win took on added significance as she was the elder stateswoman on the squad this year. Last season senior Heather Torrey was paired with Riggs as the team’s co-captains. “Coming into the game we were pretty fired up. We came out right from the start. We tend to be a second half team, but today we threw a little water on their fire,” Riggs noted. The ability to distribute scoring opportunities also keyed the Red’s success. “It wasn’t just one of us that showed up today. All three of these girls played outstanding,” Riggs lauded motioning to her teammates. Dougherty was the only Cavalier to score more than two goals, finishing with seven — far less than what was expected of the standout. With a comfortable lead in hand, Eldredge opted to lift Antzcak in favor of rookie Marissa Bianchi. The freshman has exceeded all expectations in her inaugural campaign and contributed a goal to the Red’s cause. For the freshman, capturing the title in her first year adds to the already lofty expectations of playing for a program that is consistently perched at the No. 1 slot in the nation. “This is pretty incredible but the expectations are there now. Playing with Taylor [McLean] and Liz {Antzcak] in high school made the transition to the college level easier,” the freshman said. A scary moment occurred in the final minute of the third chukker. As Erin Dougherty struck on a two-point shot, Riggs’s pony met Virginia freshman Dana Grant’s mount at an awkward angle. The ponies’ legs became tangled and Grant was thrown to the ground, causing an abrupt silence to envelope the crowd of over 400. Grant escaped unscathed but was replaced by Fiona Seager in the final stanza. Led by two goals from McLean in the final chukker, the Red cruised to the win. McLean displayed her fine hooking skills in a stellar defensive effort. The home crowd lifted Cornell from the onset. With both the men’s and women’s tournament on East Hill for the first time ever, Oxley was filled with a mix of spirited newcomers to the sport and long-time supporters of the program. Polo aficionados caused parking areas to overflow onto the local streets. Inside, Cornell’s supporters were the loudest of the contingents and a few particularly vociferous fans even attempted to adapt Lynah-esque chant. The contributions from the stands did not go unheralded by the riders. “Being at home, having the home crowd was huge. To finally get it here, with an undefeated season going in and not win would have been [awful],” Riggs observed. The junior seemed to diffuse the rivalry aspect of the match, but after watching the men lose and having seen her only loss in a title game (dating back to her freshman year at Garrison Forrest high school) come at the hands of Virginia in 1999, the victory over the Cavaliers was no doubt special. At the conclusion of the match, Riggs and McLean, to no great surprise garnered All-American honors as the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the land respectively. In the men’s bracket Virginia fell in a mightily contested but sloppily played match to perennial powerhouse Texas A & M. For the Cornell men, who fell for the second straight year in the semifinals, senior Jeff Embow was named an All-American. Archived article by Gary Schueller