The New Slavery: Accounts of Human Trafficking in Eastern Europe

Although slavery is illegal in all countries and banned by international law, there are an estimated 40 million slaves in the world today. A significant percentage of people trafficked into modern slavery come from Russia and the post-Soviet countries. In this book, interviews and first-person testimonials illuminate the stories of millions of Eastern Europeans who have been trapped and trafficked since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It includes accounts of labor exploitation, sexual slavery, and human organ trafficking in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Transnistria.

This volume intertwines three narrative threads: that of the survivors of human trafficking and enslavement in Eastern Europe, the service providers who rescued and rehabilitated them, and the author in her journey as an anti-trafficking activist. The words of survivors and witnesses of modern slavery deepen our understanding of the historical context and evolution of human trafficking and give human expression to an urgent legal, economic, and human rights issue of our time.

Kate Transchel is a professor emerita of Soviet and Eastern European History at California State University, Chico. She has received several prestigious awards and grants for her work, and her publications include a book on Russian working-class drinking and a book on the break-up of Yugoslavia. Her TEDx talk on modern-day slavery and her anti-trafficking activism has attracted large following.