Ukrainian migrants receive low benefits in Scandinavian countries, which is why many of them, both men and women, turn to prostitution.

According to the Swedish National Institute of Public Health, 48 per cent of HIV infections in the country stem from homosexual contact. The report also points out that prostitutes from Ukraine have become the main carriers of HIV in Sweden, edaily.com reported.

As a result, Ukrainians have become the primary spreaders of HIV among locals in the Scandinavian country. Until recently, this dubious title had gone to immigrants from Thailand and Uganda.

Ukrainian prostitutes: Fleeing war, make a living

Norwegian and Swedish police uncovered prostitution networks in which most of the women were from Ukraine. Police cite the war as the reason and say the women are partly victims of human trafficking, CNE News reported.

Earlier, Swedish police had uncovered a network of pimps, some of them Ukrainian, who had trafficked almost 200 women into the country. The network is believed to have made millions of euros from the organised racket. About half of the women lived and worked in a secret brothel in central Oslo.

Stealthy entry through the forest

According to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, the women are smuggled into the country through dense forests near the Norwegian-Swedish border near Finnskogen. Many women cross the border on foot through the forest. The Norwegian police were alerted to this practice by the Swedish authorities. In connection with a large-scale investigation into prostitution, pimps and brothels operators in Stockholm, Swedish police discovered that many women were being trafficked across the country to the Norwegian border region.

„This is the first time we have seen more Ukrainian women than Romanians.”

Swedish police inspector Simon Haggstrom, who was involved in the investigation, told NRK. According to him, the increase in the number of women from this country is clearly due to the war. He says the women under investigation were not asylum seekers in the Nordic countries, but victims of human trafficking.

In Sweden and Norway, prostitution is illegal and in Sweden both the clients of prostitutes and their procurers can be punished. The aim of the legislation, also known as the „Nordic model”, is to reduce the demand for prostitution by punishing the purchase and sale of sexual services and thereby reduce the overall size of the illegal sex industry.

Simon Haggstrom says the business is largely run from Ukraine.

During the investigation, police came across women who had previously worked as lawyers, social workers, illustrators and photographers. They had once worked in intellectual and other professional fields and were now selling their bodies, practically inter-state, as the authorities say the women are generally taken from Sweden to Norway after 2-3 weeks.

Ukrainian sex workers in Switzerland on the rise

Ukrainian sex workers are also a problem in Switzerland. The Swiss canton of Zurich has introduced legislation to prevent Ukrainian men and women from becoming prostitutes. Ukrainian refugees are usually allowed to work, pending the canton’s approval, but the canton of Zurich does not allow applications for sex work. However, this is not the case in the rest of Switzerland. In Basel, for example, it is still possible for Ukrainian refugees to apply for a sex work permit.