Child Labor Child Labor rates in Romania, Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine have become infamous. Recent issues between Russia and Ukraine over the Crimean Peninsula have displaced many people. The children who are displaced are often denied an education in other countries because they have no documentation. With no other options, their parents, who are struggling themselves, put their children to work in order to keep putting food on the table. Other causes of increasing rates include economic crisis, parents not seeing the value of education, and the “easy money”.
This child was taken out of school in order to help his family produce crops to make enough money for the year
Homelessness Homeless people can be found all over metropolitan cities in Eastern Europe. Moscow has over 50,000 homeless children. The homelessness rates have been on the rise with the lack of jobs, expensive healthcare, lack of affordable housing, the dissolution of USSR, and addiction. The extreme winters in the subregion can kill many of the homeless people who do not find shelter, some will even live in sewers to escape the cold.
Homeless people wait at the trash dump outside of Moscow, in hopes for scraps of food that will feed them until they find their next food source.
There is a homeless community right behind one of Russia's most visited church's in Moscow.
Human and Organ Trafficking Human trafficking is becoming more and more popular in countries like Moldova, where a majority of the population makes less than a dollar a day. The people see no other way out and seek illegal activity as a solution to their daily struggles. 40% of Moldova’s sex slave are under the age of 18. The major cause of these issues is the stagnant economy. People sell their own organs for easy money that they don’t have to work for. Many people are dying from selling their organs and people are emotionally and physically damaged after being sold into human trafficking. The worst part is that the future holds no promise for growth. The government cannot even take care of small issues, let alone putting together sources to stop the growing issue of human and organ trafficking.
Immigration of Refugees With all the terror going on in the Middle East, people are now searching for refuge in Eastern European countries. The people of these refuge countries are not always welcoming. The immigration of the refugees has become a controversial subject among current residents. Russia’s government has been accused of creating propaganda about the immigrants to sway citizens’ opinions. Russia fears that the immigrants will create more problems and take away jobs from Russian citizens. This is a common fear among government officials all over Europe.