SUMMARY
Trafficking in women is widely reported to be the third most lucrative branch of international crime after contraband weapons and drugs. It preys on economically desperate women and is fueled by the lure of extraordinary profits and a very low risk of arrest.Between 175,000 and 250,000 women and children are trafficked annually from post-Soviet states, including some 50,000 per year from Russia. So many Slavic women have been ensnared that in much of Europe “Natasha” has become the generic term for prostitute.With the positive exception of the Romanian Orthodox Church, most Christians in post-Soviet territories do not appear to have recognized the seriousness of sexual trafficking from and within the region. And, while Western Catholic and Protestant responses have been commendable, a great deal more needs to be done. Christians, East and West, must increase their efforts to comfort the afflicted and to afflict those who do such grievous harm to millions of women and children created in the image of God.