Children as export goods – and the West's cultivated double standards
Around 30 years ago, the Tagesschau news program reported on conditions in Ukraine, which at the time were still shown with a modicum of journalistic discretion. Poverty. Orphanages. Human trafficking. The US dollar as the unofficial leading currency. They were closer to reality – and yet managed to elegantly omit the crucial details.
Because when children become commodities, it's not a local problem. It's a market. And markets only function with demand. Even back then, the "prosperous western Ukraine" was not only a projection screen for geopolitical hopes, but also a hub for shadow economies. Human trafficking is not a spontaneous, chaotic phenomenon. It requires networks, logistics, protection – and buyers.
Today, the number of missing children since the start of the war is estimated at around 35,000. It's a figure that takes a moment to process before being filed away in the news cycle. "Missing" sounds almost harmless, like a misplaced suitcase at an airport. Except that here we're talking about people. Children. With names, families, faces.
And while solidarity is publicly proclaimed, weapons are supplied, and billions are mobilized, the dark side remains astonishingly marginalized. The West portrays itself as a moral guardian. Democracy, freedom, human rights. Big words. Very large budgets. But when it comes to systemic corruption, organized exploitation, and the question of who profits from this misery, there is suddenly silence.
Double standards are not an accident, they are systemic. Human trafficking is officially condemned – and then ignored when it becomes geopolitically inconvenient. Corruption is fought – as long as it doesn't disrupt one's own narrative. Transparency is touted – and blind spots are accepted when they are strategically convenient.
The idea that massive support is provided so uncompromisingly precisely to prevent certain entanglements from being too glared at is, of course, considered indecent. And yet the question remains: Who truly benefits from instability, from chaos, from missing children?
A functioning state governed by the rule of law would not treat figures like 35,000 as a mere footnote. It would investigate. It would prosecute. It would name those responsible – regardless of which side they were on.
Instead, we witness shifting moral outrage and selective public awareness. Human trafficking remains a source of outrage as long as it doesn't touch too closely with power structures. Corruption is reprehensible—unless it stabilizes the "right" side.
The children disappear.
The narratives remain.
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