Switzerland

There are 700 Thai women in prostitution in Berne, Switzerland, who make-up a large portion of the total number of prostitutes. (Srisamorn Thoy, Xenia, Mukadawan Sakboon, "Thai sex workers hit by recession in Switzerland," The Nation, 5 May 1997)

Methods and Techniques of Traffickers

Women incur a debt of Bt600,000 - 700,000 for payment to men for false marriages so they can remain in Switzerland legally. The women are in debt bondage to the owner of the brothel, locally known as a salon, for this money. The men they marry are usually unemployed, drug addicts or Thai men who earlier became Swiss citizens. They also must rent a single room in the salon for Bt40,000 a month (Mukadawan Sakboon, "Thai sex workers hit by recession in Switzerland," The Nation, 5 May 1997)

Thai women’s lack of education, job experience and the language barrier make the women dependent on the brothel owners. A few quit and worked as waitresses, but when men recognize them at restaurants and inform the owners, the women are fired. (Mukadawan Sakboon, "Thai sex workers hit by recession in Switzerland," The Nation, 5 May 1997)

Health and Well-being

When Thai women in Switzerland become ill usually do not go to a doctor because of the language problem, thus they go untreated. 'Many will wait until they go back to Thailand to consult a doctor or go to a hospital. Unfortunately, they are often in bad shape by the time they see a doctor. (Srisamorn Thoy, Xenia, Mukadawan Sakboon, Mukadawan Sakboon, "Thai sex workers hit by recession in Switzerland," The Nation, 5 May 1997)

Thai women who have been in prostitution for seven to eight years usually have mental problems and have become drug addicts or alcoholics. They take amphetamines to stay awake to be available to more men in order to make more money to pay off the debt bondage, or send money home. For the few hours reserved for rest, they have to use sleeping pills. (Srisamorn Thoy, Xenia, Mukadawan Sakboon, Mukadawan Sakboon, "Thai sex workers hit by recession in Switzerland," The Nation, 5 May 1997)

Policy and Law

Only Swiss citizens are officially allowed to engage in prostitution. Therefore, foreign women in prostitution must remain hidden, or be deported, if caught. Thai women sign contracts to work as go-go dancers, which is not illegal in Switzerland, but later engage in prostitution. (Srisamorn Thoy, Xenia, Mukadawan Sakboon, Mukadawan Sakboon, "Thai sex workers hit by recession in Switzerland," The Nation, 5 May 1997)

The maximum penalty for alien smuggling in Switzerland is three years. (Tass, 1995, "Trafficking and Prostitution: The Growing Exploitation of Migrant Women from Central and Eastern Europe," IOM, May 1995)

Pro-Prostitution NGOs

Xenia, a pro-prostitution nongovernmental organization has proposed that the Swiss government amend the law to allow foreign women into prostitution. They recommend that immigration laws should also be amended to make visas available to all people, and not discriminate against particular nationalities. (Srisamorn Thoy, Xenia, Mukadawan Sakboon, Mukadawan Sakboon, "Thai sex workers hit by recession in Switzerland," The Nation, 5 May 1997)

Policy and Law

Switzerland legalized brothels in 1992. The first legal brothel, The Petite Fleur, opened in Zurich in February 1998. The brothel will rent out its 30 rooms at US$138 per room per day. In 1897, Zurich's voters -- at the time, all men -- voted in a referendum to close down the city's officially tolerated -- but illegal -- brothels, estimated to number around 24. ("First Legal Swiss Brothel Opens," Associated Press, 25 February 1998)

Case

A Swiss couple, John and Buntham Grabenstetter, were charged with 10 counts of possession and sale of child pornography. Authorities believe the may have used their daughter in the pornography. The couple was arrested when they came to the United States to complete a $10,000 transaction including 250 child-pornography CD-ROMs containing 9,000 images. ("Swiss Child Pornographers Caught in US Sting," Calgary Herald, 22 August 1997)