 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
The Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation |
|
|
About the Factbook |
|
Contents |
Asia
Europe
Oceania
Africa
Middle East
Central America
& the Caribbean
South America
North America |
|
| About the Factbook |
|
The Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation was compiled from media,
non-governmental organization and government reports. It is an initial effort
to collect facts, statistics and known cases on global sexual exploitation.
Information is organized into four categories:
- Trafficking,
- Prostitution,
- Pornography, and
- Organized and Institutionalized
Sexual Exploitation
and Violence.
Sources were not contacted to verify information. Close examination will reveal
that there are contradictions in information depending on the sources of information
(ex: how many women are in prostitution in Thailand). All statistics are reported
with no attempt to evaluate which numbers are more likely to be accurate. In fact,
the exact numbers in many cases are not known and estimates come from different sources
which use different methods to determine what they report.
We hope these facts will assist people to recognize the harm caused throughout the world
by sexual violence and exploitation and catalyze action against this violence agianst women.
This project was made possible with the support of the College of Arts and Sciences,
University of Rhode Island and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Norway.
If you use this information in your work, please reference this factbook-- The Factbook on
Global Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic, Nadine Z. Mendelsohn,
Vanessa Chirgwin, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, 1999.
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
Turkey |
|
Turkey is one the most popular destinations in Europe for trafficked women
from Ukraine and Russia. (Vladmir Isachenkov, "Soviet Women Slavery Flourishes
" Associated Press, 6 November 1997) .
Prostitutes are now commonly referred to as "Natashas" because so many come
from Russia. ("'Invisible' Women Shown In Russia's Demographics," Martina
Vandenberg, St. Petersburg Times, 13 October 1997)
Case
In 1996, in Istanbul, two trafficked Russian women were thrown to their
deaths from a balcony while six of their friends watched. (Ukrainian
police, Michael Specter, "Traffickersą New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women,"
New York Times, 11 January 1998)
|
|
| PROSTITUTION |
|
|
Prostitutes in the southern Turkish city of Adana went on strike to
protest what they say is constant police harassment. The women complain
that police have put restrictions on playing music, leaning out of windows
and talking to customers outside the state-run brothels where they work.
Turkey allows licensed prostitutes to trade in approved buildings known
as "General Houses." (Anatolian news agency, "Turkish prostitutes on
strike over police pressure," Reuters, 4 May 1998)
|
|
ORGANIZED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND VIOLENCE |
|
|
Honor Killings
Gonul Aslan, a 19-year-old woman from the southeastern province of
Urfa was strangled and thrown into a river for "dishonouring" her family
by eloping with a lover. Her father, husband and uncles planned her
murder. Gonul was married two months previously in an unofficial Islamic
ceremony to her paternal aunt's son, Saban, to whom she had been promised
when a baby. She survived the attack. (Amberin Zaman, 1998)
Official Response and Action
Turkish prisons often force virginity testing on female prisoners,
saying the exams reduce allegations of rape by guards. Human rights
groups say the tests are a way of harassing female political prisoners.
("German woman protests forced virginity test in Turkish prison," Associated
Press, 20 August 1998)
A German women subjected to a forced virginity test while in prison
will not be allowed by Turkish prosecutors to sue prison officials.
Eva Junckhe was arrested in October 1997 on charges of belonging to
an outlawed Kurdish rebel group. She has been locked up in a prison
in southeastern Turkey pending a verdict in her trial. Junckhe claims
to have been forcibly examined by doctors two weeks after her arrest.
Her lawyer, Eren Keskin, said the chief state security court prosecutor
for the southeastern city of Van rejected an application for a lawsuit.
If a renewed application is denied, Junckhe will take her protest to
the European Court of Human Rights. ("German woman protests forced virginity
test in Turkish prison," Associated Press, 20 August 1998)
|
|
|