	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.

Yugoslavia

TRAFFICKING

Trafficking The former Yugoslavia is among the most popular destinations in Europe of trafficked women from Ukraine and Russia. (Vladmir Isachenkov, "Soviet Womem Slavery Flourishes," Associated Press, 6 November 1997)

Case

In 1996, in Serbia a Ukrainian woman, who tried to escape prostitution, was beheaded in public. (Michael Specter, "Traffickers’ New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women," New York Times, 11 January 1998)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

Serbian police were investigated for their involvement in an organized prostitution ring with women from other East European countries. The NATO-led Stabilization Force held an internal investigation in the alleged involvement of SFOR peacekeepers in a child prostitution ring around Sarajevo. ("UN investigates allegations against Bosnian police," Reuters, 1 July 1998)

Spanish intelligence agents had discovered SFOR (NATO-led Stabilization Force) soldiers in Bosnia ran a prostitution network involving children and had sold drugs to civilians, according to articles published in May and June 1998, in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. The newspaper reported that girls between the ages of 12 and 14 had been forced into prostitution in Sarajevo for the SFOR's Northern Brigade, which is under Italian command. It quoted the intelligence report detailing how Bosnian children, drawn into prostitution with threats and promises of money, were taken after dark to the brigade's headquarters and forced to have sex with soldiers and non-commissioned officers.

NATO Secretary General Javier Solana stated that El Mundo allegations were unfounded. In the course of the two-month investigation, about 90 people, including SFOR unit commanders and troops, civilians and police authorities, were interviewed. "The investigation concluded that the allegations made by the El Mundo reporter were without merit and the investigation is closed," the SFOR statement said. ("Bosnia probe dismisses peacekeeping sex charges," Reuters, 25 August 1998)

ORGANIZED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND VIOLENCE

U.N. commission and human rights groups have found that ethnic Serb paramilitary groups had systematically tolerated or encouraged the raping of Bosnian Muslim women as part of the effort to drive Muslims from their homes and villages between 1991 and 1995. (Barbara Crossette, "An Old Scourge of War Becomes Its Latest Crime", New York Times, 18 June 1998)

Human Trafficking Child Trafficking Other Resources