Europe

"Increased trafficking of women for prostitution is akin to slavery... women are bought and sold like cattle." (Anita Gradin, European Commissioner, European Race Audit Bulletin No 25, The Institute of Race Relations, London UK, 25 November 1997)

Approximately 500,000 women are annually trafficked into Western Europe. (International Organization for Migration, Michael Specter, "Traffickers’ New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women," New York Times, 11 January 1998)

Of 155 cases of trafficked women: 44 were from Central Europe, mainly the Czech Republic and Poland; 64 from Eastern Europe and the CIS, mainly Russia and the Ukraine; and 47 from developing countries, mainly Morocco, Thailand and the Dominican Republic. 3/4 of the women were under 25, and many were teenagers, between 15 and 18, especially among those from Central Europe. (Data by STV: Dutch NGO of women assisted by them in 1994, "Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

In several European Union Member States, prostitution has become increasingly dominated by foreign women. In many areas within the European Union the number of migrant prostitutes is higher than the number of local prostitutes (Brussa, 1995, p.7). ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characteristic, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

The slave trade in women for sexual purposes is growing, and organized crime is more often behind this trade. Smuggling in humans is much less risky than smuggling drugs and it is highly profitable. (Commissioner Anita Gradin, "Conference on Trafficking in Women" European Commission, 10-11 June 1996)

Women from Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco), Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic), South East Asia (the Philippines, Thailand), and Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine) are the largest groups of women being trafficked into the European Union. (Europe national data, "Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

Methods and Techniques of Traffickers

Trafficking has become increasingly territorial. Criminal groups from Russia control the markets for trafficked women and girls in Poland and Germany. Criminal Ukrainian groups reportedly control Hungary and Austria. The Italian market is controlled mainly by Russian and Albanian groups. In the Netherlands, there are reports of growing control by Eastern European trafficking gangs in every red light district. (Altink, 1995, p.131). The severity of violence, including murder, has also increased along with territorial behavior. In 1995, 5 Ukrainian women and their employer were found "hacked to pieces" in a suburb of Frankfurt in what police speculate was a dispute between rival trafficking networks. ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

Organized international trafficking networks and small trafficking rings specializing in smuggling women out of one single country are the two types of operations in trafficking of women into Europe. (International Orgainsation for Migration. European Race Audit Bulletin No. 25, The Institute of Race Relations, London UK, 25 November 1997)

The traffickers typically use children who are trafficked with their mothers for blackmail purposes. (Caritas, European Race Audit Bulletin No. 25, The Institute of Race Relations, London UK, 25 November 1997)

"Legal fronts to disguise traffic into the European Union include: entertainers, cabaret artists, au-pair girls, students, applicants for political refugee status, adoptions, marriages etc." (Michele Hirsch, "Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Women and Forced Prostitution," pp.13 & 14, Council of Europe, 1996)

Three types of traffickers have been classified:

1. In border regions occasional traffickers provide internal or international transportation. They are usually owners of taxis, small boats or trucks that can carry individuals or small groups from a drop-off point on the coast, across a narrow strait, or over a poorly secured border. This type is not organized in any sophisticated or ongoing way;
   
   
2. Small, well-organized trafficking rings often specialize in trafficking nationals out of one specific country, consistently using similar routing consistently;
   
   
3. Organized, international trafficking networks are most sophisticated, consequently most dangerous and difficult to combat. These networks have access to fraudulent and/or authentic, usually stolen, documents or the capability to produce falsified documents themselves. They can change routing and means of transportation when a traditional route is blocked. Members are present worldwide. Lodging and logistical support are at their disposal in countries of transit and destination. ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characteristics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

Three types of traffick networks have been classified:

1. The large scale network is based on a structure of international contacts at different political and economic levels in the countries of origin and destination. These use a variety of recruiting methods. This type of network often uses transit countries.
   
   
2. The medium scale network is distinct because it does not sell women to other groups. It keeps the women under its control and prostitutes them its own clubs and brothels.
   
   
3. The small scale network works approximately as follows: a club owner in a destination country needs some new women for his club. Through contacts with people in the prostitution business abroad, he places an order. Contacts recruit the women, accompany them to the destination and deliver her. ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

It is easier and less expensive to bring trafficked women from the Central and Eastern European Countries to the European Union than to recruit women from developing countries. The Central and Eastern European Countries are so close to the European Union’s borders, that the traffickers can easily afford to replace women with new trafficked women. ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

Women trafficked to the European Union from developing countries are likely to come from rural areas. ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

European Union governments bear some responsibility for not only tolerating migrant prostitution and trafficking in women but also for encouraging it (Mansson, 1995). ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, June 1996, IOM, 7 May 1996)

In Europe, the behavior of police towards victims of trafficking has led to reluctance on the part of the women to come forward." Police have also been discovered to collaborate with the traffickers (Bouffious and De Staercke, 1994). ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, June 1996, IOM, 7 May 1996)

Health and Well-Being

Given the perilous conditions of some voyages, many women trafficked to the European Union face the threat of injury and even death. The women are frequently forced into a situation of extreme dependency that is comparable to that of being a hostage. The women have limited or no access to health care. ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

Bride Trafficking

There are approximately 60 matrimonial agencies specializing in contracts with women from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe in Germany." (Michele Hirsch, "Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Women and Forced Prostitution," p.13, Council of Europe, 1996)

There seems to be a growing demand in the European Union for more extreme and "exotic" sexual services, some of which in and by themselves produce extensive health risks (Mansson, 1995). ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996)

Prostitution Tourism

Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and other European nations have more than 15,000 known child sex offenders. ("Global law to punish sex tourists sought by Britain and EU," The Indian Express, 21 November 1997)

As a result of the international investigation of a worldwide Internet child pornography ring, European governments are now asking that budgets to control child pornography which were previously due to be cut by the European Commission, be reinstated. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has set up a committee to draft laws to improve co-ordination in the fight against child porn. Berlin police have stepped up investigations of e-mail addresses and have asked to interrogate the Belgian who was arrested in Rome, claiming that children kidnapped in Berlin were taken to a brothel in Rotterdam. ("Community reels at child horror," South China Morning Post, 23 July 1998)

Although almost all of the 15 European Union member states seek stronger measures to combat pornography involving children, the Netherlands opposed Belgium's proposal to make it a criminal offense to possess such material for "personal ends". So the possession of pornographic videos of children will no longer be regarded in Europe as constitution sexual exploitation and will be exempt from all sanctions. (Marie-Victoire Louis, "Legalising Pimping, Dutch Style," Le Monde Diplomatique, 8 March 1997)