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Due to the understandable unwillingness of women working in the sex industry to speak to the police, coupled with poor data collection procedures on the part of the police; information regarding the extent of human trafficking from Eastern Europe is hard to find. Trafficking in women, remains a largely hidden problem. The limited information that is available, does suggest that more and more women from central and eastern Europe are being transported to the west to work in the sex trade. Whilst women traditionally came from Asia (Thailand and the Philipenes mainly), South America (the Dominican Republic and Columbia) and from Africa, (Ghana and Nigeria). Before 1992, trafficking from Central and Eastern Europe was virtually unheard of.
1996 Vienna conference report; 80% of dancers in sex clubs in Vienna come from central & eastern Europe. In Milan 80% of prostitutes are foreign The Dutch NGO, STV, reports that in 1994, 69 per cent of the 168 cases that they dealt with concerned women from Central and Eastern Europe. Just over half of the women from Central and Eastern Europe come from Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet Republics. Between 1993 and 1994, the number of victims from these countries more than doubled (see Chart 4). The number of victims from the Czech Republic and Poland is also high, increasing from 7 to 40 between 1993 and 1994. These figures demonstrate how rapidly the problem is escalating. |
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A truck containing illegal immigrants (hiding in the top right) is scanned by UK customs and excise. This is one of the many methods that crime gangs use to traffic women from Eastern Europe. |
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