Forced prostitution

Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution, is the act of performing sexual activity in exchange for money on a non-voluntary basis. There are a wide range of entry routes into prostitution, ranging from "voluntary and deliberate" entry, "semi-voluntary" based on pressure of circumstances, and "involuntary" recruitment via outright force or coercion.^[1] Sexual slavery encompasses most, if not all, forms of forced prostitution. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions but have been insufficiently understood and inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" generally refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.^[2]

Legal situation

Enticement to and maintenance of all forms of involuntary prostitution is regarded as international offence under customary law based on the uniformity of national legislations, as well as from official pronouncements in international fora and other relevant treaties.^[3]

In 1949 the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (the 1949 Convention). The 1949 Convention supersedes a number of earlier conventions that covered some aspects of forced prostitution. Signatories are charged with three obligations under the 1949 Convention: prohibition of trafficking, specific administrative and enforcement measures, and social measures aimed at trafficked persons. The 1949 Convention presents two shifts in perspective of the trafficking problem in that it views prostitutes as victims of the procurers, and in that it eschews the terms "white slave traffic" and "women," using for the first time race- and gender-neutral language.^[4] Article 1 of the 1949 Convention provides punishment for any person who "[p]rocures, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another person" or "[e]xploits the prostitution of another person, even with the consent of that person." To fall under the provisions of the 1949 Convention, the trafficking need not cross international lines.^[5] The 1949 Convention penalises the procurement and enticement to prostitution as well as the maintenance of brothels, and has been ratified by 95 member nations including France, Spain, Italy and Denmark; and not ratified by another 97 member nations including Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.^[6]. See also Legality of prostitution.

Forced prostitution and human trafficking

Following the first international conference on the prevention of trafficking of women in Paris in 1885 a series of initiatives to restrict the trade of women into the sex trade. Both the League of Nations and the United Nations have addressed the issue.^[7]

Voluntary vs involuntary prostitution

The line between voluntary and involuntary prostitution might be fluid. William D. Angel finds that "most" prostitutes have been forced into the profession through poverty, lack of education and employment possibilities.^[8] Kathleen Barry argues that there should be no distinction between "free" and "coerced", "voluntary" and "involuntary" prostitution, "since any form of prostitution is a human rights violation, an affront to womanhood that cannot be considered dignified labour".^[9] However, proponents of sex workers' rights argue that some adult sex workers make a relatively free decision to go into prostitution and that they should be at liberty to do so.

Criminalisation of voluntary prostitution

The effects of keeping prostitution illegal are not clear, and are the subject of ongoing debate and controversy. Those who support the prohibition of the sex trade argue that all forms of prostitution represent an exploitation of women, thus all forms of prostitution should be illegal; they also argue that legalizing and regulating prostitution has very negative effects and does not improve the situation of the prostitutes: many women who work in licensed brothels are still controlled by outside pimps; many brothel owners are criminals themselves; the creation of a legal and regulated prostitution industry only leads to another parallel illegal industry, as many women do not want to register and work legally (since this would rob them of their anonymity) and other women can not be hired by legal brothels because of underlying problems (e.g. drug abuse); legalizing prostitution makes it more socially acceptable to buy sex, creating a huge demand for prostitutes (both by local men and by foreigners engaging in sex tourism) and, as a result, human trafficking and underage prostitution increase in order to satisfy this demand. ^{[10] [11] [12] [13]}

Others however believe that the criminalisation of prostitution is very harmful and contributes to the increase of human trafficking and sexual slavery. Martha M Ertman and Joan C. Williams argue that criminalisation of voluntary prostitution in many parts of the world greatly contributes to involuntary prostitution and human trafficking. This is because criminalisation limits the number of individuals taking up the professions voluntarily (deterrence is a primary justification for criminalisation) and because criminalisation means that those who coerce, trick, or force others into prostitution can earn great profits. Ertman and Williams argue that were prostitution legal, the likelihood of market saturation by willing providers and the concomitant price competition would reduce, and possibly remove, the profit motive for procurers to victimise others. Also, where voluntary prostitution is illegal, victims of forced prostitution often cannot obtain help. In most countries, including international trafficking destinations, prostitutes are considered immoral, and are arrested rather than assisted, regardless of how they have entered the profession.^[14]

Global situation

Europe

In Europe, since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the impoverished former Eastern bloc countries such as Albania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have been identified as major trafficking source countries for women and children.^[15][16] Young women and girls are often lured to wealthier countries by the promises of money and work and then reduced to sexual slavery.^[17] It is estimated that two thirds of women trafficked for prostitution worldwide annually come from Eastern Europe, three-quarters of whom have never worked as prostitutes before.^[18][19] The major destinations are Western Europe (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, France, Spain, UK), Turkey, the Middle East (Israel, the United Arab Emirates), Asia, Russia and the United States.^[20][21]

USA

In 2002, the US Department of State repeated an earlier CIA estimate that each year, about 50,000 women and children are brought against their will to the United States for sexual exploitation.^[22][23] Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said that "[h]ere and abroad, the victims of trafficking toil under inhuman conditions -- in brothels, sweatshops, fields and even in private homes."^[24]

Middle East

Israeli officials report a significant problem in human trafficking for the sex trade industry ^[25][26] — much of it involving women from Eastern Europe. Eastern European women are also trafficked to Turkey and United Arab Emirates.^[27]

A high number of the Iraqi women fleeing the Iraq War are turning to prostitution, while others are trafficked abroad, to countries like Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran.^[28] In Syria alone, an estimated 50,000 Iraqi refugee girls and women, many of them widows, have become prostitutes.^[29] Cheap Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular destination for sex tourists. The clients come from wealthier countries in the Middle East ^[30] High prices are offered for virgins.^[31][32]

Turkey operates municipal brothels and offers this as the only legal way to independent sex workers to work in them, the example of which is seen in many countries such as Germany and Greece. These institutions, called Genelev in Turkish, excercise a franchise on sex work.

Asia

In Asia, Japan is the major destination country for trafficked women, especially from the Philippines and Thailand. The US State Department has rated Japan as either a ‘Tier 2’ or a ‘Tier 2 Watchlist’ country every year since 2001, in its annual Trafficking in Persons reports. Both these ratings implied that Japan was (to a greater or lesser extent) not fully compliant with minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking trade.^{[citation needed]} Currently an estimated 300,000 women and children are involved in the sex trade throughout Southeast Asia.^[33] It is common that Thai women are lured to Japan and sold to Yakuza-controlled brothels where they are forced to work off their price.^[34][35] Further in Japan, fatal prejudice and the absence of anti-discrimination acts often drive a transwoman into forced prostitution. In Cambodia at least a quarter of the 20,000 people working as prostitutes are children with some being as young as 5.^[36] By the late 1990s, UNICEF estimated that there are 60,000 child prostitutes in the Philippines, describing Angeles City brothels as "notorious" for offering sex with children. UNICEF estimates many of the 200 brothels in the notorious Angeles City offer children for sex. ^[37]

For the last decade it has been estimated that 6,000 - 7,000 girls are trafficked out of Nepal each year. But these numbers have recently risen substantially. Current numbers for girls trafficked out of the country are now 10,000 to 15,000 yearly. This is compounded as the US Central Intelligence Agency states that most trafficked girls are currently worth, in their span as a sex-worker, approx $250,000 (USD) on the sex-trades market.^[38]

North Korea

The North Korean state engages in forced prostitution. Girls as young as 14 years old are drafted to work in the so-called kippŭmjo. Not all kippŭmjo work as prostitutes; the source used is unclear as to whether only adult women are assigned to prostitution, or whether there is prostitution of children. Other kippŭmjo activities are massaging and half-naked singing and dancing. According to the same source from April 2005, “60 to 70 % of [North Korean] defectors [in the People's Republic of China] are women, 70 to 80 % of whom are victims of human trafficking.” North Korean authorities severely punish or even kill repatriated prostitutes and kill their Chinese-fathered children, born and unborn alike.^[39]

See also

• Comfort women
• Debt bondage
• Drugs and prostitution
• International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
• Prostitution (criminology)

Notes