EU-DIGEST

Amsterdam -- Not As Fun As It Used to Be

Less brothels, pot and sex shops in Amsterdam? The nerve! The real Sin City -- Amsterdam, Netherlands -- is closing down a lot of its marijuana cafes, brothels and sex shops in an effort to run organized crime out of town. Officials are also closing down the gambling parlors, peep shows and massage parlors that are being used by drug dealers to launder money. Who would have thought the world's most famous destination for prostitution and drugs had so much crime?

Labels: Amsterdam, EU, Netherlands, Prostitution

Turkey's prostitutes seek to establish a union

Activists and sex workers in Turkey are working on a project to establish Turkey’s first "sex workers" union. They are hopeful about finding a solution to their problems and changing society’s approach toward sex workers. They will organize an awareness walk to bring attention to their issues. Prostitution is mentioned in the Turkish Penal Code and sex workers have to be registered according to the law. However, statistics show that many sex workers are unregistered and have no health or social security. “Only 126 sex workers are registered in Istanbul, but the real number is much higher than this,” said Muhtar Çokar, a doctor who helps sex workers access free and easy medical support.

“The number of registered sex workers in Turkey is 3,500 according to police data,” said Çokar. “That is too small a number compared to Ankara Trade Chamber, which said there are around 100,000 unregistered sex workers in total in Turkey.”

Labels: Labor Unions, Prostitution, Turkey

The Sex Industry in Bulgaria Generates 1 Billion Euro Income - by Stefan Nikolov

Ex Secretary of the police Tzvyatko Tzvetkov said at a round table that the monthly income of a prostitute is 12-18 thousand Euro. According to Tzvetkov the total turnover from the sex industry in Bulgaria is 1 billion Euro. There are 300 clubs with prostitutes in Bulgaria as 100 of them are in Sofia. Tzvetkov added that the prostitution business is third in Bulgaria after the drugs business and the stolen cars business. He also noted that in Bulgaria policemen protect prostitutes, trucks with cigarettes, drugs traffic and a solution must be devised for breaking police connections with crime.

Labels: Bulgaria, Economy, EU, Prostitution, Sex tourism

Prostitution in Europe - Can you outlaw the oldest profession? - by Dan Bell

In December, British Women's Minister Harriet Harman said paying for sex should be made illegal. The argument is that if you stamp out demand, then you will stamp out the trade. But is it possible to legislate the oldest profession out of existence? One country that has tried is Sweden. In 1999 Sweden outlawed paying for sex. Anyone who is caught is liable for a fine or a six-month prison sentence. The Swedish government says there has been a decrease in street prostitution, kerb crawling and the number of women entering the trade.

Labels: EU, Prostitution, Sweden

Sex Trade in Europe: Europe’s fight against trafficking in human beings, a new form of slavery - by Terry Davis

Europe may well have abolished slavery 200 years ago, but it has not yet been stamped out. Across Europe criminal gangs are getting rich through the trade in human beings—and many governments are not doing enough to stop it. Trafficking in human beings is not the most discreet form of crime. Its victims can be found every evening on the banks of a canal near the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, and in other cities in Georgia and across Europe. The heavy make-up does nothing to conceal their anguish and despair. Occasionally, they are rounded up by the police and deported to their countries of origin. In most cases, they will be forced back into slavery in some other corner of Europe before the ink of the signatures on their deportation orders has had time to dry. Regrettably, criminals always seem to be one step ahead. While the traffickers are getting rich, the trafficked are paying the price.

To put an end to this frustrating and shameful state of affairs, the Council of Europe produced a groundbreaking new Convention in 2005 to strengthen international co-operation, prevent trafficking, prosecute traffickers, help the victims and create a monitoring mechanism to ensure that governments comply with what they have signed. The Convention will enter into force on 1 February and have immediate legal effect in the first ten countries to ratify it: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, France and Norway, which have ratified it in January, it will enter into force on 1 May.

Labels: EU, Prostitution, Sex

Sex Trade in the EU - Human trafficking campaign ends in Czech Republic by Kimberly Ashton

The Czech Republic has long been a destination for sex tourists from the West. Brothels line the road in some border towns and hordes of stag partygoers have filed through Prague’s numerous sex clubs.
Now a nonprofit group has teamed with the government to expose a side of the industry some customers would rather not think about — or don’t know about — and to seek help from them. “The customer might be for the victim of human trafficking the only connecting link to the outside world and the only person who can primarily help her,” said Kristina Klepková of the nonprofit group International Organization for Migration (IOM). Klepková led a three-month program, called Together Against Human Trafficking, which ended last week, to raise awareness of sex slavery in the Czech Republic.

Labels: EU, Prostitution, Sex

Sex in Britain: I pay a man for regular sex

Every month for three years I have spent up to euro 800 on Justin, who makes me a calmer and happier person. Once, sometimes twice, a month I meet up with Justin, a 36-year-old divorcé. We go out for a meal and maybe to a club before spending the night in a hotel. I am a divorced mum and work part time to spend as much time as I can with my four children. Justin also has four children. But what differentiates our dates from the norm is that I pay for Justin’s company, including having sex with him.

My ex husband and I had a great sex life, so when our marriage ended, I decided to go on-line and see if anyone out there could fill the gap. I found a huge number of websites and adverts offering a wide range of services. In the end I found Justin. He costs euro 270 for an hour, euro 365 for three hours and euro 800 for overnight – and every penny is well spent. Our first encounter was nerve-racking and my main worry was that I might not find him attractive, although I definitely went out with sex on my mind. I booked into a hotel and spent ages getting ready, then Justin came to collect me and we went out to dinner. He’s very good-looking and extremely fit, so despite my nerves there was an instant spark and we had a great time.

Labels: Britain, EU, Prostitution, Sex

Prostitution Britain: Market forces - by Mark Gould

In Croydon, south London - home to Lunar House, the UK's border and immigration agency - it appears that buying a trafficked woman for sex is as easy as ordering pizza. That is what concerned residents, posing as punters, were shocked to discover when they phoned 100 brothels, saunas and escort agencies advertising in their local papers. They found that 84% of the women being sold for sex were from overseas, most of them trafficked.

Official figures estimate that some 4,000 women a year are trafficked into the UK to feed a growing sex industry facilitated by shrinking borders and changing attitudes towards buying sex.

Labels: Britain, Council of Europe, Prostitution, Sex