The New Nation - Internet Edition

Md Kamruzzaman Ferose

The United Nations estimates that some 80% of persons trafficked are trafficked for sexual exploitation. They are mostly women and children. (UN, 2003). An estimated 120,000 women and children are trafficked into Western Europe each year. (European Commission, 2001). The US Department of State considers that globally some 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked within and across borders annually, of whom some 80% are women and girls and some 50% are minors. (US Dept of State, 2005). Some European estimates suggest that, in 1990-1998, more than 253,000 women and girls were trafficked into the sex industry of the then 12 EU countries. The overall number of women in prostitution in these countries has grown to more than half a million.

Male demand for a supply of women and children is the root cause of prostitution and trafficking. Gender inequality, globalization, poverty, racism, migration and the collapse of women's economic stability are global factors, which create the conditions in which women are driven into the sex industry (Grainne HEALY and Monica O'connor, 2006). The majority of trafficked persons are women and girls, in particular from developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Multiple forms of discrimination and conditions of disadvantage contribute to the vulnerability of women and girls driven into prostitution. Studies consistently indicate that women and children who are exploited in the local sex industry (i.e. not trafficked) have experienced similar economic deprivation, alongside a history of sexual abuse. Homelessness, institutionalization and drug addiction are some of the additional factors making them vulnerable to entry into prostitution (Grainne HEALY and Monica O'connor, 2006).

Socio-economic / political factors affecting trafficking and prostitution

UNECSE identify a number of factors that create the conditions in Central Europe for vast numbers of women and girls being propelled into prostitution. Factors that impel women to take the risk of illegal immigration are: increased economic insecurity; higher risks of unemployment and poverty; limited opportunities for legal immigration and resurgence of traditional discriminatory practices against women, in particular:

Changes in gender parity: Less political participation and women's political exclusion - women's interests, demands and specific problems are widely ignored because they are marginalized. Women bear the heaviest burden of cuts in social expenditures, including child and family allowances, welfare reform, health care and pensions. Male-based privatization - the privatization of national assets has a strong male bias, with women globally receiving few privatized assets.

Loss of job security: The rise in competition in the labor market, unemployment and the loss of job security have undermined women's incomes and economic position. A widening gender wage gap, an increase in women's part-time and informal sector work, as well as atypical work arrangements have pushed women into poorly-paid jobs and long-term and hidden unemployment.

Overt gender-based discrimination and intensive sexual harassment in the workplace.

Feminization of poverty

Poverty among households headed by working mothers. The proportion of women working in the totally unregulated and illegal informal business sector is considerable. Working in the informal economy is an important factor of women's vulnerability to trafficking.

Changes in gender, political and economic parity inevitably affect social stereotypes, perceptions and attitudes. There is a resurgence of some traditional discriminatory practices.

Informalising of economic activities, criminalization and corruption. Internal migration from declining and / or impoverished regions towards metropolitan areas; cross-border migration between neighboring countries; and emigration - provides criminal groups with an opportunity to generate profits. This is not supported by any kind of humane migrant labor regulation, thus putting migrant workers, including women, at risk of exploitation and abuse.

Immigration regulations in many economically advanced countries generate restrictive measures encouraging a rapid growth of smuggling and trafficking in persons. Wage differentials between countries on the one hand, and tighter immigration controls on the other, have contributed to creating conditions favorable to smuggling and trafficking in people. (UNESCE, 2004).

Internal / personal factors affecting those trafficked and prostituted

In different international studies, the majority of women and girls in prostitution report that they have been victims of male sexual violence in their girlhoods. In a study of 130 prostituted persons in San Francisco, the researchers found that 57% had been sexually abused as children and 49% had been physically assaulted. (Farley & Barkan, 1998) Likewise, the Council on Prostitution Alternatives in Portland, Oregon, reported that 85% of the women interviewed for their Victim Survivor Survey were victims of incest as girls and 90% had been physically abused. (Hunter, 1993) Researchers agree that internationally the median age for the entrance of girls into prostitution is 14 years of age. (Ekberg, 2002)

For young children under the age of 12, it is invariably a family member who prostitutes the child through giving/selling them into situations in which they will be sexually exploited. For many young people who are drawn into prostitution before the age of 18, and especially before the age of 16, abuse within the family and/or community seem to be significant precursors. James and Myerling highlighted this association as early as 1977: 65% of their sample of adolescents who were engaged in prostitution activities had been sexually abused. They note; "early, traumatic sexual objectification may be one factor influencing some women toward entrance into prostitution." Research in the UK, (Kinnell, 1991) was the first modern study to begin exploring the link between child abuse, institutional care and child prostitution. Based on interviews with 22 young women who had been in institutional care and were subsequently in prostitution, the research discovered that over half had been involved in commercial sexual exploitation before they left care, that is, before they were 16, and four had had experience of prostitution before being taken into care. (Kelly & Regan, 2000).