Human Trafficking in [Czech Republic Street Children in [Czech Republic] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Czech Republic] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/CzechRepublic.htm
The Czech Republic is a source,
transit, and destination country for women from Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia,
Romania, Belarus, Moldova, Bulgaria, Mongolia, and Brazil trafficked to the Netherlands,
Denmark, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation. The Czech Republic is a destination for men
and women trafficked from Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Belarus, China, Vietnam,
Mongolia, and Brazil for the purpose of labor exploitation. Roma women are
trafficked within the country and abroad for forced prostitution. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country
report] |
|
||
|
CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Six charged in organ trafficking case at Jan Richter, Radio www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/six-charged-in-organ-trafficking-case-at-brno-hospital [accessed 31 January 2011] Between 2003 and 2004, five
employees of the tissue bank at the Brno-Bohunice hospital,
together with one outsider, sold 7 million crowns worth of skin graft to a
Dutch company. The Organized Crime Squad of the Czech police have now
finished investigating the case and charged the persons involved with illegal
organ trafficking. It took the Czech police three and
a half years to close the case of illegal organ trafficking at a hospital in
Brno, Moravia. Two skin tissue specialists, three other staff members and one
of their relatives have been charged with illegal organ trafficking, a crime
punishable in the Czech Republic only since 2002. The police operation, code
named "Human", the first of its kind in the country, targeted
illegal sales of skin graft to a Dutch company. Human trafficking campaign ends www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/01/23/human-trafficking-campaign-ends.php womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/human-trafficking-campaign-ends-czech-republic/ [accessed 31 January 2011] Although some details may not be
known, the general picture of sex trafficking in the THE TRUE STORY OF A TRAFFICKED
WOMAN - After
Lithuania joined the European Union, in May 2004, Marja
traveled across Italy. After about two weeks, due to unexpected expenses, she
ran out of money. This is when her friend, also originally from Lithuania,
offered her a well-paid job in Prague. They traveled to the Czech Republic in
another friend's car. Since they were now both EU citizens, crossing the
borders was smooth and easy. Late in the evening they reached a town, whose
name Marja didn't notice at the time. They were
both tired and decided to stay overnight. In the morning, Marja discovered that the doors to her room were locked
and that her papers and mobile phone were missing. A stranger entered her
room, a man, who told her in Russian that she owed a lot of money for the
transport and accommodation. There was a customer already waiting for her
downstairs. When Marja realized that she was
expected to work as a prostitute, she pointedly refused. On that day she was,
for the first time, brutally beaten and raped numerous times. In the following weeks, death
threats to both her and her family in Lithuania, beatings and food
deprivation, for even the slightest misbehavior, became part of Marja's life. She can't say for exactly how long this
went on. She started following the orders of the nightclub owner. She even
pretended to be happy. As she puts it, all that she felt inside was the
desire to survive and to not be hit anymore. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2003 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2003/czech-republic.htm [accessed 31 January 2011] GOVERNMENT
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - In 2002, the government provided some funding to local
NGOs that provide assistance to trafficking victims and those at risk of
being trafficking. With funding from
the U.S. Department of State, the NGO La Strada
implemented an awareness-raising program for Czech law enforcement officers
on the needs of trafficking victims and to develop an information database on
trafficking. INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are some reports of the internal trafficking of Czech
children from areas of low employment near border regions with Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61644.htm [accessed 31 January 2011] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Local
sex trafficking victims were generally young women between 18 and 29 years of
age from areas of high unemployment. Romani women were at the highest risk of
being trafficked internally, often by a friend or relative. Girls raised in
state‑run homes, such as orphanages, were also at particular risk.
According to government authorities, women already working as prostitutes
were also particularly vulnerable to traffickers. Trafficked women were
frequently offered jobs as models, maids, waitresses, and dancers through
employment agencies and then forced into prostitution. Once in a destination
country, traffickers ensured victims' compliance by confiscating their travel
documents and using isolation, drug and alcohol dependence, violence, threats
of violence toward the victim or her family, and the threat of arrest and
deportation. Police reported that traffickers increasingly relied on violence
to secure their victims' cooperation. Labor trafficking remained a
significant issue; the interior ministry reported that it was the most common
form of trafficking in the country. The International Organization for
Migration (IOM) and the NGO La Strada released a
study during the year documenting victims from a wide variety of countries,
including the former Soviet Union, South Asia, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 31 January 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/czechrepublic2003.html [accessed 31 January 2011] [60] The Committee welcomes: (a)
The establishment in spring of 2002 of a trilateral Czech-German-Polish
working group to address, inter alia, trafficking in human beings, in
particular the sexual exploitation of children for prostitution occurring in
these areas. Human trafficking campaign ends womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/human-trafficking-campaign-ends-czech-republic/ [accessed 31 January 2011] Although some details may not be
known, the general picture of sex trafficking in the THE TRUE STORY OF A TRAFFICKED
WOMAN - After
Lithuania joined the European Union, in May 2004, Marja
traveled across Italy. After about two weeks, due to unexpected expenses, she
ran out of money. This is when her friend, also originally from Lithuania,
offered her a well-paid job in Prague. They traveled to the Czech Republic in
another friend's car. Since they were now both EU citizens, crossing the
borders was smooth and easy. Late in the evening they reached a town, whose
name Marja didn't notice at the time. They were
both tired and decided to stay overnight. In the morning, Marja discovered that the doors to her room were locked
and that her papers and mobile phone were missing. A stranger entered her
room, a man, who told her in Russian that she owed a lot of money for the
transport and accommodation. There was a customer already waiting for her
downstairs. When Marja realized that she was
expected to work as a prostitute, she pointedly refused. On that day she was,
for the first time, brutally beaten and raped numerous times. In the following weeks, death
threats to both her and her family in Lithuania, beatings and food
deprivation, for even the slightest misbehavior, became part of Marja's life. She can't say for exactly how long this
went on. She started following the orders of the nightclub owner. She even
pretended to be happy. As she puts it, all that she felt inside was the
desire to survive and to not be hit anymore. Czech police accuse 11 Asians of human trafficking Xinhua News Agency, news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/10/content_7222003.htm [accessed 31 January 2011] The traffickers promised the girls
the work of hostesses and barmaids, the Prima and Nova commercial television
channels said. Each of them had to pay
up to 10,000 dollars for the "mediation" of work. They were forced
into prostitution on arrival in the Czech Republic. Six charged in organ trafficking case at Jan Richter, Radio www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/six-charged-in-organ-trafficking-case-at-brno-hospital [accessed 31 January 2011] Between 2003 and 2004, five
employees of the tissue bank at the Brno-Bohunice
hospital, together with one outsider, sold 7 million crowns worth of skin
graft to a Dutch company. The Organized Crime Squad of the Czech police have
now finished investigating the case and charged the persons involved with
illegal organ trafficking. It took the Czech police three and a half
years to close the case of illegal organ trafficking at a hospital in Brno,
Moravia. Two skin tissue specialists, three other staff members and one of
their relatives have been charged with illegal organ trafficking, a crime
punishable in the Czech Republic only since 2002. The police operation, code
named "Human", the first of its kind in the country, targeted
illegal sales of skin graft to a Dutch company. Natashas - The New Global Sex Trade [PDF] Victor Malarek, “Natashas, The New Global Sex Trade”, ISBN 9780670043125 |
16 Oct 2003 | Viking www.selfconnection.ca/Descriptions/9780143012597.pdf [accessed 31 January 2011] SMUGGLER'S PREY - Every day, scores of young women throughout the former East Bloc are lured by job offers that lead to a hellish journey of sexual slavery and violence. Despite the barrage of warnings on radio and TV, in newspapers and on billboards, desperate women continue to line up with their naiveté and applications in hand, hoping that, this time, they might just be in luck. Czech police detain Vietnamese human trafficking gang Tien Phong,
Czech News Agency - Česká tisková
kancelář ČTK, June 15, 2006 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4 September 2011] Czech police have detained four
male and two female Vietnamese in Vietnamese women trafficked, rescued in Czech Republic October 11, 2005 -- Source: Nguoi
Lao Dong - Compiled by Thanh Hang At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4 September 2011] They had to pay US$5,000 to $7,500
each, tricked into thinking that they were coming to Czech on legitimate
terms to well-paid jobs, but instead were forced into prostitution. Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2009&country=7594 [accessed 31 January 2011] Stop Violence Against Women – Country Page The Advocates for Human Rights, October 12, 2006 stopvaw.org/czech_republic2.html [accessed 31 January 2011] Library of Congress Call Number DB2011 .C93 1989 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cstoc.html [accessed 31 January 2011] Human Trafficking - fighting an invisible crime Maida Agovic, Radio www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/human-trafficking-fighting-an-invisible-crime [accessed 1 February 2011] With rising standards of living
and entry into the European Union, the "Most of the victims that end
up trafficked in the Czech Republic come from the former Soviet Union, mostly
Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, some of them from Russia, quite many from
Bulgaria, quite a few from Slovakia as well, and in the past two years, we
have, for the first time, had clients from Asia, from China and Vietnam.
Recently we also had a few clients from Central Asia." Don Hill, Radio Free Europe/Radio www.rferl.org/content/article/1054191.html [accessed 1 February 2011] Today marks the second day of
Miller's three-day visit to the "As the Czech economy has
grown, the nature of the problem has changed," Miller said. "Today
if we look at trafficking in persons, or slavery, in the Czech Republic, we
are talking about the Czech Republic as a destination country. People coming
from Eurasia, Eastern Europe to the Czech Republic, engaging, being forced,
into the various types of slavery. Although, talking with the NGOs, it is
clear that the leading form of slavery in the Czech Republic is sex
slavery." Typology, profile, and position of victims of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation in the Czech Republic [DOC] web.mvcr.cz/archiv2008/aktualit/sdeleni/2003/pril1.doc [Last access date unavailable] PROFILE OF A CZECH VICTIM
TRAFFICKED ABROAD -
According to the La Strada data, it often concerns
very young inexperienced women. Most are between 18 and 22 years of age, in
majority low educated (elementary school, secretarial training, or high
school graduates). Trafficked victims often come from socially pathological
background - dysfunctional, broken or fragmentary families, frequently with
the background of domestic violence (alcoholism, abuse). Alcohol or drug
addiction raises the vulnerability of potential victims. Harnessed by their
addictions, young girls choose prostitution to support their drug habits.
Drug addiction also reinforces the girls' dependency on their pimps. This is
tied to the well-known issue of girls from orphanages who leave the
institution at 18 without having a place to go. They are not adequately
prepared for life and lack basic social and other skills. The merchants
sometimes directly target orphanages, waiting for the girls to leave. Government receives report criticising
Slovak Romanies' situation Czech News Agency - Česká tisková kancelář ČTK,
www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=servis/z_en_2004_0139 [accessed 1 February 2011] The Czech government has received
a report criticising the living conditions of
Slovak Romanies and comparing them to a
humanitarian crisis, the public Czech Television said today. According to the survey, the situation of
Slovak Romanies has worsened after the introduction
of social reforms. Forced prostitution, hunger and poverty reign among Slovak
Romanies, the report says. Report on human trafficking praises Czechs The At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4 September 2011] The In the Czech Republic human
trafficking is linked to street prostitution and forced sex work in the
country's more than 200 brothels. The victims are primarily from the poorest
ex-Soviet states, such as Ukraine and Moldova. U.S. Embassy political officer and
trafficking expert Ben Rockwell did castigate the country on two points,
however. First, sentencing in the Czech Republic, as in many countries, is
too light, according to Rockwell. And despite excellent police work, he said,
far too few traffickers are actually charged. Out of the five persons
convicted of human trafficking last year, four were sentenced to jail time,
but all of the sentences were suspended. Klara Skrivankova:
fighting trade in human lives Rob Cameron, Radio www.radio.cz/en/section/one-on-one/klara-skrivankova-fighting-trade-in-human-lives [accessed 1 February 2011] CAN YOU GIVE ME EXAMPLE OF HOW,
SAY, A TEENAGE GIRL FROM WHAT KIND OF CONDITIONS ARE THESE
WOMEN KEPT IN? -
"The conditions can be very different, ranging from very hard physical
violence to more psychological manipulation and pressure, or debt bondage, or
threats. So the conditions vary. But usually the people are in quite a
vulnerable position because they are foreigners, because sometimes they don't
have papers, they're illegal here, and also because they don't know the
environment. They are purposely kept in isolation, so the only contact they
have is with the group with which they are kept it. It can range from one
extreme to the other." Human Trafficking Casts Shadow on Globalization Michele A. Clark, YaleGlobal ,
23 April 2003 yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/human-trafficking-casts-shadow-globalization [accessed 1 February 2011] In 1996, Sasha
was 26 and worked as a waitress in a small town in the She was approached at work by a
Czech man who promised her a lucrative job in Germany. Believing that she
would be able to save money to ease her family's situation, she accepted the
offer and left for the West, along with three other girls. Her fears began
when her contact refused to return her passport after crossing the border,
and were confirmed when she got to her destination - a sleazy bar on the
outskirts of a German city. Once there, she was gang raped repeatedly to
obtain her compliance, and eventually taken to Amsterdam's red light district
where she was forced to become one of the many women behind the windows,
making as much as US$80,000 tax free for her traffickers in her first year. Child-prostitution claims disputed Andrew Satter, The At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4 September 2011] KARO -- which receives funds from
the European Union and subsidies from the German state of Saxony and which
has monitored the issue since 1996 -- said it has observed about 500 girls
and boys who are in prostitution, most from west, north and south Romany girls kidnapped, sold abroad Martina Pisárová, The Slovak
Spectator, 14 Aug 2000 spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/1538 [accessed 1 February 2011] According to the reports, which
have been substantiated by Roma community leaders and international human
rights observers, several young Slovak Roma women have recently been
kidnapped and then sold to Czech underworld figures. The captives are then
smuggled into western countries, where they are forced into prostitution. Following a story in late July in
the Czech press agency ČTK, the Slovak weekly magazine Moment reported
the case of Silvia Kováčová, an 18 year-old
Roma girl from the small village of Hencovce in
eastern Slovakia, who had been kidnapped by a family friend in mid July. She
was driven to the nearby town of Vranov by the
friend, who said they were going to inquire about an available flower-selling
job for the girl. However, the car met with three
large men en route. "When we got there, I asked about the work selling
the flowers," Kováčová said. "But
they all just started to laugh... one of them then sprayed something in my
face which knocked me out. When I woke up we were outside Bratislava." Kováčová was then smuggled into the Czech
Republic by the kidnappers and was eventually sold at a gas station to a
local pimp in the Czech town of Teplice for the
cash sum of 200 Deutsche marks ($93). All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as:
Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery – |
|||
Human Trafficking in [Czech Republic Street Children in [Czech Republic] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Czech Republic] [other countries]