Human Trafficking in [Germany Street Children in [Germany] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Germany] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Federal Republic of Germany [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Federal Republic of Germany [map] is located in the center of Europe, bordering the Germany is a
transit and destination country for men and women trafficked for the purposes
of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, including in the
construction industry, in restaurants and ice cream parlors, and as domestic
servants. Victims are trafficked primarily from Central and Eastern
Europe—including the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, and Russia—and Nigeria
to and through Germany to the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries. In
2006—the latest available statistics—23 percent of the victims of commercial
sexual exploitation were German nationals trafficked within the country.
German nationals traveled to Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries for the
purpose of child sex tourism.
- U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country
report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in *** FEATURED
ARTICLE *** Exposed: the myth of the World Cup ‘sex slaves’ Last summer, lurid headlines claimed that 40,000 women would be smuggled by sex slavers into Germany to be prostituted to World Cup football fans. The truth is very different indeed. Newly unrestricted European Union documents reveal that the German police uncovered just five cases of ‘human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation’ related to the international football tournament. ***
ARCHIVES *** Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – The country was both a
destination and transit country for trafficked persons. The BKA reported in their annual report on trafficking in
persons that the numbers of known and registered victims in 2003 was 1,235,
and the percentage of registered victims under age 18 continued to be in the
5 percent range. Of the registered victims, 80 percent came from Eastern
Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union, primarily Traffickers
used a range of intimidation techniques to ensure the compliance of victims,
including threats to "sell" the victim, threats of deportation,
misrepresentation of victims' legal rights and status, physical violence, and
withholding travel and identification documents. Expert:
Germany Can Do More For Victims of Human Trafficking WHAT SORT OF CHANGES WOULD YOU LIKE
TO SEE THE GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENT TO PROTECT WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN TRAFFICKED TO
GERMANY? - What we
would like to see is women who have been trafficked become entitled to
permanent residency in Germany. At the moment the legal conditions are quite
strict when it comes to getting residency. Secondly, coverage of basic needs
including medical treatment and psychological help is often not provided. We would like them to have a legal
right to this basic coverage. Another important point is access to further
education, especially language courses, so that women who decide to stay here
once they have been released have an opportunity to build a normal life. We
are lobbying too for access to the labor market. Falling Short
of the Mark: An International Study on the Treatment of Human Trafficking
Victims [PDF] GERMANY - Germany is generally complying
with international standards under the Trafficking Protocol for the
protection of victims of human trafficking, and it is a signatory to the
European Trafficking Convention. In addition to providing victims with a
.reflection period. and the possibility of temporary residency, a network of
government funded recovery centres has been
implemented, together with provisions to address the unique needs of
trafficking victims during investigations. However, Germany has yet to ratify
the Trafficking Protocol and there are serious concerns that its recent
legalization of prostitution will exacerbate the plight of victims of human
trafficking RESIDENCE - Amendments to Germany.s immigration and victims. rights legislation in
2004 grants a four-week .reflection period. for victims of human trafficking,
after which those who agree to testify against their traffickers may obtain a
temporary residence permit. New study shames human traffickers http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143968455 International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) says Kenyans were also trafficked to Germany, Italy and South Africa for domestic labour and prostitution. Its report, ‘Trafficking in Persons — The Eastern Africa Situation’, notes that women and children were favourite targets for well-organised trafficking rings, which operate freely for lack of solid laws against the vice. Romanian
Police Break Up Human Trafficking Ring Romanian authorities have
dismantled a human trafficking ring that transported women to Germany and
sold them to Turkish citizens for about 5,000 euros ($6,700) each, border
police said on Wednesday. Police said the six-person gang
recruited women in bars in villages in west Romania by promising them
well-paid jobs abroad. They took them out of the country legally and sold
them to Turks in the German towns of Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg. Exposed: the myth of the World Cup ‘sex slaves’ Last summer, lurid headlines
claimed that 40,000 women would be smuggled by sex slavers into Germany to be
prostituted to World Cup football fans. The truth is very different indeed.
Newly unrestricted European Union documents reveal that the German police
uncovered just five cases of ‘human trafficking for the purpose of sexual
exploitation’ related to the international football tournament. Human
trafficking a Games pitfall, researcher warns In its report, the Future Group
said German authorities employed a
coordinated effort to combat human trafficking related to an increased demand
for prostitution during the 2006 World Cup of soccer. It involved public
education, cooperation with social agencies and tight border controls. In the
end, while officials did see an increase in prostitution, they did not detect
a rise in trafficking. However, in Greece, in 2004 -- the same year the country hosted the summer
Olympics -- the country did not adopt measures that were as strong and a
95-per-cent increase in human-trafficking cases was recorded. No rise in human trafficking in Germany due to World Cup Researchers say German authorities
boosted raids on sex shops and brothels ahead of the World Cup. The European
Union, the U-S and the Vatican had pressured Germany to act. IOM
Battles Human Trafficking During World Cup To warn about the risk of human
trafficking and forced prostitution during the World Cup in Germany, the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched a joint awareness
campaign with the MTV-Europe music channel and the Swedish government. IOM
spokesman Jean Philippe Chauzy says the campaign’s
focal point is a public-service announcement (PSA),
which directs viewers to a website where they can obtain information for
anonymously reporting to the German authorities any cases of trafficking and
forced prostitution they may encounter. Europe-Wide
Human-Trafficking Ring Cracked Authorities across Europe say they
have arrested 41 Bulgarians in recent days after Italian police uncovered a
trafficking network that exploited hundreds of children. The arrests were in northern Italy,
Bulgaria, Germany, and Austria.
Italian police say another 75 people have been placed under investigation.
Charges against the suspects include enslavement, human trafficking, and drug
smuggling. Battling Human Trafficking in Germany With German Foreign Minister Joschka
Fischer on the hot seat for allegedly ignoring gaping holes in Germans
Bust Sex Smuggling Ring German police smashed a major
international human trafficking ring allegedly dealing in drugs,
prostitution, extortion and money laundering.
Wrapping up a nearly five-year probe, investigators captured 21
suspects believed to be involved in a network smuggling women coerced into
the sex trade into Woman
judge 'ran sex ring that killed boy aged five' The abuse took place in the back
room of a pub run by the former judge, named only as Christa W. The bar was a
well-known meeting place for drug dealers and prostitutes. Some press reports
suggest that Christa W took money from customers for access to the children. He was removed from her care after
complaining that she, her partner and his own mother and her boyfriend
sexually abused him. It is thought that Pascal, whose home was 100 yards from
the pub, was beaten while being abused, to keep him quiet. But, say police, he was hit so hard that he
died. The abusers panicked, put his body in a car, drove across the border
and buried it. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress - Country Study Wikipedia: Prostitution in Germany - Trafficking in Women The trafficking in women from
Eastern Europe is often organized by gangs from that same region. (The BKA, the German equivalent to the FBI, reported in 2003
that 60% of the suspects in trafficking cases were foreigners, with another
8% being foreign born Germans. Most of the women know from the start that
they are going to work in prostitution even though they often don't know
about the working conditions; some others hope for a job as waitress or
au-pair; some are simply abducted. Once in Germany, their passports are taken
away and they are informed that they now have to work off the cost of the
trip. Sometimes they are sold to pimps or bar owners, who then make them work
off the purchase price. They work in bars, apartments or as escorts and have
to hand over the better part of their earnings. Some women reconcile
themselves with this situation, as they still make much more than they could
at home; others rebel and are threatened or abused. They are often told that
the police have been paid off and will not help them, which is false. They
are also threatened with harm to their families at home. Helping
Victims of Human Trafficking Dreams of a better life often end
in a brothel for the victims of human trafficking, with the people smugglers
and slave traders who bring them there making a lucrative living from their
misery. Women like Oxana
(name changed), whose boss in the Ukraine told her he organized a job for her
in a Spanish bakery, and that a friend of his in Germany would help her get a
plane ticket. EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT AWAY FROM
HOME - But once in a
foreign environment, the situation changes. Human
Trafficking: The Forced Labour Dimensions [PDF] [page 3] We are also completing a report
on this issue in Germany, based on extensive interviews with victims, and
also with a range of law enforcement authorities and other experts. Once
again our researcher has come out with a far higher figure for forced labour victims than we would have expected beforehand,
mainly because of the extended interpretation given to forced labour practices. For example only 2.5% per cent of an
estimated one million migrant workers (85% of these women) have experienced
the use of open violence in order to enforce the acceptance of unfavourable conditions of work and pay. This is
primarily the case of women in forced prostitution. But far higher numbers
are seen to have submitted to sub-standards conditions of work and pay,
because of the threat of arbitrary dismissal, reporting to the police, or
some form of intimidation against workers and their families. Sex
slaves often come from Russia, go to Germany - UN Russia is where people forced to
become sex workers most commonly come from and Germany the place they most
often end up working, the United Nations said Tuesday after studying
thousands of cases of human trafficking. Trafficking
in unaccompanied minors for sexual
exploitation in the European Union [DOC] [page 97] TRAFFICKING IN CHILDREN
AND MINORS - The
trafficking of UAMs with the intention of
exploitation or abuse has been an issue in Germany but only sporadically
during the last few years and the authors of this report believe, it is still
widely considered to be of minor importance. The first signs of an increase
in the level of trafficking of minors, mainly of very young children and
infants from Asia or Africa to Germany, appeared as early as the 1980s with
illegal adoptions. The opening of frontiers between the East and West, the
breakdown of political, social and economic systems and the resultant social
conflicts, has led to initial cases of trafficking in minors from Eastern
Europe in addition to the trafficking in adult human beings (and in
particular women). There are alarming incidents of such trafficking: the
smuggling of young Eastern European girls to German brothels through
prostitution rings, the exploitation of Romanian children as thieves in
German cities, the exploitation of children of different nationalities as
drug couriers, and especially of African girls as prostitutes. As yet
however, no detailed analysis of all aspects of the phenomenon exists. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Germany Street Children in [Germany] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Germany] [other countries]