Human Trafficking in [Lithuania Street Children in [Lithuania] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Lithuania] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Lithuania [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Republic of Lithuania [map]
is located in N central Europe and is bordered by the Baltic Sea (W), Latvia
(N), Belarus (E & SE), Poland (S), and the Kaliningrad oblast (a Russian
exclave; formerly East Prussia) (SW). Lithuania is a source, transit, and destination country
for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. Approximately 21 percent of Lithuanian trafficking victims are
underage girls. Lithuanian women were trafficked within the country and to
the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, and the
Netherlands. Women from Belarus, Russia (the Kaliningrad region), and Ukraine
are trafficked to and through Lithuania for the purpose of sexual
exploitation. - 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 *** Last summer, she had been
approached by a childhood friend, she told me. He said he knew someone who was recruiting
women to work as prostitutes in Within weeks she arrived in ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs GOVERNMENT
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - In January 2002, the government approved a Program on
the Control and Prevention of Trafficking in Humans and Prostitution for
2002-2004. The program concentrated on
the causes of prostitution and trafficking; preventive measures; and on
providing social, psychological, and legal support to victims of prostitution
and trafficking. With funding and assistance
from the World Bank, the government is implementing a National Poverty
Reduction Strategy in order to assist vulnerable populations, including at
risk children. In partnership with
government agencies, IOM launched a counter-trafficking project aimed at
establishing a coordinated system of assistance for trafficking victims from
the INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Organized crime figures are reported to use coercive means to
traffic Lithuanian girls into prostitution abroad, particularly to Western
European countries. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS –
Traffickers targeted the socially most vulnerable groups: young females from
poor or unstable families. Traffickers also commonly targeted young women
from ethnic minorities. Many were lured by deceptive offers of jobs such as
household helpers, bar dancers, nannies, nurses, models, or waitresses, or
through false marriage advertisements. In many cases close relatives or
friends made the offers. Victims' compliance was ensured via threats and the
withholding of their documents. Families often were unaware of their
predicament and believed that they had been kidnapped. Boarding schools that
also serve as orphanages were new targets of traffickers. Police reported that nearly half
of traffickers were linked to organized crime, including international groups Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2001 [53] The Committee, while noting the
National Program against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse
of Children of 2000, expresses its deep concern at the lack of data,
consistent policies, rehabilitation and reintegration programs, and the
reports of disappearances of minors, in particular girls, allegedly for
trafficking purposes. A
barbaric trade in human misery right on our doorsteps "One of the first victims we helped
in the UK was a 15 year-old Lithuanian girl who found herself in Sheffield
where she managed to escape her trafficker and turned up at a police
station." Her case shows how
unsuspecting young victims are lured from their homes into a nightmare world
of brutality and rape. "She was phoned up by someone
and asked if she would like to sell ice cream for the summer in London and
was told she would earn about £300."
The traffickers signed a consent form and her parents, believing it
was a good opportunity, approved the trip.
"She was flown to Gatwick and sold in a coffee shop from one
trafficker to another for £3,000, her passport was taken off her and sold for
£4,000. "Later the same night,
she was taken to a flat and brutalised and raped, and from that moment on she
was forced to act as a prostitute." Committee
on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights Concluding Observations - 2004 [19] The Committee notes with
concern that trafficking in women and children continues to be a problem in
the State party, which is a country of origin and transit, in spite of the
existence of the "Program on control and prevention of prostitution and
commercial trade in people for 2002-2004" and that the new Criminal Code
provides for criminal liability for a number of trafficking-related crimes,
including trade in people (art. 147), profiting from another person's
prostitution (art. 307), and procuring to prostitution (art. 308). Moreover,
the Committee regrets that the lack of information on the number of people
trafficked does not give an accurate picture of the extent of the problem. The Protection Project - Lithuania [DOC] FACTORS
THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE – After 1990, the three Sex traffic:
Danielle was 15 when she was sold into slavery in the UK Danielle was excited at the
prospect of leaving her home in Lithuania for a summer job in Britain at the
age of 15. The work had been arranged through a friend who was unable to join
Danielle until later and so put her in touch with a man who would take her to
London. Danielle suspected nothing until
the stranger took her passport once they passed through customs and left her
with two Albanians and a Lithuanian woman. It turned out that she had been
sold for £3,500. The "holiday job" was working in a brothel in
Birmingham. Sex
trade gang 'beggared belief' Sentencing, Judge Barber said:
"Their behavior absolutely beggared belief, they had taken two young
Lithuanian girls and transported them to CPS
continues fight against sex trade traffickers The latest Crown Prosecution
Service case against human traffickers ended today with the sentencing of
Viktoras Larcenko, the last member of a gang convicted for smuggling girls
from Last summer, she had been
approached by a childhood friend, she told me. He said he knew someone who was recruiting
women to work as prostitutes in Within weeks she arrived in "The model is often the same.
The ones who try to recruit women on the streets tend to be young men, in
their early twenties. Often they are good-looking. Crossing
Borders: The Trafficking of Children into the UK - ECPAT UK The story of Elena, a 15-year-old
East European girl lured to the UK, is a graphic example of the millions of
children caught up in the abusive and exploitative world of trafficking.
Lured from her native Lithuania by prospects of a better life, but deceived
about the true nature of her work, Elena ended up being sold seven times in
three months, physically and sexually abused by her 'owners' and forced into
prostitution. Unlike most others, she managed to escape. Today three of the
men who abused her are serving sentences of seven to 18 years. Elena,
however, remains deeply traumatised and devastated by her experience. I've run out of tears, says girl sold around Britain as a
sex slave at the age of 151 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/09/nslave09.xml That night she had been due to be
passed on to her eighth owner in three months. Eventually, it is thought, she
was likely to have been sold on to traffickers in Concern rises
on failure to arrest war suspects VILNIUS, LITHUANIA: The number of young Lithuanian women sold for sex in Britain has increased from "single cases to dozens every month" since the country joined the European Union last year, the head of Lithuania's Interpol bureau said Friday. (AFP) "Nightclub
Girls Helped Me Escape Captivity" The youngster, from Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide Stop
Violence Against Women – Country Page U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Two Albanian illegal immigrants
have become the first men in the UK to be convicted of the new offence of
human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Taulant Merdanaj, 27, and Elidon Bregu, 19,
were jailed for 18 years and nine years respectively after imprisoning two
Lithuanian women in a flat in Sheffield and forcing them to work as prostitutes. Single,
Europe-Wide Strategy against Human Trafficking Developing and coordinating a
single Europe-wide anti-trafficking strategy should be seriously considered, he
said in his detailed explanation of Lithuania’s efforts to combat the
problem. Due to the country’s geographic location, as well as other
socio-economic factors, it had become a trafficking destination. A
Europe-wide strategy would significantly reduce the transborder sex tourism
industry. Call for
residency for human trafficking victims Eight men are to appear this week
in Oslo City Court on charges of human trafficking. This is the first time a
case concerning prostitution-related human trafficking is to be tried by
Norway’s justice system. Two girls from Lithuania claim to have been brought
against their will to Norway in autumn 2001 and forced to work as
prostitutes. ECPAT
UK Newsletter March 2004 OTHER NEWS - In July last year, seven women
from Lithuania and Moldova testified against their trafficker, Albanian Luan
Plakici. A number of the witnesses had been under 18 when he had trafficked
them and forced them into prostitution. Plakici was sentenced to 10 years for
charges relating to kidnapping, procuring a teenager to have unlawful sex,
incitement to rape and living off prostitution. The
Reintegration Problems of Victims of Trafficking in People in Lithuania It is well known that women
victims often get physically and emotionally abused. If psychological aid is
provided in time, that means, a step into successful psycho-rehabilitation
process has been made. The motivation and self-awareness of victims are very
important, thus it is necessary to change the way of thinking of the victim.
During the rehabilitation process a change in a life style of children and
women as well as their emotional states are emphasized. It is important to
recreate social links with the corresponding social background and to prepare
victims for living on their own. Lithuania
[PDF] TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS - In 2002 Lithuanian society
still held the view that victims of trafficking who were forced to work as
prostitutes should be held accountable for their own misfortune. The problem
was often treated as a problem of illegal immigration, and as a result of
this, women were left without any rights in the foreign country, and without
protection. The trafficking of foreign women to Lithuania to engage in
prostitution was a problem for Lithuanian law enforcement and this meant that
attention which perhaps should have focused on the women involved was instead
directed at combating the criminal activities of prostitutes and their managers. Recognition
For Courageous Work Against Drugs And Crime The Missing Persons Families
Support Centre in Lithuania which was founded in 1996, is at the forefront of
raising awareness about the problem of trafficking in human beings. It
provides assistance to the families of victims in Lithuania and helps to
reintegrate victims of trafficking back into society. It is the only NGO in
the country helping trafficking victims and it opened its first shelter in
Vilnius last year. It also runs a 24-hour hotline offering information to
those wishing to work or move abroad. Most of its 12 staff work voluntarily
for the centre. A Form
of Slavery: Trafficking in Women in OSCE Member States [PDF] [page 40] LITHUANIA - With Lithuania’s integration into the global community,
crimes of an entirely new type have emerged in the country, namely women’s
trafficking, which is closely associated with forced prostitution. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of unemployment, poverty most
sorely affected women. The demolition of collective farms resulted in huge
numbers of unemployed women in the provinces, particularly among the youth.
On the other hand, the liberalisation of the economy has led to the expansion
of the sex and pornography business. Recruitment and the sale of women to
brothels abroad has become a sphere of well-organised international criminal
activity. The National
programme against the commercial Sexual Exploitation and sexual abuse of
Children 12. The commercial sexual
exploitation of children is connected with organised crime; in this instance
we are talking about drawing children into prostitution and pornographic
business. International collaboration
by police officers really helps to stop such criminal activity. Since 1991, Lithuania is a full member of
the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol). The Lithuanian National Bureau of Interpol,
in which an officer responsible for the investigation of problems of abuse
against children has been appointed since 1998, represents the Republic of
Lithuania in this organisation. 1.
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Human Trafficking in [Lithuania Street Children in [Lithuania] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Lithuania] [other countries]