Human Trafficking in [Turkey Street Children in [Turkey] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Turkey] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Turkey [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Turkey is a
significant destination, and to a lesser extent, transit country for women
and children trafficked primarily for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. This year, five men were reported trafficked from Turkmenistan
for purposes of forced labor. Women and girls are trafficked from Moldova, Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, and Romania for sexual exploitation. This year, three victims were
reported trafficked to Turkey from outside of Eastern Europe and Eurasia—from
Morocco, Tunisia, and Sri Lanka. Some victims are reportedly trafficked
through Turkey to the area administered by Turkish Cypriots 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 ARTICLES *** Human
trafficking ‘world-wide epidemic,’ One of the stories Bartell related was about Svetlana, a young Russian
woman. She was promised a well-paying job in Istanbul, Turkey, by two men.
Once she arrived, her passport and money were taken away, and she was locked
up and forced into prostitution. Desperate to escape, she jumped out of a
window when she was with a customer and fell six stories. Instead of taking her to the hospital, the
customer called the traffickers. Untreated, she ultimately died. Turkey's sex
trade entraps Slavic women The women arrive here by ferry from across the Most come of their own free will, but many end up as virtual slaves, sold from pimp to pimp through a loosely organized criminal network that stretches from Moscow to Istanbul and beyond. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs - 2004 INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Girls are trafficked to Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Foreign
victims trafficked to the country were typically recruited by small networks
of foreign nationals and Turkish citizens who relied on referrals and
recruitment from friends and family members in the source country. Some
victims answered newspaper advertisements or enlisted the help of job
agencies in the source country. The victims often did not know where they
were going or which airlines they were using. Some victims reportedly arrived
in the country knowing that they would work illegally in the sex industry;
however, most arrived believing they would work as models, waitresses,
dancers, domestic servants, or in other regular employment. Traffickers
typically confiscated victims' documents, then confined, raped, beat,
starved, and intimidated them by threatening their families and ultimately
forced them into prostitution. Not all trafficking cases were for
sexual purposes. One foreign victim was saved from domestic servitude after
calling the trafficking hot line. The media reported that young Turkish men
and women, many underage, were recruited to work in brick factories in Tekirdag Province, receiving little or no salaries and
living in hazardous conditions on site. Trafficking in
women remains a global abuse The June 28, 2007, German weekly,
Die Zeit, published an article on the growing
problem of human trafficking in Europe. The article gave several specific
examples. One woman, Natalia, from the country of
Moldova, wrongly assumed that a household job awaited her in Istanbul that would pay 300 Euros per
month. At the Istanbul airport, however, her male contact person was
approached by another man who told Natalia that she
would be working for him instead. Subsequently, she was forced into
prostitution and ''sold'' six more times. Fortunately, her sister managed to
locate her and to get her released. Trafficking victims
prompt new Baptist ministry in Moldova Hoping to make money to help her
husband support their family, a young Moldovan woman named Irina took a job in Turkey
offered through a friend. Upon arriving there, she was placed in a room of an
abandoned casino with three other girls. Periodically, a guard entered the
room and took one of the captives to a client. The girls were not paid any
money and often were severely beaten by the guard and clients. One day, Irina
and one of the other girls managed to pry open the window of the second-story
room and jump to the alley below. A kind stranger bought a ticket back to
Moldova for her. Once home, however, she felt dirty and out of place. Combating
human trafficking under one roof Güneş designated the Public Security
Department a coordination unit to organize operations against human
trafficking under one roof. He said that in 2006 in Turkey, 104 cases of
human trafficking had been discovered and 404 suspects were apprehended along
with 117 victims. According to the minister, 31 cases have been reported
since the beginning of 2007 in which 102 suspects were taken into custody and
43 victims rescued. Turkish
speaker at Humphrey Institute presents her research on human trafficking “At least 97 percent of the
traffic is for the purposes of sexual exploitation,” said Altuntas.
“One out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers who are lured by
chances of making a better life for their children,” she said. A Turkish ad campaign designed to
help these victims features the face of a young child asking the question,
“Have you seen my mother?” Turkey has also begun a 24-hour
hotline for trafficking victims, distributing information cards that list the
hotline number with the plea, “If anyone takes away your passport, your
freedom or forces you to perform work of any kind without pay, call the
helpline.” The cards are printed in four languages and are being handed out
at border crossings and transportation hubs. Human
trafficking ‘world-wide epidemic,’ One of the stories Bartell related was about Svetlana, a young Russian
woman. She was promised a well-paying job in Istanbul, Turkey, by two men.
Once she arrived, her passport and money were taken away, and she was locked
up and forced into prostitution. Desperate to escape, she jumped out of a
window when she was with a customer and fell six stories. Instead of taking her to the hospital, the
customer called the traffickers. Untreated, she ultimately died. Operation
into Turkish human trafficking gang expanded Turkish police on Wednesday
expanded their operation targeting a gang involved in human trafficking to
cover six separate provinces. Among those detained was a retired police chief
who also worked as the security co-ordinator for
the Turkish retailing company Yimpas. Police took
almost one hundred people into custody who had obtained visas with false
identifications for European Union countries. 687
people tried for human trafficking last year Criminal courts in Turkey over the
last year settled almost 200 cases involving the crime of human trafficking,
with 687 people appearing before the courts. Turkey is a major destination and
transit country for women and children trafficked primarily for sexual
exploitation and, to a lesser extent, forced labor. In 2005, the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Turkey reported that
60 percent of cases identified involved victims from Ukraine and Moldova;
other victims are trafficked from throughout Eastern Europe and the former
Soviet Union. Reports of trafficking within Turkey were continuing, it said.
Turkish traffickers used violence to control their victims, often using
threats against victims' families as a powerful form of coercion. Ukrainian
law enforcement liquidated the human trafficking channel Having financial strait, young
woman from Kherson found ad proposing well-paid job
abroad (bar-women and waitresses). “The malefactor sold Kherson
resident to Turkish citizen for $2,400. The victim had to work it off by prostitution”. Human Trafficking Victims on Rise IOM, has stated that the women are
trafficked against their own will, by force, kidnapped without compensation
in any form and then sold. It said the organisation
has provided support for 55 human trafficking case victims in the first three
months of 2006 alone. Sex Trafficking Plagues Turkey This nation has become one of the
largest markets in the trafficking of women from nearby former Soviet states
who have been forced into prostitution, with profits from the illicit sex
trade in Turkey an estimated $3.6 billion last year and growing, an
international agency said in a report released Tuesday. Ukrainian women freed from sexual slavery in Turkey thanks to phone tip-off The women - one of whom was held
for six years - were set to return to Ukraine after being rescued by Turkish
police following a call to the "157" hotline, which is run by the
IOM, the Geneva-based organization said.
Impoverished women from Eastern Europe are lured to Turkey's sex
trade entraps Slavic women The women arrive here by ferry from across the |
Human Trafficking in [Turkey Street Children in [Turkey] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Turkey] [other countries]