Trafficking facts
Collected by the Organisation for International Women in Malmö for the Samarbeta Jämt project in october 2005 and translated into English by Fiona Winders.
No one exactly knows the extent to which women are traded for sexual purposes but in Europe alone the IOM (International Organization for Migration) has estimated 500,000 per year. The women come from all over the world, but since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 the proportion from Eastern Europe and the Balkan countries has risen sharply.
The industry is very profitable and, compared with for example the narcotics trade, relatively risk free, Trafficking, which also extends to the trading of men, children and human organs, is today the third largest source of income for organised crime world wide. Only narcotics and the arms trade are bigger.
In Sweden prostitution is considered to be an expression of male violence against women and children. The Swedish government has long prioritised the fight against prostitution and the trafficking of humans for sexual purposes.
Legislation
Since the beginning of 1999 the purchase or attempt to purchase sexual services has been a criminal offence. The punishment is a fine or up to six months imprisonment. In July 2005 the ban expanded to include where the transaction is on behalf of a third person.
Sweden is the only country in the Nordic region that has criminalised the purchase but not the selling of sex. According to several opinion polls 80 per cent of the public think that the law is good.
EU’s rules for legal penalties contain both a definition of trafficking in relation to the exploitation of labour or sexual exploitation, plus regulations that member states shall meet the crime with effective and proportionate punishments that serve as a deterrent. Since July 2000, if the crime is serious according to particular criteria it is covered by the crime of “trafficking" within the penal code. The maximum penalty for trading women for sexual purposes is ten years imprisonment.
The Palermo Protocol
In December 2000 many of the world’s countries signed a UN Convention on common measures to combat serious crime. An additional protocol was added to the main Convention, specifically dealing with resisting trafficking, especially of women and children. Because the protocol was agreed and signed in Palermo, it became known as the Palermo Protocol.
Prostitution and trafficking
In Sweden street prostitution has drastically reduced since the laws on purchasing sex came into force. According to police estimates, in 1998 there were 180 women working on the streets of Malmö. Today there are approximately 25 on a regular basis and a total of 70 working on the street during any one year. Nearly all of them are heroin users. According to Malmö Police’s Prostitution Group the new law has not meant that the activity has moved to Copenhagen, other than marginally. Even in Stockholm street prostitution has reduced dramatically. According to the national police authority, RPS, it is calculated that there are about fifteen hundred people working as prostitutes in Sweden in any given year.
According to the national police authority, RPS, in 2003, 400-600 women were trafficked to Sweden, most from the Baltic countries, Eastern Europe and Russia. The women were often enticed with false job promises, for example as waitresses, dancers or domestic workers.
During 2004, 29 people were charged with trafficking but none were convicted. However, 20 people, nine more than in the previous year, were convicted of trafficking-related crimes such as procuring.
The police consider that laws on purchasing sex have contributed to making Sweden an unattractive location for trafficking. Putting women on the streets is not successful and it is difficult to set up brothels without discovery. Neighbours often raise the alarm if they suddenly see many and different men visit a flat or house. For traffickers the alternative is often, as in Lukas Moodysson's film “Lilja 4-ever", to drive the woman to the customer, which reduces profits.
Even so, it is thought that Sweden functions as a transit country for trafficking.
Read more: Trafficking for sexual purposes, the police’s situation report: http://www.police.se/inter/mediacache//4347/4637/Rkp_Rapport_2005_4.pdf
Prostitution and trafficking factsheet http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/04/28/78/e61d5677.pdf
Situation in the wider world
Knowledge and involvement in the Nordic countries varies. A first step to co-operation was the Nordic-Baltic campaign, where all the countries’ justice, equality and domestic ministries promised to prioritise work against trafficking in their countries. The campaign assured that efforts against trafficking would begin from a gender perspective and a pledge was made to support the development of a network of those Nordic-Baltic voluntary organisations that work on the issue. The partners also agreed to support preventative work in the countries that the women came from.
Denmark
Prostitution estimated at up to 6,000, of which 2,000 are foreigners. Half of them, around 1,000 women, come from Eastern Europe, principally from the Baltic states, Russia and the Ukraine.
The government does no estimates of the number of victims but states on their home site that many women come to Denmark via criminal networks that they are often in debt to.
In the period 2003-2006 10 million Danish kronor per year is allocated to fighting trafficking. Among the measures is a hotline that victims can make use of; an investigation team; co-operation agencies and voluntary organisations in order to prepare and implement measures to assist women to return to their home countries; development of a network between Danish and international voluntary organisations and an advertising campaign directed towards potential ’buyers’ within the general public. Information materials in different languages have also been put out.
Read more: http://www.lige.dk/Default.asp?Id=47
Norway
A national action plan with a three year budget of 10,3 million euro has been in place since 2003. Victims of trafficking are offered 45 days to consider their situation and decide if they want to co-operate with the police. During this time they are offered protected accommodation and support sessions. Norway also supports preventative measures in those countries that the victims come from and help to those who return to their homeland.
Read more: http://odin.dep.no/jd/norsk/aktuelt/pressesenter/pressem/012101-070119/dok-bn.html
Finland
It is calculated that there are between ten to fifteen thousand people working as prostitutes in Finland in any given year. Four to five thousand of these are estimated to be victims of trafficking and of these, five per cent are under age.
Read more: Louise Eek, Att köpa eller köpas - frihet och makt i sexindustrin.
Finland is highlighted by the USA as a transit country for trafficking, principally of women but also of human organs. Hundreds of women yearly are estimated as being transported through Finland to prostitution in other EU countries. USA has accused Finland of not taking the problem seriously. During a visit to the USA in October 2005 the country’s domestic minister was offered American help for training key personnel, something he declared as a positive development.
Read more: Trafficking in Human Beings, Illegal Immigration and Finland http://www.heuni.fi/21733.htm
