Thursday, October 25, 2012

Blog # 9 Migrant Women Trapped in Sex Trade

Migrant Women Trapped in Sex Trade

In Paris, France, French police dismantled a Nigerian human trafficking ring that forced young migrant women into prostitution. The arrest  brought to light what the authorities call the “modern-day slaves” there and throughout other areas of Europe. The young women were brought into France through Italy and back mailed into prostitution and sex brothels as a means for them to “pay off” their debt of being smuggled into the country. According to the International Labor Organization, these women are a part of the estimated 1.5 million victims of human trafficking in the European Union, where the global number of human trafficking victims is close to 21 million. This as began to be a major problem, and many organizations are pushing public officials to look into these matters and take action against these men who are smuggling them in and taking advantage of them against their will.  “Prostitution remains the a key area where women’s rights are pervasively violated,” said EML’s policy officer and project coordinator of European Women’s Lobby Pierrette Pape. In France however, prostitution itself is not illegal, but pimping and brothel ownership are and some 70% of the country’s estimated 20,000 prostitutes are foreigners mainly from sub-Saharan Africa as well as Eastern and Central Europe.
The women go to these countries to work and instead they are placed in to this dehumanizing jobs away from their families, with shattered hopes and dreams of having that better life they so desperately wanted. Once found they could be sent back to their countries which makes all the degrading things they did done in vain. On top of that, they are not getting proper healthcare from sexually transmitted diseases and I doubt these men are protecting themselves. They are isolated from everything that they know in a new country and even if they find work in a household, they are underpaid and can be targets for abuse in that setting as well. They are pretty much controlled by these pimps and are probably beaten and tormented physically, mentally, and emotionally. Economically they are suffering because they have nothing and are really like depending on those monsters to provide them with everything. Work permits could be expensive, so even if they do escape how will they work, paid for food, clothes, daily needs, etc? And what about birth control and things of that nature. They come into these countries where they do not know their way around and so what are they to do? This is happening all around the world and is happening right here in Greensboro as well. There should be more things set up to monitor things like this and if they do get caught a system should be set in place to help these women gain work permits and attempt to gain what they came here for in the first place, freedom and a better life!!!! (I am aware there are places around that help women do this, kudos to them). It’s interesting to see if there is a number of men/young men being trafficked, cause normally is always young women. Just a thought.         


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