Sex Traffic at the World Cup

Mark Graber

The World Cup is a struggle for supremacy and national pride. This year, at the tournament in Germany, the World Cup is a different sort of struggle for some 40,000 women: a struggle for survival. 40,000 is the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women's (CATW) estimate of how many women have been taken to Germany to fill the extra brothels German entrepreneurs built in preparation for the event. These women have been brought from as far away as Brazil, some lured with false promises of an "all-expenses-paid trip to Germany," others abducted and forced across borders. But no matter where they come from or how they are brought, their fates are the same: to have their bodies be reduced to commodities to be bought and sold, used and abused by pimps and johns from all over the world.

Once these women become prostitutes, they will face a 62% chance of being raped and a 73% chance of being physically abused. Many will be forced to service upwards of 20 men a day, sometimes multiple men at the same time. A number will become substance abusers, forced by their pimps to take drugs to keep them going. Their chance of dying will be 40% than others in their age group.

Efforts to stop this tide of sexual slavery have been minimal at best. English officials have set up campaigns warning travelers to the World Cup that some of the prostitutes they visit may be trafficked. Members of Operation Pentameter, an English police organization working against human trafficking, have promised to "intervene" if they learn of English citizens committing crimes with trafficked prostitutes, but what can they do in a country where prostitution is legal and they have no jurisdiction? Still, England is at least trying to back their anti-trafficking language with action. Not so much can be said for the United States, which has publicly expressed concern over trafficking and the World Cup, but still ranked Germany as a country that "fully complies with the legislation's minimum standards" against human trafficking. This means the U.S. will take no action to pressure Germany into stopping the illegal trade. Even Sweden, widely recognized as having the best anti-trafficking and anti-prostitution policies in the world, has only taken symbolic steps in combating the link between sex trafficking and the World Cup, pledging that no member of the Swedish team will visit a brothel. Nice idea, but it won't even make a dent in the demand for prostitution. 40,000 women need more: they need for the global community to reveal their plight for what it is and take decisive action to stop it.

[This entry was written entirely by Rebecca Graber, age 16]
Posted 7:37 PM by Mark Graber [link]