BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPPRESION AND THE YOKE OF ...

gion are open to being told about the diverse difficulties the women have 3 . Certainly
this must be denied in the case of the group of those who exploit the special
situation of this region precisely for their own special needs. Others could
perhaps still be reached through directed information campaigns.
Every customer of the sex business must realise that his desire for commercial sex
creates the very market which unscrupulously employs human trade. Yet the customers
could demonstrate responsibility by opposing the violence in the milieu
and avoiding scenes which raise the suspicion of human trafficking. That may be
difficult in the area of the border region, yet no-one should remain ignorant of
the fact that it is precisely his visit to this scene that creates an environment in
which exploitation, violence and degradation flourish. The social evaluation of
prostitution and its use is difficult and is also variously accented in the churchly/diaconal
context. Yet a general consensus about the limits of any tolerance relates
to the areas in which compulsion, physical and psychological violence or
conditions of slavery condition the business. This applies especially to prostitution
in connexion with human trade or indeed child prostitution. There can be
no ethical compromise with structures of bodily and mental violence, abduction
and exploitation. The fundamental constitutional and Christian principles of
human social life draw a radical limit here. Here every customer must be made
responsible: By contrast with many women he has a choice. It is a question of
awareness and sensitivity.
Aspects of the Supply
EXPLoita Tion
Where do the women and girls come from who post themselves on the notorious
roads in the German-Czech � � border � region? What � drives � them into the brothels
and clubs standing there in rows? For what reasons and with what degree of freedom
or under what compulsion do they sell their bodies or offer sexual services?
It seems important to make a distinction at this point: Even if the scale of prostitution
motivated by poverty and existential need may be immense – especially
at the boundary between East and West – it is still important not to present
women simply as “objects”, as “female wares”. For it is primarily a matter of migration
to find work (even if combined with the described outgrowths of smuggling,
trading and violence) across the prosperity barrier from East to West as
from South to North. Migration across boundaries in search of work is an integral
element of a globalised economy. In particular the inhabitants of many East
and Central European countries belong to those who make their way to the
3 IOM, Report on the Project “Pilot Research among Customers of Commercial Sex
Services in two Border Regions of the Czech Republic”, 2005, p. 31f. (cf. http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/archiv2008/
rs_atlantic/data/files/iom-clients.pdf last access 12.5.2009).
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– IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE – 131