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

EXPLoita Tion
wealthier lands in North and West Europe or come to their borders. Entrepreneurs
and middle-men hope for large profits through recruiting cheap workers.
Here women make up the largest and at the same time the most vulnerable
group among the work migrants. Their chances of legal employment are slimmer
and they are driven to poorer paid work in largely insecure sectors of the
work market. This often involves risky occupations under conditions equivalent
to slavery. In the final result women often end up as victims of human trafficking.
However, it is often not recognised that women have understandable reasons
for letting themselves be involved in this trade, e.g. they are dependent on
the hard-earned money. The Special Commission therefore regards it as important
that women in prostitution are not simply described as victims; their decisions
must rather be met with understanding. The key problem of working migration
by women from Eastern Europe is the difficult situation in their homelands
together with the legal regulations applying to foreigners and the market
demand in their countries of destination. This general estimate, however,
changes nothing in the established need for help for a large number of women
and children who are involved in prostitution or victims of sexual misuse.
Where do the Women in the Border Region Come from?
The Czech Republic can be counted as a land of origin, destination and transit.
However, both adult women as well as under-age girls (between 15 and 17) in
prostitution come overwhelmingly from the countries of the Ukraine, Moldavia,
Lithuania, White Russia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. A particularly endangered
group are members of the Roma. Alongside sexual exploitation the trade in
women serves such �further � goals �as forced marriage � or �the
exploitation of women
as slaves working in the domestic economy. The women’s situation remains
hopeless. The criminal structures of the human trade let them earn little or even
no money and their dream of supporting their family back home remains unfulfilled.
Their residence as foreigners is often illegal and they are constantly threatened
with expulsion.
Causes in the Countries of Origin
1. Unemployment in the lands of origin is generally very high, especially among
women. They often find no work-place or none corresponding to their qualifications,
and even when they do have a job the wages are often too low for
them to be able to live on them. This stands in contradiction to the rising responsibility
of women for the economic survival of their families. For many
women the wish to support their families is one of the central motives for taking
up work in a foreign country. They see in that the answer to their family’s
financial problems.
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– IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE –