2012. évi 2. szám - Jura - Pécsi Tudományegyetem

Jorn van Rij: A Dutch Invitation: Hungarian Women Welcome?and all of them have worked in another Europeancountry before they came over to the Netherlands.Out of the 97, 86 of them have worked several yearsin different German cities like Munich and Hamburg,five have worked in Northern-Italy, four in the CzechRepublic, two in Slovakia and two in Belgium. Theyall say they don’t think that the Netherlands willbe the last country they will work in. What is alsointeresting is the fact they have frequently travelledaround in the Netherlands and have been active inseveral other Dutch red light districts before. A frequentexchange link is seen between the cities of TheHague, Utrecht, Amsterdam and Groningen. The oddone out is Rotterdam, because this city lacks a formalisedred light district and the Hungarian womenworking in Rotterdam are commonly working outof a private setting or out of a(n) (il-)legal brothelwhich they share with two or three other women anda caretaker. Punters can contact them by answeringan advertisement in a newspaper or via the internet.More recently the amount of online advertisements,especially for Rotterdam, have grown rapidly. Thiscould mean this way of operating is more lucrativefor the human traffickers as this is very hard to controland investigate by police, health care servicesand tax service and could give more control overthe women.Websites like kinky.nl and privategirls.nl offera wide variety of women working in the sex tradeand a quick search on the city of Rotterdam on eitherwebsite resulted in a few hundred hits. Most ofthe women’s pictures show a lot of resemblance insurrounding i.e. the chamber, bed etc. and in pose.These women will give their address when an appointmenthas been made and this is commonly anormal house, not registered as a brothel with thechamber of commerce. These sex houses are run byillicit entrepreneurs who usually have one or twomen or women present there to keep an eye on theprostitutes. The question can be raised if these entrepreneursand so-called care-takers are the samepeople responsible for the travel of the women aswell. It is expected they belong to the same group.These places are usually operational for only a fewmonths and then they disappear as do the womenworking there. They usually change their name andmove to another city and then place a new advertisementwith new pictures but frequently the same textand the same textual and typographical errors.5. Actuality: The Working GirlsAt first sight the majority of the Hungarian women,who commonly introduce themselves as Megy, Maria241or Paula, and even though a visual inspection of theirworking conditions in the so-called ‘pees kamertjes’gives the idea of third world like standards, are quitecheerful and enthusiastic with a positive attitude.In general the educational level of the women canbe classified as low, their social economic status inHungary was low as well and some of the womenshow signs of some sort of mental handicap whichmakes them vulnerable to abuse. 12 They quite commonlydo not speak any other language then theirnative tongue which makes it hard to interact ineveryday life and to communicate with both the‘Walkers’ (as the punters/clients call themselves)and public officials.However, during the interviews a second realityin contra to their positive attitude is surfaced. Theyare frequently frightened by different situations ofuncertainty and external pressure and their levelof trust in others is very low or even absent. Thewomen usually work more than the legal maximumof 40 hours per week and it is not uncommon thatthe women are forced to work for 60 up to a 100hours per week. 13 Except for five, all of the Hungarianwomen have declared that they have startedworking as a prostitute because of financial needsin Hungary and because they came in contact withmen who promised them a quick and easy route to abetter life. In some cases they were forced to work asa prostitute by relatives in order to help make endsmeet. Of them, 43 were told beforehand that they hadto work as a prostitute, only the circumstances underwhich they had to operate were portrayed completelydifferent. The other half were lured with stories ofbecoming a model or a waitress. This modus operandiis confirmed in Dutch police investigationstowards two Hungarian women trafficking organisationscalled Lunar and Swan. 14 One of the biggestproblems for the Dutch authorities is the situationthat the Hungarian women who have fallen victimto traffickers as EU citizens can travel freely betweenEU member states without being checked becauseof the Schengen agreement. Beside this, they worklegally in the Netherlands because they also adhere toDutch prostitution regulations. This of course understrict supervision of their pimps/traffickers. The onlydifference can eventually be found when the womenfile their taxes. As they are extorted out of most oftheir income their tax forms are noticeably differentfrom those of indigenous prostitutes. As mentionedbefore could the chance in modus operandi by offeringthe women to the public with the use of theinternet and making use of private rented flats etc.minimise the chance for the trafficked women to bedetected by the authorities.JURA 2012/2.