Kampagne Stoppt Zwangsprostitution!

Campaign Stop Forced Prostitution!

Rein, raus?

Countries of Origin

The majority of the reported victims of human trafficking are from Middle and Eastern Europe. Russian women used to be the largest group of victims of forced prostitution. They are now outnumbered by women from the new member states of the European Union, such as Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. The number of women from Africa has also increased in recent years. The women from Asia and Latin America are continuously being affected by this crime.

What forces the women to leave their homeland? Why do they leave their children behind? Why do they let themselves be recruited and trust unscrupulous traffickers, and get into dangerous situations?

Middle and Eastern European backgrounds

The tremendous economic transformation process in the Middle and Eastern European countries are characterised by falling living standards, mass unemployment, wide scale poverty and the cutback of social securities.

At the same time, these countries are experiencing an emerging economical development with winners and losers. The women often stand on the losing end.

With an increasing unemployment, the women are hit the hardest, or rather they have the lowest earning potential. In economically critical situations it is often the women who work in order to support their families and to survive financially.

Mothers often find themselves raising their children alone. In many cases, women provide for parents, siblings or for the unemployed husband. Many of these women take on several jobs in order to provide for their families.

Corruption, criminality and social decline make life harder. The population suffer under the loss of confidence in the society and in their government.

To go west, to flee the poverty and hopelessness, to be able to afford everything, perhaps meet a privileged European, fall in love, get married - such dreams are symbols of prosperity, of a modern and a better life, progress and social acceptance. It is a dream of freedom and human dignity.

Due to lack of perspectives in life, young women in particular dream of the big break in the west and of the fulfilment of their material dreams. Western consumer goods are very appealing.

Gergana from Bulgaria tells of her experiences: “I worked as an untrained salesperson and earned €300 gross each month. The shoes I wanted cost €50, a brand-name lipstick €15 and shampoo costs €5. I can’t afford my own apartment, the rent for a simple 2-room apartment is about €250.”

It is often the case with minors that they flee from their families, from abuse, from violence and from alcoholic parents. Some girls live with their grandparents, others are and left on their own by their families.

Ludmilla lived in a small village. Her mother was unemployed and her father earned only a small income. When they finished school most of her friends moved to the city, and she, too, saw no future in the village. She was bored. She replied to an advertisement and took a job selling household goods door to door. Her boss gave her an offer to work as a cleaner in Germany where she could earn lots of money. She believed him and came to Germany where she was forced to work as a prostitute.

Two 17-year-old women from Latvia knew that they were to work in a bar or a red-light-district. They had, however, the wrong idea about the business. They believed that their job would simply be to look sexy and flirt with the men at the bar. Ultimately they were forced to have sex with them.

African backgrounds - with the example of Nigeria

A large percentage of African victims of human trafficking come from Nigeria, one of the poorest countries in the world. For example, in Nigeria only half the population have access to clean water. One can imagine their expectations when they arrive in Germany.

Without perspectives, with only limited schooling and training, lack of job opportunities, desperate poverty and the existential struggle for survival lead these women into the hands of dangerous handlers and pimps. Specific to this cultural belief system are the so called Voodoo rituals in which these women firmly believe. With the help of Voodoo traders lead women into psychological dependency, holding and controlling them.

“They took hair from my head, my armpits and my pubic hair and put them into a wooden box. They added my fingernails and blood into it. They photographed me and put it also in the box. They threatened me that if I didn‘t pay the money back, they would send me a Tagba (a doll) and that I would be cursed, become sick, and that no one in the hospital would be able to say what was wrong with me. On top of that, they used a razor blade and draw a sign on my right hand and my right foot. They explained that if I didn‘t pay the money back I would have problems with my right hand and my right foot.”
(Girl from Nigeria)

Another feature common to this culture is the figure of ‘Madam‘. She is often a former prostitute herself who acts as pimp and handler. On the one hand she exploits the women, and on the other hand she gives them the feeling that they are in an apparently trustworthy African community.

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