In 1999 Eva was offered a job that would allow her to leave her native Slovakia and go to live in France. She would work as waitress, but would also have to do some sex work. She was aware of this, but was a single mother and the traffickers offered to buy her and her family a flat. She accepted, but when she reached France she was forced to work as a street prostitute, was beaten and raped by customers. She was threatened with violence if she tried to leave. Eventually she managed to escape.
The 2005 US State Department Trafficking in Persons report lists Slovakia as on its “Tier 2 Watch list” which means that if does not improve its actions against human trafficking it could slip into Tier 3 and face sanctions. Often now the country is not only a source country for women being trafficked, but also a transit country for traffickers wanting to move women out of Eastern Europe and into the lucrative sex market in the west.
The US State department report concludes that:
“Government victim assistance and protection efforts as well as trafficking prevention programs remained inadequate. The Slovak Government formed an inter-ministerial expert working group on March 31, 2005, to develop a coordinated national action plan to combat trafficking; however, there has been insufficient time to gauge the working group’s effectiveness.”
Slovakia as a member of the EU must bring its performance against the traffickers up to standard and stop being an entry point for human traffickers into western Europe.

Ricky Martin, the well-known singer has linked up with the US Health and Human Services Department to continue to publicise the dangers of human trafficking to English and Spanish speaking audiences. The Ricky Martin Foundation is a well-established NGO working for child rights.
“More than half of trafficking victims worldwide are children, forced into pornography, prostitution and labor servitude. Human trafficking is one of the cruelest social problems in the world today,” said Martin.
Radio and television public announcements will be made in Spanish and English and shown in the US and also in Puerto Rico. They will help to raise awareness of the problem and give people information on what to do if they see something they suspect to be human trafficking.
“Ricky Martin is well known throughout the world and cares deeply about the well-being of children,” said Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., HHS assistant secretary for children and families. “Our partnership with Mr. Martin and his passion for combating human trafficking will expand the awareness of this growing problem.”

Police in Goa, India, have arrested three women for trafficking a minor into prostitution. The girl had been approached in Bangladesh and her family promised that she would find a good job in India. The girl, aged 16 was then trafficked into Mumbai and forced to work as a prostitute. She was then moved to Ahmedabad, back to Mumbai and then finally onto Goa. The girl tried to feign illness in order to avoid having sex with clients, but she was eventually taken to a hotel, and forced to have sex. The police, however, were warned by a hotel employee and were able to rescue the girl and arrest the women who were allegedly exploiting her. The girl is now being cared for in the Apna Ghar welfare home. The three women will stand trial in Panjim, the state capital of Goa.

A Moroccan court gave jail sentences last week to 60 prostitutes who were operating out of a hotel in Agadir. Five employees of the hotel were also given sentences of two to three years. The foreign tourists who were originally arrested as clients in the hotel were, however, released without charge and deported. Members of the Justice and Development Party (Islamists, opposition)have expressed satisfaction with the result, but Human Rights Organisations have been alarmed that the prostitutes are being punished and that there has been no process of determining if they are victims of human trafficking or not. If the government was really intent on ending sex tourism in the country they would also impose penalties on the clients who create the demand.

School girls as young as 16 in Hong Kong are being lured into prostitution with offers of lucrative jobs in Mongkok karaoke clubs. The traffickers tell the girls that they will be able to make as much as $1000 a night by singing, and talking to clients. The reality is that they will make much less and will be expected to have sex with clients. Last week undercover police visited a karaoke club in Tung Choi Street, Mongkok, where they arrested 30 people including five students aged 16 or 17. The police said that they had applied for care and protection orders for the girls who had been arrested.
‘Students must be cautioned while looking for summer jobs. They should be alerted about the possibility of falling into traps and being controlled by criminals to make money,’ Senior Inspector Lee Kwok-Chiu said.
‘Parents should also be alerted if they notice their children going out frequently at night or suddenly having a lot of money to buy expensive goods.’