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SYNODAL COMMITEE FOR INTERORTHODOX AND
INTERCHRISTIAN RELATIONS - CENTER FOR SUPPORT TO REPATRIATED EMIGRANTS
Trafficking in Women
Understanding and Challenging the Demand Side
Paper presented at the
Public Conference « 18 Months after the Brussels Declaration »:
Issues, achievements and challenges in the fight against trafficking in women»
4th March 2004, European Parliament, P.H. Spaak Building
Brussels
Prepared by Maria Papantoniou-Frangouli
Orthodox Church of Greece
Reintegration Centre for Migrant Workers (KSPM).
Athens-Greece
kspm-erp@otenet.gr
papantoniou@ath.forthnet.gr
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1. Demand in the frame of trafficking
Trafficking is an activity that due to its underground character is difficult to be apprehended and eludes our precise knowledge. It is not possible to have statistics concerning its quantitative aspect, what is available are estimates, characterized by many authors as ‘guesstimates’(1). If we cannot reach a precise quantitative circumcision of the phenomenon, the relative documentation and empirical evidence is ample enough to convince that the phenomenon not only is extended, but also is expanding in a quick pace.
Trafficking has three components: The offer side, the traffickers or trafficking rings, and the demand side. Trafficking would not have taken place unless all three components were there. Correspondingly, trafficking cannot be effectively combated unless all three components are at the same time addressed.
There are many approaches that can be used to the trafficking issue, as trafficking is a complex phenomenon involving different social issues and processes (criminality, migration, prostitution, human rights, gender issues, economic issues, etc.). Our conviction is, however, that the dominant aspect is that of migration and that it is that aspect that has to be always kept in mind, whatever specific approach is being followed, in order to make sure that respect of women in their desires, wishes and expectations is safeguarded. In this frame trafficking can be considered as a distorted migration process in the frame of which the desire of women for a better life becomes the condition for their servitude.
2. Demand and supply
To return to the demand component, trafficking would not take place unless there was a demand for trafficked women. But what do we mean by demand for trafficked women? Is there already a demand for sexual services that cannot be met by local women? Is there a special demand for foreign women? Has the supply created demand and is this new demand different to the pre-existing one?
How can we answer these questions? Research on trafficking in general is underdeveloped(2), even more so research on the demand side So what we know about demand derives to a very small extent from research results and much more from the knowledge acquired through practical intervention, NGO’s, police reports, journalistic sources, and individuals having a direct experience with the issue. Thus we are still at an exploratory level in the investigation of the demand side and, as a consequence, in order to discuss the issue it is necessary to bring together information from all available sources, something, however, that can lead to no more than the sketching of a first picture of the problem and to an identification of key areas to be tackled in any effort to intervene with trafficking.
In the following we will attempt to answer the above-mentioned questions using all information available to us, information that is, however, scattered and of different degrees of reliability.
· Demand of trafficked women is based on a pre-existing demand of sexual services. This pre-existing demand is not something given, but is socially constructed and specific to each country, ethnic group, social group, religious group and so on. It is a function of the prevailing attitudes about gender roles, masculine identity etc.
· However, as in any kind of transaction, in the field of trafficking and exploitation of women too, offer and demand are interrelated, the one reinforcing the other. Supply, price, quality, as well as the social meaning and social value attributed to the object or services in transaction have a role to play.
· It makes almost no sense to speak of a demand of trafficked women per se. The specific demand of trafficked women consists in a demand of women of the kind that trafficked women are and of the type of services they offer. In some cases, and concerning certain groups of trafficked women, being cheap and, due to their vulnerable situation, ready to accept whatever the client asks for, leads in an increase of the demand for them. In other cases, women belonging to specific ethnic groups are preferred to the local ones, as they might be younger and more beautiful and as a myth develops around them, reflecting the fantasies of men. Specific ethnic groups are ‘sexualised’; in Greece for example this is the case with women from the Former Soviet Union, who are represented as the ‘two meters tall’ blond sensual beauties, ready and eager to satisfy any desire(3). Myths and fantasies around trafficked women lead to the development of certain type of demand.
· The acknowledgement of a woman being trafficked, or forced into prostitution, works rather as an inhibiting factor, than a factor reinforcing demand. Supportive evidence is brought from the very significant number of cases of mistreated trafficked women reported to the police by clients(4). This, however, happens in relation to extreme and obvious cases of exploitation. In the rule the clients won’t be interested to see what is hiding behind the surface, and pleases them more to believe that women are happy to offer them their services. On the basis of the above, it seems that there is space for intervention with the clients, by making them aware of the situation of women. This, however, will most probably hurt on a lot of resistance, as the fantasies that please the customers will have to be dropped. On the other hand, as research has shown, there is also a category of clients who declare to prefer the services of trafficked women, as their dependent situation renders them more docile and they can control them more.(5) Concerning the demand of their labour, club owners, pimps etc., prefer trafficked women because their unfree and vulnerable situation makes their exploitation easier, they cost little, a larger part of their pay can be retained and they can generate additional profit by being sold further.
· As in all cases of commercial transaction, in trafficking too, supply and demand are not left to freely interact one with the other to achieve an equilibrium, but there is a direct intervention by those who make profit from the transaction in order to maximize their gains. Traffickers and exploiters advertise and actively promote their merchandise with result to increase and create demand. In Greece, for example, evidence from journalistic sources shows that traffickers and their agents travel in villages advertising the advent of foreign women in the coming days. In the first years a primitive way of advertising has been used that has shocked the Greek public at the time: in the newspapers have been published pictures of graffiti’s on walls in northern Greece announcing that ‘Bulgarian women are coming soon’. Clubs owners also advertise the new arrivals. It has also been mentioned that in certain cases traffickers use aggressive methods in order to spread the new habits among the population(6). The whole business proceeds in a way as to instigate and increase demand. For example there is a frequent renewal of the women working in the clubs, as clients want to see new faces, and if new women arrive the consumption of services will increase. Mention should also be made to the ‘pink advertisements’, that provide descriptions of available women which excite the fantasies of men and make appear the whole transaction as a normal procedure (massage parlours etc).
· Overall an increase in the use of prostitute services in Europe is observed, occurring under the impact of trafficking. The number of trafficked women and their relative share in the prostitution market vary from country to country and in the same country from one area/city to another. In certain areas the concentration is high, while in others the phenomenon is almost nonexistent. In the case of Greece, it seems that trafficked women arrive everywhere, even in remote areas, something that leads to the increase of the services consumed. According to Greek police the foreign women prostituting themselves have exceeded in number the Greek prostitutes, however without displacing them from the market, but actually adding their services to those offered by Greek women(7). The percentage of clients among the male population is estimated to be very high. Sometimes figures are presented that seem to be too high to be true and give the impression that they represent another myth in relation to trafficking.
· The dynamics, however, between supply and demand are even more complex, as the result is not simply an increase of demand given the surplus of offer and the promotion of services, but the creation of a new situation, of a new culture in the frame of which not only a quantitative change of demand, but also a qualitative change occurs.
The situation is more eloquent and more easily apprehended in small places. In the Greek country side, as well as in small places in other European countries(8), the trafficked women represent the glamorous, sensual women, that local men could not have dreamed to have access to. While it constituted part of the male culture to have recourse to purchased sex, this took place once in a while, mostly outside the village of residence, where prostitutes were not available, and constituted a ‘marginal’ practice, not interfere ring with the everyday social life of men. At the moment that foreign women were made available, women not resembling the women of the village, who were conforming, and expected to conform, to the standards of good housekeeper and mother(9), according to the local tradition shared by both men and women, things changed not only concerning the sexual but also the social life of men. Local men changed habits and instead of spending the evenings in the coffee house with other male company they started to frequent bars and other kind of establishments where they spent their evenings and nights drinking, watching at shows, enjoying themselves with the company of, trafficked women. This gave rise to a very lucrative business: in a few years time one could observe all over the Greek countryside, particularly at the outskirts of the towns, a large number of bars, night clubs etc., springing up like mushrooms. These new mores and patterns of behaviour consolidated themselves quickly and the relative activities became interwoven with the overall social life of the areas where they took place. Those running such establishments are not any more people belonging to a distinct subculture, but people who participate to the normal activities of their society and might even have a leading role. As an example we can refer to two cases -possibly there are more- one in Greece and one in Portugal, in which the owners of the main establishment offering entertainment with foreign women, are also the leaders of the local football team(10). This situation, not conceivable in the past in countries like Greece, has been rendered possible in the frame of an overall expansion and establishment of a culture of corruption, of which the trafficking business has become an active part.
Thus social and cultural change in the frame of which demand and consumption of services provided by trafficked women has been ‘normalized’(11), have contributed to the expansion of demand to broader categories of population and have fuelled the business of traffickers resulting eventually to the intensification of their recruitment activities.
· These changes do not go without further negative repercussions. The first victims have been the wives, who are left alone in the evenings and eventually are mistreated by a drunk husband with whom they quarrel when he comes back late at night. The position of women/housewife has deteriorated and reaction is difficult as they are faced with the solidarity among the male population. Perhaps the most important dimension is that husbands start spending their money with foreign women, sometimes to the point that their families suffer(12). In certain cases local women have come together to fight back(13). In Greece this situation gave rise to discussions in which foreign women are held responsible for the ‘breakdown of Greek family’. This does not go without exaggerations, as it is always the case, when the responsibility for social problems of the receiving society is shifted to the migrants.
The second victims are the general population of migrant women. The myth of the promiscuous women, developed by the demand side to satisfy fantasies, has led in that migrant women, particularly of certain ethnic origin, are considered collectively as prostitutes. In Greece it is mainly the case with Ukrainian and Moldavian women. This is translated into practical difficulties for them, for example having difficulties to rent a house, as well as to the intensification of the feeling among them of being discriminated against and devaluated. In other countries, such as Turkey the repercussions are reported to be more serious as women are harassed and might even be deported, regardless of their visa status, if they are blond and foreign looking.(14)
3. Intervening with the demand
· For the moment, at European, but also international level, the political climate favours the combating of trafficking in the first place through combating illegal migration, and privileges the approach to trafficking as a crime control issue. It seems that it is high time that states modify their perspective and pay the due attention to the root causes of trafficking generated in their own territory, that is on demand. Without preventing and controlling demand, it will not be possible to eradicate trafficking as a global phenomenon. A good example constitutes the operation of the Greek police to close down all entertainment establishments in North-eastern Greece, where foreign women were prostituted. The establishments were in effect closed down, but, given that demand remained unaltered, the result was the ‘dislocation’ of the activities: clients now cross the borders to frequent the clubs and brothels in Bulgaria and FYROM. Thus while it was achieved to decrease the consumption of services of trafficked women in Greece, the situation remains essentially the same from the viewpoint of the women who are forced into prostitution, as it makes little difference to them at which side of the borders they will be exploited.
· From the description that has proceeded it becomes obvious that intervention with demand and consumption is not an easy enterprise. Demand has developed, expanded and become increasingly rooted in the male culture and local culture in a way that intervention is rendered increasingly difficult. On the other hand the satisfaction of the demand, though based on practices at the margins of legality if not completely illegal, takes place with the complicity of all, particularly at the local level. The demand side conspires with the exploiters, while the silence of the rest, including institutional agents, is secured through bribe, intimidation, or by evoking the solidarity among colleagues. This creates a front with which any one that wants to intervene has to deal with. Even efforts to control the situation, centrally undertaken, are blocked at the local level.
· Given the complexity of the demand side of the trafficking process, intervention should address at least the following:
a. The clients and potential users.
Clients and potential users should be sensitised and if necessary educated. For some, information and sensitisation about trafficking, the ordeals that women go through and the fact that behind the glamorous surface coercion and exploitation are hiding, are enough for changing their attitudes and behaviour. For others it is necessary to intervene with their stereotypes about gender roles, their perception of masculinity and their understanding of human dignity. This can take place through education that should start from the school age.
b. The social processes.
Social processes that create demand, sustain it and contribute to its expansion should be addressed. Among them:
The myths around the women from certain ethnic groups, shared by the male population and the population at large, and the tendency to consider the company and escort of foreign women as a prestige symbol. Of course abolishing myths is not an easy enterprise, nor the reversal of the process that renders an object or an activity a prestige symbol. A thorough analysis of the situation and a proper planning are required. Sometimes it is possible to contribute unintentionally to the maintenance of myths, through actions that aim to sensitise about the tragedies that hide behind trafficking. As a high rank police officer has observed, it will never be possible to successfully combat trafficking as long as the media reports which describe and stigmatise the exploitative practices in the frame of trafficking, are accompanied by pictures of sensual and promising women(15). These pictures might be more powerful than and overshadow the message of condemnation of the exploitative practice.
The patterns of entertainment involving trafficked women that have been developed and which provoke and reinforce demand as well as normalize it. In order to prevent the development of and counteract these patterns of entertainment it is important to provide the forgotten countryside with alternative uses of leisure time.
The social processes that lead in a complicity at the local level, with result difficulties in the consistent enforcement of law(16). Difficulties in the law enforcement appear also at the national level, concerning prevention and combating of trafficking, as well as protection of victims.
c. Activities provoking demand.
The state must take more effective action at blocking activities that instigate demand. The state is sometimes guilty of action, but more often of inaction. Measures at the level of legislation must be taken, but mainly at the level of law enforcement. The most obvious example of failure of the state to intervene, denounced on numerous occasions, is that of the ‘pink advertisements’ that miraculously evade controls and sanctions and which undoubtedly instigate demand, feed the myths about the glamorous and sensual foreign women, and normalize the practices by presenting them as personal services. As research in Greece has shown court cases of pink advertisements in newspapers very rarely lead to the conviction of the newspaper(17).
Notes
1. Kelly, Liz. 2002. Journeys of Jeopardy: A Commentary on current Research on Trafficking of Women and Children for Sexual Exploitation Within Europe. EU/IOM European Conference on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Brussels. 18-20 September 2002; Laczko F., Klekowski von Koppenfels, A. and Jana Barthel. 2002. Trafficking in Women from Central and Eastern Europe: A Review of Statistical Data. IOM. EU/IOM European Conference on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Brussels; Anderson, B., O’ Connell Davidson, J. 2002. Trafficking-a demand led problem? A multi-country pilot study. Save the Children
2. Kelly, Liz. 2002. Journeys of Jeopardy: A Commentary on current Research on Trafficking of Women and Children for Sexual Exploitation Within Europe. EU/IOM European Conference on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Brussels. 18-20 September 2002.
3. The same and even more pronounced seems to be the case with Turkey. Gülçür, L., œlkkaracan,P. 2002. The ‘Natasha’ experience: migrant sex workers from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in Turkey. Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 25, No.4, pp.411-421, 2002.
4. There is plenty of such evidence from many NGO’s
5. Anderson, B., O’ Connell Davidson, J. 2002. Trafficking-a demand led problem? A multi-country pilot study. Save the Children
6. Video prepared by the journalist T. Telloglou in the frame of the TV broadcast ‘Monitor’.
7. Directorate of Security and Order. 2001. Trafficking in Human Beings. Concise description of the general situation in Greece during the year 2000. Ministry of Public Order
8. Ripley, A.(2003) When the meninas came to town. TIME magazine October 20, 2003
9. The spokeswomen for the Portuguese Department for Foreign immigration and Frontiers, says in relation to demand of foreign prostitutes, that Portuguese women see themselves in marriage exclusively as mothers and not as wives and companions as they should. Ripley, A.(2003) When the meninas came to town. (article referring to the moving in of Brazilian prostitutes to the Portuguese small town of Branganca) TIME magazine October 20, 2003
10. Video prepared by the journalist T. Telloglou in the frame of the TV broadcast ‘Monitor’; Ripley, A. 2003. When the meninas came to town (article referring to the moving in of Brazilian prostitutes to the Portuguese small town of Branganca). TIME magazine October 20, 2003
11. Both the chief police officer and the Mayor in Branganca (small town in northern Portugal), reacted to the protests of wives against their husbands spending their time and money with the Brazilian girls, by refusing to consider it a social problem and reducing it to a family problem to be resolved between husband and wife. Ripley, A. 2003. When the meninas came to town. TIME magazine October 20, 2003
12. A journalist from a local newspaper of northern Greece has brought the attention, in an interview in the frame of the video on trafficking, to the problems created by the demand and consumption of services of foreign prostitutes by the male population of the Muslim minority villages in northern Greece. These villages count among the poorest and most backwarded in Greece where tradition is much more present and the position of women worse than anywhere else on Greece. In these villages the arrival of foreign women has completely changed the behaviour of men who not only spend their time with prostitutes, but also spend all their money including the subsidies received for the cultivation of tobacco. In one case that the husband had not only spent all the money but also had given away their house, the wife decided to commit suicide ostentatiously setting herself on fire. Video prepared by the journalist T. Telloglou in the frame of the TV broadcast ‘Monitor’
13. Ripley, A. 2003 When the meninas came to town. (article referring to the moving in of Brazilian prostitutes to the Portuguese small town of Branganca) TIME magazine October 20, 2003
14. Gülçür, L., œlkkaracan,P. 2002. The “Natasha’ experience: migrant sex workers from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in Turkey. Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 25, No.4, pp.411-421, 2002.
15. Meeting at the Ministry of Public Order, January 2004
16. One client has replied to the journalist that reminded him of the new law on trafficking ‘here to us for the last 30-60 years no law is implemented’ Video prepared by the journalist T. Telloglou in the frame of the TV broadcast ‘Monitor’.
17. From the eight cases brought to court in 1995, only two have led to conviction. Tsigris, A. 1996. Court recording of the crimes of trading and sexual exploitation of women. Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights. Athens; Tsigris, A. 2002. The sexual trade in Greece. In: Centre of Political Research and Communication: The new danger from organised crime. The Human Trade. Athens. 2002.
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ECCLESIA