Vice Market
Reporter : Marion Mayer-Hohdahl
Camera:
Stefan Reisinger
VT
editor: Frank Huzij
Information for
Introduction
The former Soviet republic of Moldova is one of the poorest countries in the world. And, one of the easiest countries in Europe to recruit women for the sex trade. All it takes is a promise of work in the rich West. Once there, most of women are forced into prostitution, their passports are taken, they are beaten, abused and sometimes tortured. Europol estimates the illegal trafficking of women runs to over a billion dollars. In Vienna, in mid-September, 2003, an international working group under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE met to look at ways of stopping the human trade. This report talks to sex-slave victims in Moldova. The women have kept their faces hidden to prevent identification.
TEXT
0:00
pictures
start
0:04
Video
clip, the UN against drugs and criminality
0:11
Tens
of thousands of women are forced into prostitution against their will. In over
30 countries, the United Nations is starting its information campaign against the
trafficking of women with this video. Telephone numbers are given where women
can get help.
0:28
Like
here in La Strada in Chisinau (pronounced Kischinau),
Moldova. Around the clock, seven days a week, the help organisation can be
reached. Since they opened their lines in September 2001, they’ve had over
7’000 calls. Moldova is one of the poorest of the former Soviet Union republics.
Which is why human traffickers have it so easy.
0:56
O-sound
Viorelia Rusu
La
Strada – women’s rights organisation
“Many
people leave to find a well-paid job. Unfortunately, this is a good situation
for traffickers of women. They sell their prey for nothing – for 10 dollars –
and then the girls are transported illegally, via Romania, and over the border
into Western Europe.”
1:26
This
woman needed money for medicine and just wanted to work for a short time as a
waitress in Italy. She was forced to stay away for three years during which
time she was sold seven times.
1:44
in off
1:46
in on
O-sound
Forced
prostitute
“I
was taken to Bosnia and not to Italy. I was forced into sex work. I was locked
up. My passport was taken away from me. I thought only about my children – I
just had to endure what was happening.”
2:03
Today,
the 30-year-old takes us to her parents in one of the countless small villages
in Moldova. There’s no running water, no bath and the entire family has to work in the fields to survive. They don’t know about
her terrible experiences.
2:31
Her
children lived here, without knowing why their mother never sent a message and
never sent any money. Particularly, even though she had abandoned them to earn
money.
2:43
Unofficially,
the rate of unemployment in Moldova is around 70 per cent. Before independence,
Russians used to come to this fertile land - known for its wine and fruit - for
holidays. But nobody comes here any more. Every fourth
Moldavian lives abroad – legally or illegally.
The money they send home makes up over half of the gross national
product. There’s a huge flow of young people leaving the country to escape the
poverty and misery of village life.
3:16
They
promise to come back soon. This young woman wants to start a new life with her
children. For the time being she’s living in a Rehab centre. Here, homecoming
prostitutes find refuge. Shortly, a new section will be opened to welcome
minors who’ve been forced to work as sex slaves.
3:39
In
the capital of Chisinau the information campaign for
young people has already started. Young Moldavian women are warned against the
dangers and tricks of traffickers. Up to 80 per cent of prostitutes in the
brothels of Southern Europe come from Moldova, says a non-governmental organisation.
The authorities here deny this figure, but the poster warns, “Don’t let
yourself be sold.”
4:09
O-sound in off
4:28 in On
Marielle
Sander-Lindström
IOM – International Organisation for Migration
“She was thrown out of a 7th story
window in Turkey and this one was so severely beaten over her head and face
that she is now blind. And this woman will probably lose her leg and she’s only
20. And, see, this woman has cigarette burns. They try to torture them. These
are peoples lives we are dealing with and I hope that we can do something to
stop it.”
4:34
The pins cover the whole country. Each one
marks the place where one or more women, who had been forced into prostitution,
live. Red means more than 20 victims in one town.
4:48
O-sound
4:57 – 5:01 in off
Marielle
Sander-Lindström
IOM
“These girls come from very poor circumstances.
Many of them were raped or sexually assaulted. They want to change their lives
and grab every opportunity.”
5:01
An opportunity can look like this. This
Moldavian girl was hidden under a car bonnet when Israeli police discovered
her. The traffickers are well organised on an international level. They’re
equipped with weapons and explosives. According to Europol, prostitution is a billion euro business. The money is ploughed back into the
drugs and weapon trade. The chronically underpaid police can do little about
it.
5:39
O-sound
Ion Bejan
Lieutenant, Police special unit
“The problem with the trade in women began
straight after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The gangsters take the girls
directly to Romania and smuggle them out. With every border crossing the price
rises –according to their beauty.”
5:54
5:56
Police video
Traffickers, smugglers and pimps meet in this
bar to recruit girls to send abroad. The special police unit for fighting human
trafficking has only become active recently. Twenty-seven police work for the
unit. But they lack cars and money. Over 100 traders in women have been
arrested, but most of them go free. (103) They can afford highly paid lawyers. And,
of course, there is corruption. The police don’t have an easy life. They get
paid around 100 euros a month – and even for Moldova, that’s not much. This man
isn’t just trafficking women, he’s also looking for young boys to supply
homosexuals.
6:48
He contests every point. He wasn’t aware of
anything … Yugoslavs are the culprits. Not him. But the facts tell a different
story.
7:04
Since summer 2001, human trafficking in Moldova
is illegal. And, since then, a fresh wind has been blowing.
7:12
International aid organisations have been
giving money to rehabilitate former prostitutes. Here they can get an education
and a future -
so they won’t fall for the lure of gold and glitter abroad again.
7:31
This theatre piece is
based on a horror story of trafficked women. It’s been acted out over 20 times in
villages in Moldova to warn young girls of the dangers they face.
7:47
O-sound
Lidia Gorceag
Psychologist
“Most of the women have nightmares or think
about suicide. Some are aggressive because they blame themselves for their
misery. They trust no one anymore.”
8:02
Like this girl. As a minor, she believed the
false promises and became a victim. Four years ago, she was taken by bus to
Romania and later ended up in a bar in Kosovo.
8:15
0-sound
forced prostitute
8:21 – 8:26 in off
“The traffickers are monsters. They hit us.
They were all armed. I had to do what they wanted. Now, I just want to forget
everything.”
8:25
That’s what they all want. But it’s not that
easy.
ends