Stolen Lives: Trading Women Into Sex and Slavery

by Press; Scarlet

• ISBN13: 9781560238850
• ISBN10: 1560238852
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1996-01-26
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

"Dancers/Hostesses required for top cabaret nightclubs both here and overseas. No experience necessary. Mega bucks to be earned. Telephone. . . " Would you answer an ad like this? Thousands of women do and fall victim to the illegal trafficking in women by organized crime syndicates. Driven by the desire to start a career or escape poverty, women migrate in search of work and a better life for themselves and for their families. For some, this search is the beginning of a nightmare experience. From "hotel receptionist" to nightclub "dancer" to "domestic worker," Stolen Lives: Trading Women Into Sex and Slavery exposes how women are hired in their country of origin, transported, left without money, passports, or permits, and become trapped into prostitution or domestic slavery. Branded as illegal aliens and marooned in a culture they don't understand, they have nowhere to go and no one to help them. With personal testimony from women caught in the trafficking web, Stolen Lives reveals the violent inner workings of international crime networks, the routes and methods involved, and how trafficking gangs are able to circumvent the law. The trade in women is one of the most shameful abuses of human rights, yet it continues to be ignored by national governments. Stolen Lives confronts the hidden scandal of global trafficking which exploits women as they attempt to emancipate themselves.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xii
The characteristics of traffic	1	(7)
Traffic old and new	8	(14)
A global brothel in a global village	22	(19)
Traffic and prostitution in the Netherlands	41	(14)
Thailand to Europe: a one-way ticket	55	(11)
Colombian gangs: they see everything	66	(9)
Keeping it in the family	75	(12)
The Greek connection	87	(14)
The Belgian Billionaire gang	101	(13)
'I'll be safer in Yugoslavia than in the Netherlands'	114	(10)
The red mafia	124	(9)
Mail-order marriage	133	(10)
The trade in domestic workers	143	(13)
Nobody's business	156	(9)
Addresses	165	(2)
Notes	167	(8)
Bibliography	175