Sex Trafficking in Europe

By Julie Hughes
Impunity Watch Special Features Writer
Article 3 Section (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, defines human trafficking as, the
recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of person, by means of the
threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, or fraud Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime,
art. 3, opened for signature Dec. 15, 2000, 2237 U.N.T.S. 319 (entered into force Dec.
25, 2003). This series will explore in greater detail sex trafficking as a subset of human
trafficking. Sex trafficking is thus similarly defined as, when an adult is coerced, forced,
or deceived into prostitutionor maintained in prostitution through coercion. What is
Trafficking in Persons?, U.S. Department of State,
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/1 64220.htm (last visited Sept. 17,
2014). This article serves to survey the trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation in
Europe as a whole and through the examination of specific nation-states.
Sex trafficking continues to be a troubling issue faced by European nations. According to
data collected during the years 2009 to 2011 by the European Union and its member
states, roughly 62% of those trafficked are done so for the purpose of sexual
exploitation. European Commission, Trafficking in Human Beings, 10 (2013),
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-isnew/news/news/2013/docs/20130415_thb_stats_report_en.pdf. As opposed to other
forms of trafficking, including forced labor, the rate of victims forced into sex trafficking
continues to rise. Id. Data also indicates that the victims of sex trafficking are
predominately women. Id. In 2010, for example, women accounted for 96% of all
victims of sex trafficking. Id. Additionally, the data indicates that 66% of women
trafficked for any purpose in Europe held citizenship in a EU member
state. Id. Similarly, 76% of prosecuted traffickers held citizenship in a EU member state.
European Commission, supra. at 11. While this data tends to show that sex trafficking in
Europe is an issue of European citizens trafficking other European citizens; it is

important to note that sex trafficking is not confined to European states. Rather, the
large demand of trafficked persons creates a profitable enterprise with a seemingly
endless supply of persons forced or coerced into exploitation from all regions of the
world. The data indicates that the largest pool of non-European persons forced into sex
trafficking were citizens of China and Nigeria. Id. at 13. The criminal network of sex
traffickers is not limited to a particular region, but has strong footholds in continents
across the world. As such, a united global response is necessary to prevent and
prosecute this epidemic.
The Trafficking in Persons (hereinafter TIP) Report is compiled each year by the
United States government as a means to facilitate international discussion and policy
analysis regarding human trafficking. Trafficking in Persons Report, U.S. Department
of State, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/ (last visited Sept. 17, 2014). The TIP
Report contains a country-by-country analysis detailing the scope of trafficking in
persons and the broad range of government actions to confront and eliminate
it. Id. The TIP Report utilizes a three-tier approach to measure each nations complicity
in meeting the minimum standards outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
(hereinafter TVPA). Id. This American law provides the standard of comparison for
the international community. Id. Section 108 of the TVPA lists four minimum standards
for the elimination of trafficking:
(1) The government of the country should prohibit severe forms of trafficking in persons
and punish acts of such trafficking.
(2) For the knowing commission of any act of sex trafficking involving force, fraud,
coercion, or in which the victim of sex trafficking is a child incapable of giving
meaningful consent, or of trafficking which includes rape or kidnapping or which causes
a death, the government of the country should prescribe punishment commensurate
with that for grave crimes, such as forcible sexual assault.
(3) For the knowing commission of any act of a severe form of trafficking in persons,
the government of the country should prescribe punishment that is sufficiently stringent
to deter and that adequately reflects the heinous nature of the offense.
(4) The government of the country should make serious and sustained efforts to
eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons.

TVPA: H.R. 3244, 106th Cong. (2000) (enacted). Using these guidelines, the TIP Report
provides a useful tool for determining the quality of each governments policies and
intervention programs designed to combat human trafficking. Those countries receiving
a ranking of Tier 1 are the most responsive to combatting human trafficking. Trafficking
in Persons Report, supra. Likewise, countries receiving a ranking of Tier 3 are those
that are not in compliance with the aforementioned minimum standards and have failed
to make any meaningful attempt to meet the standards. Tier Placements, U.S.
Department of State, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2014/226649.htm (last
visited Sept. 17, 2014). The final two rankings are Tier 2 and Tier 2 Watch List. Id. A Tier
2 ranking requires a country that has yet to fully comply with the TVPA standards to
make a meaningful attempt to comply. Id. A country that is ranked on the Tier 2 Watch
List is one that meets the requirements of a Tier 2 ranking, but fits three additional
criteria. Id. The three criteria that prevent a Tier 2 Watch List country from Tier 2
placement are as follows:
a. The absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant
or is significantly increasing;
b. There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe
forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or
c. The determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into
compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to
take additional future steps over the next year.
Id. Through analysis of Russia (Tier 3) and Romania (Tier 2), one is able to glean a
snapshot of anti-trafficking policies that have, and have not, been implemented as well
as the shortcomings of such government programs. Trafficking in Persons Report,
supra.
The 2014 TIP Report concludes that the Russian government has taken little action in
staving off the rate of sex trafficking in the country. United States Department of
State, Trafficking in Persons Report, 324 (2014),
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226848.pdf. According to the Report,
the Russian government did assemble an anti-trafficking plan; however, it was
ultimately unrecognized by the Russian Security Council. Id. As such, Russia lacks a
targeted approach to sex trafficking prevention and prosecution. Id. Likewise, both local

and federal budgets fail to allocate funds for victim outreach programs. Id. Russia
continues to lack the political will necessary to enact and enforce anti-trafficking
policies, despite the growing number of persons being trafficked in and out of the
country for sexual exploitation. Id.; E.V. Tiurukanova, Human Trafficking in the
Russian Federation: Inventory and Analysis of the Current Situation and Responses,
35 (2006), http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/Unicef_EnglishBook(1).pdf. A 2006 report
conducted by E.V. Tiurukanova and the Institute for Urban Economics for the UN/IOM
Working Group on Trafficking in Human Beings, found there were 150,000 women in
the nations sex trade industry. Id. The sex trade is concentrated in large cities with the
largest number of women located in Moscow. Id. at 36. The number of women in
Moscows sex industry was estimated at 80,000 in 2006. Id. It was also estimated that a
majority of the women involved had only lived in the city for less than a
year. Id. Additionally, much of the sex industry in Moscow is controlled by criminal
organizations. Tiurukanova, supra at 36. Taken together, these facts tend to indicate a
high volume of sex trafficking within the country. Id. The increasing rate of sex
trafficking within Russia correlates with the relatively high demand. Data compiled by
the Research and Advisory Centre for AIDS Control and Prevention indicated64% of
the male population uses sex workers on a more or less regular basis. Id. at 38. These
alarming figures make it all the more necessary for the enactment and enforcement of
anti-trafficking policies nationwide, such that the sex industry will become less
profitable.
Romania provides another example of a European nation faced with the challenge of
combating sex trafficking. Situated centrally, Romanias location provides traffickers
with a corridor to both the East and the West. David Batstone, Romania a Global Center
for Human Trafficking, CNN (Feb. 17, 2011, 3:11 PM),
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/07/batstone.romania.sex.trade/. Romanias
status as a EU member-state further relaxed border regulation; providing a haven for
traffickers and a hell for the staggering number of persons brought in and out of the
country for sexual exploitation. Id. According to Eurostats Trafficking in Human Beings
Report, Romania and Bulgaria held the highest number of trafficked persons, for all
purposes, within the European Union. European Commission, supra at 13. Moreover,
studies indicate that many of the persons trafficked for sexual exploitation were
recruited by someone that they knew. United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime, Trafficking in Persons to Europe for Sexual Exploitation, 3 (2010),
http://www.unodc.org/documents/publications/TiP_Europe_EN_LORES.pdf. It was

reported that women were used to recruit and supervise other women into sex
trafficking. Id. at 5. For example, between 2003 and 2006, 23% of those convicted on
trafficking charges in Romania were, in fact, women. Id. at 5.
While Romanias Tier 2 ranking indicates that it is not in full compliance with the TVPA,
the ranking acknowledges the Romanian government has sought to target sex traffickers
and assist those women and children who were trafficked for sexual exploitation. United
States Department of State, supra at 322. Although the government has been successful
in identifying trafficked persons, only a small percentage of those persons received any
form of assistance. Id. Such examples include: a failure to allocate funds to NGOs
attending to survivors of sex trafficking, the lack of shelters for trafficked persons in
Bucharest, the inability to operate a trafficked persons assistance hotline outside of
normal business hours, and the absence of readily available psychological and medical
care for those persons forced into sex trafficking. Id. Thus, Romanias ineffective
outreach weighs significantly in its ranking calculation.
It is apparent that globalization has served to create a borderless industry capitalizing
on the high profits and relatively low risk as a result of ineffective anti-trafficking policy
and prosecution. This leads to an expansive criminal network in which people (mostly
women) are commodities that can be bought and sold. And while international and
federal mandates are a welcomed step towards ending sex trafficking, change must also
happen on a micro-level. Socio-economic factors play a substantial role in reinforcing
and perpetuating the sex trafficking industry. As such, European nations must
implement policies to target aboveground economic growth and stability while joining
forces to target the transnational nature of the sex trafficking industry.