"There are people who are really proud of the red light district as a tourist attraction. It's supposed to be such a wonderful, cheery place that shows just what a free city we are. But I think it's a cesspit. There's a lot of serious criminality. There's a lot of exploitation of women, and a lot of social distress. That's nothing to be proud of."
Human trafficking
The Netherlands is listed by the UNODC as a top destination for victims of human trafficking.[13] Countries that are major sources of trafficked persons include Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine[13], Sierra Leone, and Romania.[14]
Currently, human trafficking in the Netherlands is on the rise, according to figures obtained from the National Centre against Human Trafficking. The report shows a substantial increase in the number of victims from Hungary and China. There were 809 registered victims of human trafficking in 2008, 763 were women and at least 60 percent of them were forced to work in the sex industry.[15] [16]
Within the Netherlands, victims are often recruited by so called "lover boys" – men who seduce young Dutch women and girls and coerce them into prostitution.
Many victims of human trafficking are led to believe by organized criminals that they are being offered work in hotels or restaurants or in child care and are forced into prostitution with the threat or actual use of violence. Estimates of the number of victims vary from 1000 to 7000 on a yearly basis. Most police investigations on human trafficking concern legal sex businesses. All sectors of prostitution are well represented in these investigations, but particularly the window brothels are overrepresented. [17] [18] [19]
At the end of 2008, a gang of six people were sentenced to prison terms of eight months to 7 1/2 years in what prosecutors said was the worst case of human trafficking ever brought to trial in the Netherlands. The case involved more than 100 female victims, violently forced to work in prostitution.[20] In December 2009, two Nigerian men were sentenced to 4 and 4 1/2 years in prison for having smuggled 140 Nigerian women aged 16-23 into the Netherlands. The women were made to apply for asylum and then disappeared from asylum centers, to work as prostitutes in surrounding countries. The men were said to have used "voodoo" curses on the women to prevent escape and enforce payment of debts.[21]
Pimping and Human Trafficking
Netherlands is listed by the UNDOC as a primary country of destination for victims of human trafficking, [4] and city authorities are very worried about the current situation from Amsterdam: "We’ve realized this is no longer about small-scale entrepreneurs, but that big crime organizations are involved here in trafficking women, drugs, killings and other criminal activities," said Job Cohen, the mayor of Amsterdam.[5]
The vast majority of the prostitutes from De Wallen are foreigners, as are their pimps and human traffickers (out of all Amsterdam's prostitutes more than 75% are from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, according to a former prostitute who produced a report about the sex trade in Amsterdam). [6]
Two anonymous vice officers of the Beurstraat police station who have worked in this area revealed in October 2005 that there are two main groups of human traffickers on de Wallen, the "loverboys" and a group known as "the Turks". The group of loverboys consist mostly of young Moroccan males who use romantic techniques to persuade young women to work for them as prostitutes. The Turkish group concentrates mainly on the trafficking in Eastern European prostitutes. An investigation into this group in early 2003 failed miserably: only a few arrests were made and the defendants were quickly released due to lack of evidence.
Negotiations
In 2004, the Amsterdam authorities ordered research into the nature and scale of pimping and human trafficking in Amsterdam. The Willem Plompe institution took up that job. The researchers, under the leadership of professor Frank Bovenkerk, [7] found that women under the control of a pimp can be easily put to work in the legal brothels with the brothel owners being aware that the women are controlled by pimps. The general setup of window prostitution was said to be helpful to pimps, as it facilitates the direct control of the women by their pimp.[8] The reserchers spoke to the prostitutes, and the women indicated it is nearly impossible for a prostitute to work independently and offer resistance to violent customers. Nearly all prostitutes work for a boyfriend, pimp or human trafficker. The researchers assume that, for Latin American and African prostitutes, men in their home countries play a big role in the background. For East European women they suspect human traffickers play a big role. It is assumed that these human traffickers subcontract the supervising of these women to mainly Albanian pimps.
The researchers referred to a portfolio compiled by officers from the Beursstraat police station. It contains a list of 76 pimps with a violent criminal history who operated on de Wallen during the previous half year. Of those 76 pimps, five were foreigners and the rest were Dutch, of whom only three were Dutch natives. The researchers asked more than 20 random Dutch prostitutes how they entered prostitution. Many were introduced into prostitution by their (former) boyfriends through a love affair. The girls call this "voodoo". Often these boyfriends were pimps. Most of these women now either work for a boyfriend they have chosen themselves or have switched from one pimp to another. Sometimes they say they have been sold for tens of thousands of euros.[9]
According[citation needed] to a Christian organization of aid workers named the 'Scharlaken Koord’ (in English, Scarlet Cord), out of the 439 Dutch window-prostitutes on de Wallen they had contact with in 2001-2002, 380 indicated they were introduced into prostitution by a loverboy. According[citation needed] to these aid workers many prostitutes find it difficult to escape prostitution because they are socially isolated and have huge debts, often built up by their former boyfriends in their name. Usually the only friends they have are other prostitutes or their pimp. The Scharlaken Koord has set up a special ‘pal’-program for prostitutes in which the pals help the women to build up a new social network.[10]
De Wallen
Prostitution in the Netherlands
Pimping Ban in Amsterdam?
Amsterdam's Redlight District
Human trafficking
The Netherlands is listed by the UNODC as a top destination for victims of human trafficking.[13] Countries that are major sources of trafficked persons include Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine[13], Sierra Leone, and Romania.[14]
Currently, human trafficking in the Netherlands is on the rise, according to figures obtained from the National Centre against Human Trafficking. The report shows a substantial increase in the number of victims from Hungary and China. There were 809 registered victims of human trafficking in 2008, 763 were women and at least 60 percent of them were forced to work in the sex industry.[15] [16]
Within the Netherlands, victims are often recruited by so called "lover boys" – men who seduce young Dutch women and girls and coerce them into prostitution.
Many victims of human trafficking are led to believe by organized criminals that they are being offered work in hotels or restaurants or in child care and are forced into prostitution with the threat or actual use of violence. Estimates of the number of victims vary from 1000 to 7000 on a yearly basis. Most police investigations on human trafficking concern legal sex businesses. All sectors of prostitution are well represented in these investigations, but particularly the window brothels are overrepresented. [17] [18] [19]
At the end of 2008, a gang of six people were sentenced to prison terms of eight months to 7 1/2 years in what prosecutors said was the worst case of human trafficking ever brought to trial in the Netherlands. The case involved more than 100 female victims, violently forced to work in prostitution.[20] In December 2009, two Nigerian men were sentenced to 4 and 4 1/2 years in prison for having smuggled 140 Nigerian women aged 16-23 into the Netherlands. The women were made to apply for asylum and then disappeared from asylum centers, to work as prostitutes in surrounding countries. The men were said to have used "voodoo" curses on the women to prevent escape and enforce payment of debts.[21]
Pimping and Human Trafficking
Netherlands is listed by the UNDOC as a primary country of destination for victims of human trafficking, [4] and city authorities are very worried about the current situation from Amsterdam: "We’ve realized this is no longer about small-scale entrepreneurs, but that big crime organizations are involved here in trafficking women, drugs, killings and other criminal activities," said Job Cohen, the mayor of Amsterdam.[5]
The vast majority of the prostitutes from De Wallen are foreigners, as are their pimps and human traffickers (out of all Amsterdam's prostitutes more than 75% are from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, according to a former prostitute who produced a report about the sex trade in Amsterdam). [6]
Two anonymous vice officers of the Beurstraat police station who have worked in this area revealed in October 2005 that there are two main groups of human traffickers on de Wallen, the "loverboys" and a group known as "the Turks". The group of loverboys consist mostly of young Moroccan males who use romantic techniques to persuade young women to work for them as prostitutes. The Turkish group concentrates mainly on the trafficking in Eastern European prostitutes. An investigation into this group in early 2003 failed miserably: only a few arrests were made and the defendants were quickly released due to lack of evidence.
Negotiations
In 2004, the Amsterdam authorities ordered research into the nature and scale of pimping and human trafficking in Amsterdam. The Willem Plompe institution took up that job. The researchers, under the leadership of professor Frank Bovenkerk, [7] found that women under the control of a pimp can be easily put to work in the legal brothels with the brothel owners being aware that the women are controlled by pimps. The general setup of window prostitution was said to be helpful to pimps, as it facilitates the direct control of the women by their pimp.[8] The reserchers spoke to the prostitutes, and the women indicated it is nearly impossible for a prostitute to work independently and offer resistance to violent customers. Nearly all prostitutes work for a boyfriend, pimp or human trafficker. The researchers assume that, for Latin American and African prostitutes, men in their home countries play a big role in the background. For East European women they suspect human traffickers play a big role. It is assumed that these human traffickers subcontract the supervising of these women to mainly Albanian pimps.
The researchers referred to a portfolio compiled by officers from the Beursstraat police station. It contains a list of 76 pimps with a violent criminal history who operated on de Wallen during the previous half year. Of those 76 pimps, five were foreigners and the rest were Dutch, of whom only three were Dutch natives. The researchers asked more than 20 random Dutch prostitutes how they entered prostitution. Many were introduced into prostitution by their (former) boyfriends through a love affair. The girls call this "voodoo". Often these boyfriends were pimps. Most of these women now either work for a boyfriend they have chosen themselves or have switched from one pimp to another. Sometimes they say they have been sold for tens of thousands of euros.[9]
According[citation needed] to a Christian organization of aid workers named the 'Scharlaken Koord’ (in English, Scarlet Cord), out of the 439 Dutch window-prostitutes on de Wallen they had contact with in 2001-2002, 380 indicated they were introduced into prostitution by a loverboy. According[citation needed] to these aid workers many prostitutes find it difficult to escape prostitution because they are socially isolated and have huge debts, often built up by their former boyfriends in their name. Usually the only friends they have are other prostitutes or their pimp. The Scharlaken Koord has set up a special ‘pal’-program for prostitutes in which the pals help the women to build up a new social network.[10]
De Wallen
Prostitution in the Netherlands
Pimping Ban in Amsterdam?
Amsterdam's Redlight District
