Human Trafficking in [Cyprus Street Children in [Cyprus] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Cyprus] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Cyprus [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Cyprus is a
destination country for a large number of women trafficked from countries in
Eastern and Central Europe, including Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Russia,
for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Women are also trafficked
from the Philippines, the People's Republic of China, and Morocco.
Traffickers continued to recruit victims under fraudulent terms for work as
dancers in nightclubs with three-month "artiste" category
employment permits and more limited numbers of foreign women for work in pubs
under the "barmaid" employment category. According to some reports,
many of the women who work in nightclubs in Cyprus are victims trafficked for
sexual exploitation. There were also reports of some Chinese women on student
visas who may have been forced into prostitution. Reports continued of female
domestic workers from India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines forced to work
excessively long hours and denied proper compensation and possibly subjected
to conditions of involuntary servitude. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2007 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Rights information leaflet for women Cabaret artistes and barmaids are often ignorant of their rights, allowing them to be sexually, psychologically and physically abused by their employers, will now more readily have access to such information. The leaflet clearly states that
women who are exploited, sexually or otherwise, or forced into prostitution,
are entitled to protection and support as well as arrangements for financial
and psychological support. They also have the right to file charges against
their employer and/or anyone else who exploits them and to ask for
compensation due to violation of their rights. ***
ARCHIVES *** Quick Search for Missing Children - Select Gender, Country ( Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – The
country was both a destination and transit point for persons being trafficked
for sexual exploitation, and authorities were aware of and generally
tolerated the situation. The country was a destination for women trafficked
from Eastern Europe, primarily Concluding
Observations Of The Committee On The Rights Of The Child (CRC) - 2003 [55] The Committee welcomes the
enactment in 2000 of the Law on the Combating of Trafficking of Persons and
Sexual Exploitation of Minors and the Protection of Witnesses Law of
2001 making specific provision for the protection of child witnesses. While
noting that the State party does not consider that problems relating to
trafficking or other forms of sexual exploitation exist, the Committee
remains concerned that such problems may remain “hidden” and that the
authorities may be unaware of them. In
particular, the Committee refers to the concerns expressed by the Special
Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
that Council of
Europe trafficking convention enters into force In an important move forward in
the fight against human trafficking, on 24 October Cyprus became the tenth
country to ratify the Council of Europe's Convention on Action Against
Trafficking in Human Beings. It is the only international law
that provides all trafficked people with guaranteed minimum standards of
protection, including at least 30 days to stay in the country to receive: o
Emergency
medical assistance o
Safe
housing o
Legal
advice House
priority to overhaul human trafficking laws A Foreign Ministry spokesman said
the bill should be passed into law as soon as possible in order to rectify
the image Cyprus has built up regarding human trafficking. “The opinion that has been created abroad
is that we do not care about the issue of human trafficking,” he said. He pointed out that Cyprus did not yet have
a shelter for trafficking victims, something the island is being repeatedly
pressured over by the EU. Rights
information leaflet for women Cabaret artistes and barmaids are
often ignorant of their rights, allowing them to be sexually, psychologically
and physically abused by their employers, will now more readily have access
to such information. The leaflet clearly states that
women who are exploited, sexually or otherwise, or forced into prostitution,
are entitled to protection and support as well as arrangements for financial
and psychological support. They also have the right to file charges against
their employer and/or anyone else who exploits them and to ask for
compensation due to violation of their rights. Cyprus
is a flesh trade destination Cyprus is a country of destination
not transit, for victims of sexual exploitation, a senior police officer said
yesterday. Inspector Rita Superman
said the majority of victims were from the former Soviet Union and the
Philippines. She said: "In 2004, 66
victims were identified, with the majority from the Ukraine and Moldova. In
2005, 42 victims were identified again the majority of whom were from the
Ukraine and Moldova. In 2006, following the largest police campaign to deal
with the phenomenon, 81 victims of sexual exploitation were found, again from
the same countries." Of the
victims identified in 2006, three had come to Cyprus as tourists, three as
housemaids, three as students, five were asylum seekers, 19 worked in bars,
and the remaining 47 worked in cabarets, she said. Police
training on human trafficking Justice Minister Sophoclis
Sophocleous yesterday spoke of his determination to eliminate the trafficking
of women. He said that in Cyprus there
were currently 1,200 artistes, 20 agents and 120 cabarets. “You can draw your
own conclusions,” he said. US
Steps In To Rescue Girl From Prostitution In The North The girl was reportedly being
sexually exploited by a cabaret owner in the north. Her parents were alerted
to her plight when she began calling them from mobile phones. According to reports, the girl had been
forced to engage in sexual activities with customers. In June last year, for the first
time, the Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study “I truly believe that for it’s
size there isn’t another country in Europe with so many women working as
prostitutes,” he adds, shaking his head.
“It still distresses me greatly.”. One girl who came to the refuge
after just a few days on the job has particularly stuck in her mind. “I asked her what she needed when she
arrived here, expecting her to say perhaps a sandwich or a drink, but she
said all she wanted was to sleep. I was surprised until I learned what her
typical 24 hours entailed. “She had to
be at the cabaret for 6.30pm and until 3am she would have to dance and
entertain clients, most of who wanted more than a dance. Then she would be
expected to spend the night in a hotel with a client, until around 7 or
8am. “But I thought surely she must
have been able to sleep properly after that?
“‘No,’ she said. ‘I would grab a couple of hours sleep until 11am.
Then I had to be downstairs, in a room with some arcade games and a couple of
sofas. There were men there supposedly playing games but in fact they would
look us up and down and pick one of us and we’d have to go upstairs and have
sex with them. This went on until the afternoon. After that we had time to
‘rest’ and get ready for the next night’s work.’ All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Cyprus Street Children in [Cyprus] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Cyprus] [other countries]