Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published
reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/CzechRepublic.htm
The Czech Republic
is a source, transit, and destination country for women from Slovakia,
Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, Bulgaria, Mongolia, and Brazil
trafficked to the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and
Germany for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. The Czech Republic
is a destination for men and women trafficked from Ukraine, Russia, Moldova,
Belarus, China, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Brazil for the purpose of labor
exploitation. Roma women are trafficked within the country and abroad for
forced prostitution. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out a later country report here or full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular
interest to you. Would you like to
write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims La Strada
(NGO) ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Six charged in organ
trafficking case at Jan Richter, Radio www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/six-charged-in-organ-trafficking-case-at-brno-hospital [accessed 31 January
2011] Between 2003 and
2004, five employees of the tissue bank at the Brno-Bohunice
hospital, together with one outsider, sold 7 million crowns worth of skin
graft to a Dutch company. The Organized Crime Squad of the Czech police have
now finished investigating the case and charged the persons involved with
illegal organ trafficking. It took the Czech
police three and a half years to close the case of illegal organ trafficking
at a hospital in Brno, Moravia. Two skin tissue specialists, three other
staff members and one of their relatives have been charged with illegal organ
trafficking, a crime punishable in the Czech Republic only since 2002. The police
operation, code named "Human", the first of its kind in the
country, targeted illegal sales of skin graft to a Dutch company. Human trafficking
campaign ends www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/01/23/human-trafficking-campaign-ends.php womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/human-trafficking-campaign-ends-czech-republic/ [accessed 31 January
2011] Although some details
may not be known, the general picture of sex trafficking in the THE TRUE STORY OF A
TRAFFICKED WOMAN
- After Lithuania joined the European Union, in May 2004, Marja
traveled across Italy. After about two weeks, due to unexpected expenses, she
ran out of money. This is when her friend, also originally from Lithuania,
offered her a well-paid job in Prague. They traveled to the Czech Republic in
another friend's car. Since they were now both EU citizens, crossing the
borders was smooth and easy. Late in the evening they reached a town, whose
name Marja didn't notice at the time. They were
both tired and decided to stay overnight. In the morning, Marja discovered that the doors to her room were locked
and that her papers and mobile phone were missing. A stranger entered her
room, a man, who told her in Russian that she owed a lot of money for the
transport and accommodation. There was a customer already waiting for her
downstairs. When Marja realized that she was
expected to work as a prostitute, she pointedly refused. On that day she was,
for the first time, brutally beaten and raped numerous times. In the following
weeks, death threats to both her and her family in Lithuania, beatings and
food deprivation, for even the slightest misbehavior, became part of Marja's life. She can't say for exactly how long this
went on. She started following the orders of the nightclub owner. She even
pretended to be happy. As she puts it, all that she felt inside was the
desire to survive and to not be hit anymore. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Czech Republic U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/czech-republic/
[accessed 4 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Men and women from
the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, the
Philippines, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Vietnam are exploited in
forced labor in the Czech Republic, typically through debt-based coercion or
exploitation of other vulnerabilities, in the construction, agricultural,
forestry, manufacturing, and service sectors, including in domestic work. In
May the government approved a new national strategy to guide the government’s
antitrafficking efforts, including addressing
forced labor. It did not, however, succeed in effectively screening
vulnerable populations and did not adequately identify domestic or foreign
victims mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Private labor agencies often
used deceptive practices to recruit workers from abroad, as well as from
inside the country. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT The law permits children younger than 15 (or who have not completed mandatory elementary education) to work only in certain areas: cultural and artistic activities; advertising; product promotion; and certain modeling and sports activities. A child younger than 15 may work only if he or she obtains a positive health assessment from a pediatrician and prior approval by the Labor Office. Work permits for children are issued for 12 months. Resources, inspections, and remediation were adequate. The State Bureau for Labor Inspections (SBLI) effectively enforced these regulations. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/czech-republic/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 23 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Human trafficking
remains a problem as organized criminal groups use the country as a source,
transit, and destination point; women and children are particularly
vulnerable to being trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The
government has made increasing efforts in recent years to fund protective
services and other resources for survivors, and to prosecute perpetrators. Czech police accuse
11 Asians of human trafficking Xinhua News Agency, news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/10/content_7222003.htm [accessed 31 January
2011] The traffickers promised
the girls the work of hostesses and barmaids, the Prima and Nova commercial
television channels said. Each of them
had to pay up to 10,000 dollars for the "mediation" of work. They
were forced into prostitution on arrival in the Czech Republic. Natashas - The New Global
Sex Trade
[PDF] Victor Malarek, “Natashas, The New
Global Sex Trade”, ISBN 9780670043125 | 16 Oct 2003 | Viking www.selfconnection.ca/Descriptions/9780143012597.pdf [accessed 31 January
2011] www.amazon.com/Natashas-Inside-New-Global-Trade/dp/1559707356 [accessed 31 January
2019] SMUGGLER'S PREY - Every day, scores of young women throughout the former East Bloc are lured by job offers that lead to a hellish journey of sexual slavery and violence. Despite the barrage of warnings on radio and TV, in newspapers and on billboards, desperate women continue to line up with their naiveté and applications in hand, hoping that, this time, they might just be in luck. Czech police detain
Vietnamese human trafficking gang Tien Phong, Czech News Agency - Česká
tisková kancelář
ČTK, June 15, 2006 At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4
September 2011] Czech police have
detained four male and two female Vietnamese in Vietnamese women
trafficked, rescued in Czech Republic October 11, 2005 --
Source: Nguoi Lao Dong - Compiled by Thanh Hang At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4
September 2011] They had to pay
US$5,000 to $7,500 each, tricked into thinking that they were coming to Czech
on legitimate terms to well-paid jobs, but instead were forced into
prostitution. Human Trafficking -
fighting an invisible crime Maida Agovic, Radio www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/human-trafficking-fighting-an-invisible-crime [accessed 1 February
2011] With rising
standards of living and entry into the European Union, the "Most of the victims
that end up trafficked in the Czech Republic come from the former Soviet
Union, mostly Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, some of them from Russia, quite many
from Bulgaria, quite a few from Slovakia as well, and in the past two years,
we have, for the first time, had clients from Asia, from China and Vietnam.
Recently we also had a few clients from Central Asia." Don Hill, Radio Free
Europe/Radio www.rferl.org/content/article/1054191.html [accessed 1 February
2011] Today marks the
second day of Miller's three-day visit to the "As the Czech
economy has grown, the nature of the problem has changed," Miller said.
"Today if we look at trafficking in persons, or slavery, in the Czech
Republic, we are talking about the Czech Republic as a destination country.
People coming from Eurasia, Eastern Europe to the Czech Republic, engaging,
being forced, into the various types of slavery. Although, talking with the
NGOs, it is clear that the leading form of slavery in the Czech Republic is
sex slavery." Typology, profile, and position of victims of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation in the Czech Republic [DOC] web.mvcr.cz/archiv2008/aktualit/sdeleni/2003/pril1.doc [Last access date
unavailable] PROFILE OF A CZECH
VICTIM TRAFFICKED ABROAD - According to the La Strada
data, it often concerns very young inexperienced women. Most are between 18
and 22 years of age, in majority low educated (elementary school, secretarial
training, or high school graduates). Trafficked victims often come from
socially pathological background - dysfunctional, broken or fragmentary
families, frequently with the background of domestic violence (alcoholism,
abuse). Alcohol or drug addiction raises the vulnerability of potential
victims. Harnessed by their addictions, young girls choose prostitution to
support their drug habits. Drug addiction also reinforces the girls'
dependency on their pimps. This is tied to the well-known issue of girls from
orphanages who leave the institution at 18 without having a place to go. They
are not adequately prepared for life and lack basic social and other skills.
The merchants sometimes directly target orphanages, waiting for the girls to
leave. Government receives
report criticising Slovak Romanies'
situation Czech News Agency - Česká tisková kancelář ČTK, www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13555382_ITM [accessed 17 July
2013] The Czech
government has received a report criticising the
living conditions of Slovak Romanies and comparing
them to a humanitarian crisis, the public Czech Television said today. According to the survey, the situation of
Slovak Romanies has worsened after the introduction
of social reforms. Forced prostitution, hunger and poverty reign among Slovak
Romanies, the report says. Report on human
trafficking praises Czechs The At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4
September 2011] The In the Czech
Republic human trafficking is linked to street prostitution and forced sex
work in the country's more than 200 brothels. The victims are primarily from
the poorest ex-Soviet states, such as Ukraine and Moldova. U.S. Embassy
political officer and trafficking expert Ben Rockwell did castigate the
country on two points, however. First, sentencing in the Czech Republic, as
in many countries, is too light, according to Rockwell. And despite excellent
police work, he said, far too few traffickers are actually charged. Out of
the five persons convicted of human trafficking last year, four were
sentenced to jail time, but all of the sentences were suspended. Klara Skrivankova: fighting trade in human lives Rob Cameron, Radio www.radio.cz/en/section/one-on-one/klara-skrivankova-fighting-trade-in-human-lives [accessed 1 February
2011] CAN YOU GIVE ME
EXAMPLE OF HOW, SAY, A TEENAGE GIRL FROM WHAT KIND OF
CONDITIONS ARE THESE WOMEN KEPT IN? - "The conditions can be very
different, ranging from very hard physical violence to more psychological
manipulation and pressure, or debt bondage, or threats. So the conditions
vary. But usually the people are in quite a vulnerable position because they
are foreigners, because sometimes they don't have papers, they're illegal
here, and also because they don't know the environment. They are purposely
kept in isolation, so the only contact they have is with the group with which
they are kept it. It can range from one extreme to the other." Human Trafficking
Casts Shadow on Globalization Michele A. Clark, YaleGlobal , 23 April 2003 yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/human-trafficking-casts-shadow-globalization [accessed 1 February
2011] In 1996, Sasha was
26 and worked as a waitress in a small town in the She was approached
at work by a Czech man who promised her a lucrative job in Germany. Believing
that she would be able to save money to ease her family's situation, she
accepted the offer and left for the West, along with three other girls. Her
fears began when her contact refused to return her passport after crossing
the border, and were confirmed when she got to her destination - a sleazy bar
on the outskirts of a German city. Once there, she was gang raped repeatedly
to obtain her compliance, and eventually taken to Amsterdam's red light
district where she was forced to become one of the many women behind the
windows, making as much as US$80,000 tax free for her traffickers in her
first year. Child-prostitution
claims disputed Andrew Satter, The At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4
September 2011] KARO -- which
receives funds from the European Union and subsidies from the German state of
Saxony and which has monitored the issue since 1996 -- said it has observed
about 500 girls and boys who are in prostitution, most from west, north and
south Romany girls
kidnapped, sold abroad Martina Pisárová, The Slovak Spectator, 14 Aug 2000 spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/1538 [accessed 1 February
2011] According to the
reports, which have been substantiated by Roma community leaders and
international human rights observers, several young Slovak Roma women have
recently been kidnapped and then sold to Czech underworld figures. The
captives are then smuggled into western countries, where they are forced into
prostitution. Following a story
in late July in the Czech press agency ČTK, the Slovak weekly magazine
Moment reported the case of Silvia Kováčová,
an 18 year-old Roma girl from the small village of Hencovce
in eastern Slovakia, who had been kidnapped by a family friend in mid July. She was driven to the nearby town of Vranov by the friend, who said they were going to inquire
about an available flower-selling job for the girl. However, the car
met with three large men en route. "When we got there, I asked about the
work selling the flowers," Kováčová said.
"But they all just started to laugh... one of them then sprayed
something in my face which knocked me out. When I woke up we were outside
Bratislava." Kováčová was then smuggled
into the Czech Republic by the kidnappers and was eventually sold at a gas
station to a local pimp in the Czech town of Teplice for the cash sum of 200
Deutsche marks ($93). The Department of Labor’s 2003 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2003/czech-republic.htm [accessed 31 January
2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor GOVERNMENT
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - In 2002, the
government provided some funding to local NGOs that provide assistance to
trafficking victims and those at risk of being trafficking. With funding from the U.S. Department of
State, the NGO La Strada implemented an
awareness-raising program for Czech law enforcement officers on the needs of
trafficking victims and to develop an information database on trafficking. INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - There are some reports of the internal trafficking
of Czech children from areas of low employment near border regions with Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 31 January 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/czechrepublic2003.html [accessed 31 January
2011] [60] The Committee
welcomes: (a) The establishment in spring of 2002 of a trilateral
Czech-German-Polish working group to address, inter alia, trafficking in
human beings, in particular the sexual exploitation of children for
prostitution occurring in these areas. The Protection
Project – Czech Republic [PDF] The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS),
The Johns Hopkins University www.protectionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Czech-Republic.pdf [accessed 24
February 2016] A Human Rights
Report on Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/eur/277157.htm
[accessed 20 March
2019] www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/czech-republic/ [accessed 25 June
2019] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR There were reports
that men and women, including migrant workers, were subjected to trafficking
for forced labor, typically through debt bondage. The Ministry of Interior
reported seven victims of forced labor in the first eight months of the year.
Private labor agencies often used deceptive practices to recruit workers from
abroad as well as from inside the country. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61644.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Local sex trafficking victims were generally young women between 18 and 29
years of age from areas of high unemployment. Romani women were at the
highest risk of being trafficked internally, often by a friend or relative.
Girls raised in state‑run homes, such as orphanages, were also at
particular risk. According to government authorities, women already working
as prostitutes were also particularly vulnerable to traffickers. Trafficked
women were frequently offered jobs as models, maids, waitresses, and dancers
through employment agencies and then forced into prostitution. Once in a
destination country, traffickers ensured victims' compliance by confiscating
their travel documents and using isolation, drug and alcohol dependence,
violence, threats of violence toward the victim or her family, and the threat
of arrest and deportation. Police reported that traffickers increasingly
relied on violence to secure their victims' cooperation. Labor trafficking
remained a significant issue; the interior ministry reported that it was the
most common form of trafficking in the country. The International
Organization for Migration (IOM) and the NGO La Strada
released a study during the year documenting victims from a wide variety of
countries, including the former Soviet Union, South Asia, All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this
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