Human Trafficking in [Turkey Street Children in [Turkey] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Turkey] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Turkey [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Turkey is a
significant destination, and to a lesser extent, transit country for women
and children trafficked primarily for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. This year, five men were reported trafficked from Turkmenistan
for purposes of forced labor. Women and girls are trafficked from Moldova,
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Romania for sexual exploitation. This year, three
victims were reported trafficked to Turkey from outside of Eastern Europe and
Eurasia—from Morocco, Tunisia, and Sri Lanka. Some victims are reportedly
trafficked through Turkey to the area administered by Turkish Cypriots for
the purpose of sexual exploitation. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in *** FEATURED
ARTICLES *** Human
trafficking ‘world-wide epidemic,’ One of the stories Bartell related
was about Svetlana, a young Russian woman. She was promised a well-paying job
in Istanbul, Turkey, by two men. Once she arrived, her passport and money
were taken away, and she was locked up and forced into prostitution.
Desperate to escape, she jumped out of a window when she was with a customer
and fell six stories. Instead of
taking her to the hospital, the customer called the traffickers. Untreated,
she ultimately died. Turkey's sex
trade entraps Slavic women The women arrive here by ferry from across the Most come of their own free will, but many end up as virtual slaves, sold from pimp to pimp through a loosely organized criminal network that stretches from Moscow to Istanbul and beyond. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S. Dept
of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs - 2004 INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Girls are trafficked to Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Foreign
victims trafficked to the country were typically recruited by small networks
of foreign nationals and Turkish citizens who relied on referrals and
recruitment from friends and family members in the source country. Some
victims answered newspaper advertisements or enlisted the help of job
agencies in the source country. The victims often did not know where they
were going or which airlines they were using. Some victims reportedly arrived
in the country knowing that they would work illegally in the sex industry;
however, most arrived believing they would work as models, waitresses,
dancers, domestic servants, or in other regular employment. Traffickers
typically confiscated victims' documents, then confined, raped, beat,
starved, and intimidated them by threatening their families and ultimately
forced them into prostitution. Not all trafficking cases were for
sexual purposes. One foreign victim was saved from domestic servitude after
calling the trafficking hot line. The media reported that young Turkish men
and women, many underage, were recruited to work in brick factories in
Tekirdag Province, receiving little or no salaries and living in hazardous
conditions on site. Fight
against human trafficking continues, data reveal Turkey, a transit country for
citizens of countries in the former Soviet bloc as well as the Middle East,
who aspire for a better life in wealthy European countries, has also been
emerging as a destination country in recent years due to its improving living
standards and stable economy. Most of the human trafficking victims come from
countries like Ukraine or Moldova to Turkey in hopes of finding a job but end
up being trafficked for sexual exploitation. A significant instrument in the
rescue of human trafficking victims is a hotline launched in 2005. According
to the report, some 56 people were rescued by security forces after victims
themselves or others dialed 157 for help. As in previous years, the clients
of women forced to prostitute themselves proved to be the most helpful:
Clients or friends/relatives of the women made 81 percent of the calls to
157, while only 19 percent of the calls were made by the victims themselves. Trafficking in
women remains a global abuse The June 28, 2007, German weekly,
Die Zeit, published an article on the growing problem of human trafficking in
Europe. The article gave several specific examples. One woman, Natalia, from
the country of Moldova, wrongly assumed that a household job awaited her in Istanbul that would pay 300 Euros per
month. At the Istanbul airport, however, her male contact person was
approached by another man who told Natalia that she would be working for him
instead. Subsequently, she was forced into prostitution and ''sold'' six more
times. Fortunately, her sister managed to locate her and to get her released. Trafficking victims
prompt new Baptist ministry in Moldova Hoping to make money to help her
husband support their family, a young Moldovan woman named Irina took a job
in Turkey offered through a
friend. Upon arriving there, she was placed in a room of an abandoned casino
with three other girls. Periodically, a guard entered the room and took one
of the captives to a client. The girls were not paid any money and often were
severely beaten by the guard and clients. One day, Irina and one of the
other girls managed to pry open the window of the second-story room and jump
to the alley below. A kind stranger bought a ticket back to Moldova for her.
Once home, however, she felt dirty and out of place. Combating
human trafficking under one roof Güneş designated the Public
Security Department a coordination unit to organize operations against human
trafficking under one roof. He said that in 2006 in Turkey, 104 cases of
human trafficking had been discovered and 404 suspects were apprehended along
with 117 victims. According to the minister, 31 cases have been reported
since the beginning of 2007 in which 102 suspects were taken into custody and
43 victims rescued. Turkish
speaker at Humphrey Institute presents her research on human trafficking “At least 97 percent of the
traffic is for the purposes of sexual exploitation,” said Altuntas. “One out
of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers who are lured by chances of
making a better life for their children,” she said. A Turkish ad campaign designed to
help these victims features the face of a young child asking the question,
“Have you seen my mother?” Turkey has also begun a 24-hour
hotline for trafficking victims, distributing information cards that list the
hotline number with the plea, “If anyone takes away your passport, your
freedom or forces you to perform work of any kind without pay, call the
helpline.” The cards are printed in four languages and are being handed out
at border crossings and transportation hubs. Human
trafficking ‘world-wide epidemic,’ One of the stories Bartell related
was about Svetlana, a young Russian woman. She was promised a well-paying job
in Istanbul, Turkey, by two men. Once she arrived, her passport and money
were taken away, and she was locked up and forced into prostitution.
Desperate to escape, she jumped out of a window when she was with a customer
and fell six stories. Instead of
taking her to the hospital, the customer called the traffickers. Untreated,
she ultimately died. Operation
into Turkish human trafficking gang expanded Turkish police on Wednesday
expanded their operation targeting a gang involved in human trafficking to
cover six separate provinces. Among those detained was a retired police chief
who also worked as the security co-ordinator for the Turkish retailing
company Yimpas. Police took almost one hundred people into custody who had
obtained visas with false identifications for European Union countries. 687
people tried for human trafficking last year Criminal courts in Turkey over the
last year settled almost 200 cases involving the crime of human
trafficking, with 687 people appearing before the courts. Turkey is a major destination and transit
country for women and children trafficked primarily for sexual exploitation
and, to a lesser extent, forced labor. In 2005, the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Turkey reported that 60 percent of
cases identified involved victims from Ukraine and Moldova; other victims are
trafficked from throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Reports of trafficking within Turkey were continuing, it said. Turkish
traffickers used violence to control their victims, often using threats
against victims' families as a powerful form of coercion. Ukrainian
law enforcement liquidated the human trafficking channel Having financial strait, young
woman from Kherson found ad proposing well-paid job abroad (bar-women and
waitresses). “The malefactor sold Kherson resident to Turkish citizen for
$2,400. The victim had to work it off by prostitution”. Human Trafficking Victims on Rise IOM, has stated that the women are
trafficked against their own will, by force, kidnapped without compensation
in any form and then sold. It said the organisation has provided support for
55 human trafficking case victims in the first three months of 2006 alone. Sex Trafficking Plagues Turkey This nation has become one of the
largest markets in the trafficking of women from nearby former Soviet states
who have been forced into prostitution, with profits from the illicit sex
trade in Turkey an estimated $3.6 billion last year and growing, an
international agency said in a report released Tuesday. Ukrainian women freed from sexual slavery in Turkey thanks to phone tip-off The women - one of whom was held
for six years - were set to return to Ukraine after being rescued by Turkish
police following a call to the "157" hotline, which is run by the IOM,
the Geneva-based organization said.
Impoverished women from Eastern Europe are lured to Turkey's sex
trade entraps Slavic women The women arrive here by ferry from across the |
Human Trafficking in [Turkey Street Children in [Turkey] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Turkey] [other countries]