http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101018/twl-eu-trafficking-cyprus-prostitution-r-4bdc673.html
NICOSIA (AFP) - – Cypriot radio stations are working together to put the
spotlight on the victims and crack down on customers of a thriving sex
trade on the divided island despite some timid visa reforms.
"I came to Cyprus to work as a waitress. That is what they told me. Now
they force me to sleep with clients! I am not a prostitute. They force
me to do it," said a woman speaking on Radio Astra, owned by Cyprus's
ruling Akel party.
A condemnation follows: "Human trafficking is a serious violation of
human rights. The tolerance and use of victims' services is our complicity."
The plan to enlighten Cypriots was launched two years ago when the
government abolished "artiste" visas for "dancers," often from eastern
Europe, in any of the 100 or so cabarets that the holiday island used to
have.
Since then, the Greek Cypriot authorities in the government-controlled
south of the island, which joined the European Union in 2004, say there
are only 44 of the clubs left.
"The interior minister has changed the rules and now it's better," said
Neophytos Neophytou, deputy editor-in-chief of Radio Astra.
"But it's still important to inform Cypriot society, especially the
young people, to teach them the difference between (consensual)
prostitution and trafficking."
Monday marks the annual European Day against Human Trafficking which the
27-nation bloc launched three years ago.
But experts in the field say Cyprus's abolition of artiste visas --
around 3,000 were issued in 2007 -- has made barely any difference at
all, instead moving the problem elsewhere, mostly to bars and massage
parlours.
"The truth is that two years ago they sold girls with artiste visas, and
today they sell them with work visas," said Androulla Henriques, vice
president of ACESS-Suisse, an organisation combating sexual exploitation.
In a report on human trafficking, the US State Department warned in June
against the dangers involved in granting special visas to performing
artists and waitresses in Cyprus.
And in a letter to Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis, EU High
Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg urged Cypriot
authorities to "ensure that no type of visa or work permit can be abused
for such unlawful purposes as trafficking human beings."
Half the applications for work permits are turned down, according to the
interior ministry, which says it demands proof of the artists'
qualifications and now requires that they come as part of a group.
The bars are no longer allowed to employ non-European waitresses.
"They changed the name of the visa, the name of the contract, but the
situation hasn't changed: the women are still here, and the risk of
trafficking also," said Susan Pavlou of the Mediterranean Institute for
Gender Studies.
She believes the clients, most of whom are married Greek Cypriots
according to her organisation, should be prosecuted.
Cyprus is also having to contend with a new phenomenon: street
prostitution, with Filipinas, Chinese and Vietnamese women offering
themselves, day and night, for just a few euros, non-governmental
organisations say, to pay back immigration networks.
In the Turkish-held north of the island, the situation is even more
troubling.
Since June, Turkish Cypriot station Radio Mayis has been broadcasting
awareness messages in collaboration with Radio Astra.
Henriques described the "appalling life" of foreign women in the north
who are deprived of their freedom, singling out the garish nightclubs
dotted along the westbound motorway out of northern Nicosia.
In its June report, the State Department said nearly 1,000 "hostess"
work permits were issued last year in northern Cyprus, which has 42
nightclubs, adding that the authorities had no procedures to identify
trafficking victims.
Sener Elcil, secretary general of the union of Turkish Cypriot teachers,
said the police in northern Cyprus do nothing to prevent people
trafficking, and are even colluding with the organisers.
"Turkey is responsible for these (cabaret) activities. The mafia rules
the northern part of the island, and police do nothing. Even worse,
they're involved, they hold the passports of the girls when they arrive."
---[Start Commercial]---------------------
Order your WRTH 2009:
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2009
---[End Commercial]-----------------------
________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________
THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html