By Audra Sipaviciene
The issue of trafficking in women in the Baltic States and especially in Lithuania has recently attracted a great deal of attention from the media, government agencies, NGOs, and certain international organisations. This complex, sensitive and hidden phenomenon is a fairly recent issue in the Baltic States, owing its novelty to the newly acquired freedom of international travelling from these parts, and the introduction of a market economy. Despite the recent emergence of the issue in the Baltic region, it is an urgent and increasing problem, especially in Lithuania.
Unfortunately, until recently research on this subject was significantly lacking. Any available information pertaining to the trade - which was quite fragmentary - usually reflected the attitude of the organisation from which it originated. For example that emerging from law enforcement institutions was rather negative whilst that of the NGOs was very sympathetic. Too little was known about the phenomenon in order to be able to deal with it effectively, to prevent and combat trafficking in women. This situation, as well as the address by the Baltic governments was the rationale for IOM to initiate and implement the Project "Research, Information and Legislation on Trafficking in Women in the Baltic States". In this framework, a pilot project was carried out, consisting of studies on legal and social aspects of trafficking in women in the Baltic region and a public opinion poll on the issue. The project was carried out with the financial contribution from the Finnish and U.S. governments and further supported by SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency).
The aim of the sociological element of the research project was to explore and extensively describe the magnitude, mechanism and actors of the prostitution and trafficking business: factors leading to employment in the sex business. Below are some major results of this study (IOMa 2001)1.
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| Principal image of the IOM anti-trafficking campaign in the Baltic States, financed by SIDA. |
It is rather difficult to describe the scope and dynamics of trafficking in women, due to its largely clandestine character. The nature and complexity of the problem predetermined that several data gathering techniques and research methods should be applied. Apart from statistical/archival data analysis (official institutions’ statistics on migration, labour force, missing persons, deported citizens etc.), the methods applied were predominantly qualitative, as itemised below:
a) In-depth expert survey. This included such professionals as: those providing shelter, assistance or service to the victims
of trafficking and/or sex and entertainment industry workers; reception centres personnel; experts from state institutions
dealing with trafficking matters, such as the police, border guards, social workers, special medical personnel, etc. The experts
referred to in what follows are from these institutions. Even though the experts represented very different spheres and organizations,
interviews were carried out based on general guidelines, so as to achieve comparability and a balanced view of the different
aspects related to trafficking;
b) Interviews with victims of trafficking and sex workers – both Lithuanians involved in prostitution business locally and those
returned from abroad; also foreign women working as women in prostitution in Lithuania;
c) Practical experiments – telephone inquiries to escort/call-girl agencies as well as inquiries among employment agencies about
labour opportunities for women, including jobs in the entertainment business and employment (legal and illegal) abroad;
d) Media analysis and secondary data analysis (available articles, reports and materials of other organizations, including materials
for needed actions).
The results of this study, applying the methods listed above, revealed that only an indirect evaluation or perhaps more accurately
“guesstimates” can be made regarding the magnitude of the problem. Although it is impossible to state the exact number of
cases of trafficking in women in the Baltic region, the study revealed the mode of the phenomenon and its mechanisms - i.e.
“how” and “why”.
The magnitude of trafficking in women in Lithuania
According to Lithuanian Interpol information, there is no doubt that trafficking in women conducted by organised criminals
is on the increase. Some indirect evaluation of the scope and especially the dynamics of this phenomenon can be derived from
the data pertaining to missing people, including young women/girls and on the data about deportations of Lithuanian citizens
from other countries.
Data from the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior shows that since the beginning of 1990 the number of missing people in Lithuania
has increased significantly and for the past few years it has stabilised at a rather high level. Regrettably, the number of
those “not found” has also stabilised at about 400 persons per year. With regard to missing young women under 30, the tendency
is similar - over the past few years the numbers of missing women have increased, including those who have not been found.
Of course only a portion of all the missing women are victims of trafficking. In fact, most of the victims of trafficking
do inform their relatives/friends about their departure (usually not mentioning or not themselves knowing the real purpose
of travel). Therefore the above data may be relevant only in a few cases.
Data from the Lithuanian Border Guard Service (Ministry of the Interior) on deportations of Lithuanian citizens from abroad
may appear more informative, since the majority of prostitutes/trafficking victims detained abroad are deported. First of
all, a significant increase in numbers over the past few years can be observed. According to this information, in 1999 the
total number of deportations to Lithuania amounted to 1,928 people. In 2000 it nearly doubled (3,498). The year 2001 continues
this tendency of increase – 4,133 persons from Lithuania were deported by foreign countries during the last year.
The actual number of expulsions of Lithuanian citizens from foreign countries may be much higher, since only expulsions with
formally issued deportation documents are registered. Most people are deported due to overstaying, or their presence becomes
illegal because of illegal employment. Trafficking as a reason for expulsion is never mentioned, even if it is known about
the person. Therefore numbers of deportation may only suggest tendencies, not provide statistics.
The United Kingdom and Germany are the absolute leaders among the countries comprising trafficking destinations, followed
by the Nordic countries and the Netherlands. If, some years ago the main trafficking flows were directed to Israel, Greece,
the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, recently the prostitution business has turned to Germany, Holland, UK, France and Sweden.
According to the latest information from the Police Department, Spain is rapidly becoming the new target country. The increase
in trafficking cases has also been noted in some “traditional” reception countries, such as the U.K., Denmark and Germany.
In Germany alone, the number of criminal cases which deal with women trafficked from Lithuania has doubled during the year
1999-2000. In trafficking cases in German courts Lithuania has taken a lead over much bigger countries such as Russia, the
Ukraine and Poland, which are considered the main suppliers of women for working in prostitution in Germany. According to
experts at the Vilnius Airport Border Guard service every second flight from Germany now brings women who are suspected of
being engaged in prostitution.
In sum, it is possible to assert that most official numbers are quite contradictory. On the one hand, they do not include
a large part of returned trafficking victims; on the other hand, foreigners holding false Lithuanian passports are included.
Despite all these contradictions, experts interviewed in this IOM study express the opinion that trafficking in women from
Lithuania is increasing and becoming a real, urgent problem.
The reasons for women’s migration and for trafficking in women
According to the experts, the main reasons for women’s migration are economic. Firstly there is a high level of unemployment
in Lithuania. Poverty makes them look for any, even elementary source of income, and, as was indicated by one trafficking
victim “one would clutch at straws to survive”.
Secondly there is an absence of any realistic prospects for a better life. Even people with employment hardly have enough
means for a modest living. Wages are low (and further, women earn a 1.4 times lower salary than men) and a young girl without
higher education has very few possibilities to earn the kind of money, for example, required for buying a flat. Stories abound
about how much one can earn abroad during a summer, a year. This is also an incentive to go and look for a better life in
foreign countries. The effect of success stories is not tempered by awareness of the difficulties experienced by women entering
the trade.
More over, criminal interests are involved. According to the research results, the main reason for criminals engaging in women’s trafficking is money, big money. All the experts were of the same opinion: a craving for money makes people forget and disregard moral standards of intercommunication: nobody thinks of the harm done to others. As compared with other countries in central Europe, Lithuanian women are frequently cheaper and do not know their rights so well, so they cannot defend themselves. Therefore they are in great demand.
In the opinion of some of the experts, the old patriarchal culture of Lithuania has a significant effect on the development
of the business of trading in women in Lithuania as well. It seems quite normal for a man to have the right to dispose of
a woman in any way he wants, as he feels superior to her. Hence, if he thinks that a woman can provide pleasure to a man,
he finds it quite natural to make use of the fact, simply to sell her. Women from asocial families appear to be in the most
disadvantaged situation.
Though officially discrimination of women does not exist in Lithuania, it can be observed in everyday life, for example, in
employment situations. Lithuanian Labour Exchange statistics indicate that in general women earn less than men working at
the same job. The Law on Equal Opportunities of Women and Men came into force on December 1st, 1998 in Lithuania. Nevertheless,
the deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes to women as inferior members of society do not change very quickly.
Another fundamental reason is the unaccountability of traffickers: practically nobody is punished for it. The number of cases
against traffickers in the court is really insignificant. It is quite seldom that women who have managed to escape from the
trap of pimps, dare take their case to the courts. They are ashamed of what has happened to them; frequently they are frightened
and threatened. It takes a long time for the case to be investigated in court and the traffickers often manage to get away
unsentenced. Out of 27 trafficking cases which reached the courts in Lithuania over more than three years, only one trafficker
was sentenced.
Expanding prostitution, and entertainment business in general, in the countries of destination (i.e., demand) as well as in
countries of origin (supply) may be evaluated as additional factors stimulating cross-border trafficking.
The recruitment of trafficking victims
Currently one of the main ways of involving women in the prostitution business abroad is by means of deception or promises.
Girls are offered employment in foreign countries as au pairs, nurses, or to do agricultural work. They find such offers either
in newspaper ads or through acquaintances. Upon arriving by themselves, or having been trafficked to the country of destination,
they find out that the work they had been offered is in reality prostitution. Women, who prior to being taken away, “suspect”
that they might be offered to work in prostitution abroad, are lured by high wages and the possibility to see the “wide world”.
Methods of recruitment of women from the Baltic countries are now changing. Several years ago the main way of finding women
for traffic were advertisements in newspapers whereby some non-existent firm offered non-existent legitimate work abroad.
However, this type of recruitment is becoming less and less popular. Nowadays recruitment becomes more delicate and more personalised.
Traffickers try to establish a personal contact with a prospective victim, to “become friends” and only then offer some “good
job abroad and only for you, since we need a reliable person”. Trafficked girls’ stories indicate that it was people quite
close to them who offered them a “job” abroad – an acquaintance, friend or even a so-called boyfriend. When recruiting women,
traffickers now tend to offer precisely those forms of contact and recruitment which most people would consider to be the
most innocuous – people intending to work abroad would first rely on the recommendations of friends, acquaintances or relatives.
This peculiarity was revealed by analysing the results of the public opinion poll carried out by IOM in the Baltic States
(IOMb 2001).
Public perceptions of trafficking in women
One of the most important tasks of the public opinion survey was to establish the respondent’s personal experiences related
to women trafficked by force. According to the respondents, such cases comprise tenths of a per cent speaking about their
families and relatives (however, even such a small portion would produce quite significant absolute numbers). Furthermore,
many more of such cases were indicated concerning respondents’ acquaintances. Almost one in every ten young persons in Lithuania
has come across the problem of trafficking in women more or less personally: 8,8 per cent of young persons say that they have
come across attempts to traffic girls with the purpose of prostitution and these cases appeared among their acquaintances,
colleagues, friends, relatives or family members. Among the general population of Lithuania 5,6 per cent of all people have
personally come across trafficking in women. These findings are alarming.
Meanwhile, public awareness of the problem is low in Lithuania as well as in the other Baltic countries. According to the
research data, most respondents are not aware of the dangers of trafficking and would not know where to appeal for help in
a difficult situation. Nearly one quarter of the Lithuanians, a slightly higher proportion of Latvians and one third of the
Estonians consulted mentioned that they would not know what to do (or would not do anything) if a close relative was forced
to engage in prostitution abroad. The findings of the public opinion survey indicated an urgent need for informing people
in the Baltic region about the dangers of trafficking in women. Therefore, the information campaign was launched by IOM to
prevent further growth of the trafficking in women from the region.
Providing information about the dangers of trafficking
Based on the findings of the research project, an anti-trafficking information campaign was launched in the Baltic States by IOM in October 2001, and it will go on until October this year. The purpose of the project is not only to increase the awareness of the dangers of trafficking among the general population, but also to educate potential victims to give a proper response to traffickers: what to do/not to do before going to work abroad and when already in a foreign country.
The main concept-image of the campaign – the “human marionette” hung from her bare skin – warns: “You may be sold like a doll if you blindly believe in easy money abroad”. The information campaign began with the distribution to public advertising spaces in Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian cities and went on with TV and radio spots. Print media, indoor posters, leaflets, fact-sheets and other printed materials are being prepared. In order to further increase public awareness of the issue, special lectures on the dangers of trafficking and appropriate responses to these dangers are given to the most vulnerable groups during country-wide tours at secondary and special schools, orphanages, and other educational institutions. The project also includes networking activities - workshops, meetings and seminars aimed to strengthen co-operation between government organisations and NGOs involved in the issue, as well as increase the participation of journalists and media coverage of trafficking in women.
Notes
IOMa 2001: International Organization for Migration “Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Baltic States: Social and
Legal Aspects”, 2001.
IOMb 2001: International organization for Migration: Public Perception and Awareness on Trafficking in Women in the Baltic
States”, 2001.
First published in NIKK magasin 1 2002 © NIKK
