Human trafficking victims under supervision

  • 2005-07-27
  • By Milda Seputyte
VILNIUS - Lithuania, believed by experts to be one of the major sex trafficking pools in Europe, has launched a three-year program that will help re-integrate victims into society.
Experts say that without support programs aimed at boosting trafficking victims' skills, the latter are likely to suffer from depression and despondency. Over the past decade, hundreds of Lithuanian women and girls have been lured into prostitution across Europe 's a problem so prevalent it's been named Europe's "modern slavery."

"Most [victims] have never had a proper job, and few have a decent education," said Ona Gustiene, head of a support center that works with trafficking victims. "Also, negative attitudes in society diminish their motivation to look for alternatives to prostitution. They don't have a sense of self-support and find it difficult to rely on their own skills."

Since Lithuania joined the EU last May, the sex trade has become even more rampant. Modest estimates claim that about 2,000 Lithuanian women a year are now being sold to foreign brothels.

Yet many believe the figure is much higher. According to Interpol authorities, about 15 women a month aged 18-25 are sold to the U.K. alone, currently the most popular and profitable destination. Those women who do escape their captors usually live in constant fear that they will be snared again.

Negative public attitudes keep women from re-integrating into society. Opinion polls show that 50 percent of domestic employers would not want to hire a trafficking victim, while 23 percent of respondents said they would if they could receive tax reductions in return.

The recently launched program, Integration and Re-integration of Victims of Human Trafficking into Working Society, is meant to tackle social exclusion and to change negative stereotypes in society. The European Union has allocated some 380,000 euros toward the EQUAL program, which will run through November 2007.

Gustiene, who also heads the project, said that the rehabilitation center is currently assisting 20 victims in the 18-20 age group. Most are unemployed and have no one to support them 's not surprising since almost 30 percent of human trafficking victims have grown up in orphanages.

The organization first provides the women with medical, legal and psychological support. Later, the victims are offered counseling and occupational training as part of the rehabilitation program.

"After psychological rehabilitation, many girls would like to continue their previous studies and obtain a high-school degree. Others want to earn qualifications in cooking, hairdressing or manicure. Not only do we help them get back into school and become proficient with computers, but we also teach them simple things such as balancing personal finances," Gustiene said, adding that some 60 percent of former prostitutes return to normal lives.

Experts estimate that over 385 trafficking victims, 143 of whom have children, received support in 2004 from approximately 20 NGO's working in the field.

The Interior Ministry estimated that some 3,000 women from all three Baltic states have left voluntarily or been forced to work as prostitutes abroad. Although many of the women know there will be sex involved, others simply expect to work as waitresses or au pairs. A shockingly common trend is that women are being sold into brothels by their own relatives and friends.

"Many women say to themselves before leaving 'it can't be worse than here, I will manage somehow,' and they leave only to find out they had been sold to a brothel," said Gustiene. "What's worrying is the number of families below the poverty line - the source of human trafficking victims 's is not diminishing."