HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Saturday, January 26, 2002 1:29 PM Serbs crack down on sex slave
trade
Paul Anderson in
Belgrade
Saturday January 26, 2002 The Guardian Serbian police have begun to crack
down on the "white slave trade" in women tricked into prostitution in the
Balkans.
In the biggest operation conducted so far by the organised crime department,
hundreds of officers raided more than 400 night clubs, dance bars and cafes,
freeing dozens of young women.
They arrested 150 people on charges ranging from procuring prostitutes to
possessing drugs and arms.
"This is good news," said Enrico Ponziani, head of the international office
for migration in Belgrade, which is opening a safe shelter for liberated women
and children in the coming days.
"We are talking about thousands, not hundreds, of women and children who are
trafficked through Serbia every year. We need more operations of that nature."
He said Serbia was often the starting point for the trade in women and
children as young as 14. Most were from Romania and the former Soviet republics
of Moldova and Ukraine, fleeing economic misery at home.
They arrived in Serbia believing they were going to jobs as nannies and
waitresses in western Europe. "When they cross the border, they are housed
somewhere in Serbia and ordered to hand over their passports.
"At that point they start to realise they have been tricked. They are slaves
because they're being forced to do things they had no idea they would be forced
to do."
He said the women were traded between Albania, Serbia and Bosnia many times.
They were moved illegally into Macedonia, Kosovo and Bosnia to serve new
clients.
In Serbia one of the women freed said she had been sold for DM1,100 (�350).
She escaped from the Kazanova dance club in the Panchevo, near Belgrade, which
is run by Rade Spelovic.
The Serbian police describe him as one of the untouchable leaders of the
slave trade. They said he had threatened to unleash fierce dogs on any of the
women who tried to escape.
Western officials say that for every Serb running the trade, there are many
more in Romania, Ukraine and Moldova, organising their end of the business.
They are mounting an awareness campaign in the Balkans and former Soviet
Union to alert police and victims to the realities of "work abroad".
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