Sexual exploitation across the globe
Human trafficking ranks third among illegal businesses in terms of generated income, following arms and drugs trafficking with an annual income of approximately $ 32 billion. It is the world’s fastest growing crime and occurs in most of the world’s countries. According to the UN, citizens of 152 different states were identified as victims in 124 countries. Each year around 2 million people fall victim to this crime, of whom one-third are children.
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Prostitution in the Czech Republic
After 1989, the Czech Republic became known for its widespread prostitution, mainly on the borders with Germany and Austria. Due to political changes and the Czech Republic’s membership of the EU in 2004, street prostitution seemed to decrease rapidly. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the Czech Republic is free from sexual exploitation. According to the Global Slavery Index 2018, about 31,000 people in the Czech Republic are considered oppressed or exploited. The number of sexually exploited people is between 13,000 to 20,000. Nowadays, prostitution primarily takes place in night clubs or private apartments, and there is still a remarkably high number of women and children that offer sex along secondary roads in the border area with Germany. The Czech law is very flexible when it comes to sexual exploitation and does not provide any organized protection for prostituted women. Attempts to regulate prostitution have failed over the past years, giving this industry the ideal opportunity to thrive right in the heart of Europe!