http://www.ansa.it/balcani/bosnia/20020726005932291289.html
BOSNIA: CINQUE DONNE VIOLENTATE IN DISCOTECA DA ARMATI, ONU
(ANSA) - NEW YORK, 26 LUG - Quindici uomini armati
lunedi' scorso hanno rapito, violentato e picchiato sei donne che
lavoravano in un night club di Kiseljak, in
Bosnia. Lo riferiscono le Nazioni Unite, specificando che non si hanno
piu' notizie di una delle sei donne, che secondo il portavoce
dell'Onu Fred Eckhard, sono state portate in un ospedale dove sono state
trattate ''senza alcun rispetto della loro dignita'''. La
vicenda e' stata scoperta da un'unita' speciale delle Nazioni Unite che
controlla l'operato della polizia bosniaca e che ricerca le
donne che nell'area dei Balcani hanno subito violenze o sono state
spinte nel vortice della prostituzione. Nel corso di un controllo in
una vicina discoteca, la polizia bosniaca ha trovato altre cinque donne
provenienti dalla Moldavia, dall'Ucraina e dalla Romania. Le
donne, che erano trattenute nella discoteca contro la loro volonta',
sono state portate dagli agenti in una casa sicura. Dalla
meta' degli anni 90 le Nazioni Unite sono particolarmente impegnate con
una forza speciale nella lotta allo sfruttamento della
prostituzione nell'area dei Balcani, di cui sono vittime prevalentemente
donne provenienti dai Paesi dell'Est europeo, cui vengono sottratti
i passaporti dagli sfruttatori, che le costringono a vendere il loro
corpo. (ANSA).
FLB 26/07/2002 00:59
===*===
http://www.nationalpost.com/world/story.html?id=827E41FA-8880-45E3-8B35-83ECA450929B
Friday » July 26 » 2002
Peacekeepers fuelling sex-trade traffic: report
Women, children enslaved as prostitutes in Eastern
Europe
Peter Goodspeed
National Post
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
-In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where up to 19,000
international peacekeeping troops make up the
Stabilization Force of the Partnership for Peace, some
non- governmental organizations estimate bars and
nightclubs providing sex earn up to 70% of their
profits from foreigners.
The more than 900 nightclubs employ between four and
25 women and girls each as prostitutes who charge
US$25 and up for sexual services.
-A large, well-organized trafficking system operated
by criminal organizations in southeastern Europe helps
bring 120,000 women and girls into Europe each year,
the Organization for Migration estimates. Another
10,000 sex workers from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine
are forced to work in the sex trade in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
-"This low risk and high profit are combined with a
large demand for sexual services, created in part by
the international community based in the Balkans."
Criminal gangs in Eastern Europe who earn millions of
dollars by sexually enslaving women and children have
corrupted local officials, international peacekeepers
and border guards who are supposed to be leading the
fight to crush the illegal trade, says a new report.
The report, commissioned by the United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,
concludes the surging sex industry in southeastern
Europe, which relies heavily on illegal trafficking in
women and girls, is patronized and protected by
international peacekeepers and foreign aid workers.
Instead of rescuing victims forced into prostitution,
members of international organizations based in the
Balkans are among the prostitutes' biggest customers.
"Stories about local and international police
frequenting bars, using the services of women and
being on good terms with the owners and traffickers
are legion," says the 270-page report, Trafficking in
Human Beings in Southeastern Europe.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where up to 19,000
international peacekeeping troops make up the
Stabilization Force of the Partnership for Peace, some
non- governmental organizations estimate bars and
nightclubs providing sex earn up to 70% of their
profits from foreigners.
The more than 900 nightclubs employ between four and
25 women and girls each as prostitutes who charge
US$25 and up for sexual services.
"The growing market for prostitution is one of the
side effects of progression from conflict to
post-conflict and transition in all Southeastern
Europe countries," the study says.
"The international market for sex services as well as
local demand has expanded, particularly in countries
where there is a large international presence."
A large, well-organized trafficking system operated by
criminal organizations in southeastern Europe helps
bring 120,000 women and girls into Europe each year,
the Organization for Migration estimates. Another
10,000 sex workers from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine
are forced to work in the sex trade in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Ninety per cent of these foreign migrant sex workers
are victims of trafficking, the study says.
Trafficking routes run from Moldova, Ukraine and
former Soviet republics, the main countries of origin,
through Romania and Bulgaria to the countries of
former Yugoslavia, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Western
Europe.
Not all the women are sexually abused. Many use the
system voluntarily to enter the West illegally to work
as waitresses, nannies and prostitutes.
Still, some women and girls become the "property" of
traffickers and should be treated as victims of crime
rather than as illegal immigrants, the study suggests.
More and more adolescent girls are trafficked for the
purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour.
Some non-governmental organizations estimate 10% to
30% of all sex workers handled by trafficking rings
are underage girls.
The Save the Children Fund says up to 80% of all
trafficked people from Albania are girls under 18.
In a separate category, the study notes thousands of
children from Albania, both boys and girls, have been
taken to Greece and Italy to work as forced labour,
begging in the streets, dealing drugs or washing car
windows.
There are at least 2,000 Albanian children in Greece
and up to 6,000 Albanian youngsters have ended up in
Italian orphanages.
The sex trade and human trafficking thrive in the
chaotic aftermath of war.
"Lack of rule of law and difficult economic situations
have allowed black market economies to flourish," the
report says. "Smuggling of goods, arms and people,
corruption of state employees, organized crime groups
and acceptance of illegal ways to earn money as well
as unregulated migration have become the new norm."
The report adds, "Poorly functioning legal and law
enforcement systems make trafficking less risky for
perpetrators in Southeastern Europe than [in] European
Union countries."
"This low risk and high profit are combined with a
large demand for sexual services, created in part by
the international community based in the Balkans."
Trafficking in humans for sexual purposes permeates
southeastern Europe, but one exception is Croatia.
"Croatia, in which the economic situation is
relatively better and where there is no large
international presence, does not appear to be a major
country of origin or destination for trafficked women
and children," the study concludes.
While the European Union has promised more resources
to combat human trafficking, most programs are a
shambles and have left women and children even more
vulnerable, the report says.
"In general, trafficking is viewed as an issue of
migration or national security and not as a human
rights violation. As a consequence, the victims of
trafficking, in a majority of cases, are not
recognized as such and are treated as criminals."
===*===
BOSNIA: SEX TRADE CLAIMS SPREAD
Another western organisation in Bosnia accused of using prostitutes
By Julie Poucher Harbin in Sarajevo
A Bosnian driver has alleged that he was sacked from a US-backed
development project in Sarajevo after expressing discomfort at
ferrying around prostitutes.
Edin Zundo has filed suit against KPMG Consulting over the
termination of his contract six months early by its Barents Group
division, claiming it was a result of his complaints.
The action, which is due in court next month, comes in the wake of
other recent cases involving western companies operating in Bosnia and
Herzegovina facing accusations against staff using prostitutes, as
well as a major controversy over the UN's alleged involvement in the
Balkan sex trade.
Zundo served as personal driver for a Barents IT manager before his
sacking. According to Zundo, his Barents project supervisor told
him, "You are not a good guy. You are not a good driver."
However, 27-year-old Zundo insists the real reason for his dismissal
was that he complained of being asked to drive on unofficial business.
"I told [the supervisor] that I had a problem with [the IT manager],
that I drove hookers in the firm's car," Zundo told IWPR. "He told
me, 'No Edin, it's not your problem. Don't get involved'."
Zundo is now seeking compensation of one year's lost pay plus
insurance. He claims that after losing his job with Barents, he was
unable to find another job for twelve months.
The Virginia-based Barents works as a contractor for the US Agency for
International Development, USAID, managing major programmes to help
regulate and supervise Bosnia's post-war banking system.
The suit by Zundo was first brought in spring 2001 but allegations
about the company were brought to wider attention with a recent
report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.
The article quoted an anonymous British-based banker working on the
same project, who had tipped off the US State Department with similar
complaints. The US Embassy in Sarajevo investigated the matter, and
ordered both the IT manager and the supervisor off the project in
August 2001.
In a statement issued on August 12, 2002, in reaction to media
reports, the US Embassy said that although a local police
investigation had not resulted in criminal charges, its own internal
inquiry "gave us sufficient cause to insist KPMG remove these
individuals from their employment on a USAID assistance project".
It said that this was part of a "zero-tolerance policy" for employees
and contractors "regarding involvement in prostitution or patronising
locations where it is practised".
In response to enquiries about the issue, USAID referred IWPR to
Barents. In a telephone interview, Ken Neal, a spokesman for KPMG and
Barents in New York, told IWPR that the company had offered total
cooperation to the US government inquiry.
"After a full investigation we were informed by the [local]
authorities that none of the allegations were substantiated, " said
Neal.
He added that although the men were removed from the project, they
were not fired from KPMG but have both since left the company
for "unrelated reasons". Neal claimed not to have heard of Zundo,
despite the lawsuit.
Zundo, for his part, says local police never contacted him, although
he says he spoke twice to an investigator attached to the US Embassy,
and handed over a videotape.
Following a part-time assignment for USAID, Zundo says he started
working as a full-time driver for Barents in February 2000. A few
months later, he went to the airport with the IT manager to pick up
his "girlfriend" who was arriving from Bratislava, Slovakia.
However, he became suspicious when the Barents representative and the
woman, Susanne, did not recognise each other.
Zundo said she had apparently arrived without a visa, and diplomatic
connections were used to get her through customs. He later
recognised her picture on a website, Captain 69's Worldwide Escort
Reviews, that he saw on the IT manager's computer.
According to Zundo, Susanne went back and forth between Sarajevo and
Bratislava several times during the year, sometimes bringing friends.
Zundo told how he would drive them from the airport to the IT
manager's house, in a vehicle with a USAID sticker and diplomatic
plates, and claims he sometimes drove them to Mostar.
Both prostitution and trafficking - women being brought into a
country and sold as chattels against their will - are big business in
Bosnia. The International Organisation for Migration puts the number
of trafficked women and girls in the country at 6,000-10,000.
Earlier this month Kathryn Bolkovac, a former human rights
investigator for the UN's International Police Task Force, IPTF, won
a lawsuit against DynCorp Aerospace UK Ltd.
Bolkovac claimed that she was fired by the company, which is the US
State Department's personnel subcontractor for the UN Mission, in
April 2001 because of a detailed email she sent to DynCorp and UN
officials alleging international police complicity in trafficking
women.
An industrial tribunal found that the company had violated the United
Kingdom's provisions for whistle blowing, and will rule on the level
of damages in October.
In a statement, Bolkovac's attorney, Karen Bailey, said, "She took on
the big guns and won. The plight of trafficking victims is
appalling, and Kathryn's case has gone some way to bringing it to
wider attention."
DynCorp spokesman Chuck Taylor did not respond to inquiries from IWPR.
Kirsten Haupt, a spokesperson for the UN Mission to Bosnia, confirmed
that in 18 cases IPTF police monitors have been "implicated in
incidents of sexual misconduct by soliciting sexual services".
In each case they were sent home, but none were been expelled for
involvement in trafficking, Haupt said.
Julie Poucher Harbin is freelance journalist in Sarajevo
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 360, August 21, 2002
BOSNIA: CINQUE DONNE VIOLENTATE IN DISCOTECA DA ARMATI, ONU
(ANSA) - NEW YORK, 26 LUG - Quindici uomini armati
lunedi' scorso hanno rapito, violentato e picchiato sei donne che
lavoravano in un night club di Kiseljak, in
Bosnia. Lo riferiscono le Nazioni Unite, specificando che non si hanno
piu' notizie di una delle sei donne, che secondo il portavoce
dell'Onu Fred Eckhard, sono state portate in un ospedale dove sono state
trattate ''senza alcun rispetto della loro dignita'''. La
vicenda e' stata scoperta da un'unita' speciale delle Nazioni Unite che
controlla l'operato della polizia bosniaca e che ricerca le
donne che nell'area dei Balcani hanno subito violenze o sono state
spinte nel vortice della prostituzione. Nel corso di un controllo in
una vicina discoteca, la polizia bosniaca ha trovato altre cinque donne
provenienti dalla Moldavia, dall'Ucraina e dalla Romania. Le
donne, che erano trattenute nella discoteca contro la loro volonta',
sono state portate dagli agenti in una casa sicura. Dalla
meta' degli anni 90 le Nazioni Unite sono particolarmente impegnate con
una forza speciale nella lotta allo sfruttamento della
prostituzione nell'area dei Balcani, di cui sono vittime prevalentemente
donne provenienti dai Paesi dell'Est europeo, cui vengono sottratti
i passaporti dagli sfruttatori, che le costringono a vendere il loro
corpo. (ANSA).
FLB 26/07/2002 00:59
===*===
http://www.nationalpost.com/world/story.html?id=827E41FA-8880-45E3-8B35-83ECA450929B
Friday » July 26 » 2002
Peacekeepers fuelling sex-trade traffic: report
Women, children enslaved as prostitutes in Eastern
Europe
Peter Goodspeed
National Post
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
-In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where up to 19,000
international peacekeeping troops make up the
Stabilization Force of the Partnership for Peace, some
non- governmental organizations estimate bars and
nightclubs providing sex earn up to 70% of their
profits from foreigners.
The more than 900 nightclubs employ between four and
25 women and girls each as prostitutes who charge
US$25 and up for sexual services.
-A large, well-organized trafficking system operated
by criminal organizations in southeastern Europe helps
bring 120,000 women and girls into Europe each year,
the Organization for Migration estimates. Another
10,000 sex workers from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine
are forced to work in the sex trade in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
-"This low risk and high profit are combined with a
large demand for sexual services, created in part by
the international community based in the Balkans."
Criminal gangs in Eastern Europe who earn millions of
dollars by sexually enslaving women and children have
corrupted local officials, international peacekeepers
and border guards who are supposed to be leading the
fight to crush the illegal trade, says a new report.
The report, commissioned by the United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,
concludes the surging sex industry in southeastern
Europe, which relies heavily on illegal trafficking in
women and girls, is patronized and protected by
international peacekeepers and foreign aid workers.
Instead of rescuing victims forced into prostitution,
members of international organizations based in the
Balkans are among the prostitutes' biggest customers.
"Stories about local and international police
frequenting bars, using the services of women and
being on good terms with the owners and traffickers
are legion," says the 270-page report, Trafficking in
Human Beings in Southeastern Europe.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where up to 19,000
international peacekeeping troops make up the
Stabilization Force of the Partnership for Peace, some
non- governmental organizations estimate bars and
nightclubs providing sex earn up to 70% of their
profits from foreigners.
The more than 900 nightclubs employ between four and
25 women and girls each as prostitutes who charge
US$25 and up for sexual services.
"The growing market for prostitution is one of the
side effects of progression from conflict to
post-conflict and transition in all Southeastern
Europe countries," the study says.
"The international market for sex services as well as
local demand has expanded, particularly in countries
where there is a large international presence."
A large, well-organized trafficking system operated by
criminal organizations in southeastern Europe helps
bring 120,000 women and girls into Europe each year,
the Organization for Migration estimates. Another
10,000 sex workers from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine
are forced to work in the sex trade in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Ninety per cent of these foreign migrant sex workers
are victims of trafficking, the study says.
Trafficking routes run from Moldova, Ukraine and
former Soviet republics, the main countries of origin,
through Romania and Bulgaria to the countries of
former Yugoslavia, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Western
Europe.
Not all the women are sexually abused. Many use the
system voluntarily to enter the West illegally to work
as waitresses, nannies and prostitutes.
Still, some women and girls become the "property" of
traffickers and should be treated as victims of crime
rather than as illegal immigrants, the study suggests.
More and more adolescent girls are trafficked for the
purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour.
Some non-governmental organizations estimate 10% to
30% of all sex workers handled by trafficking rings
are underage girls.
The Save the Children Fund says up to 80% of all
trafficked people from Albania are girls under 18.
In a separate category, the study notes thousands of
children from Albania, both boys and girls, have been
taken to Greece and Italy to work as forced labour,
begging in the streets, dealing drugs or washing car
windows.
There are at least 2,000 Albanian children in Greece
and up to 6,000 Albanian youngsters have ended up in
Italian orphanages.
The sex trade and human trafficking thrive in the
chaotic aftermath of war.
"Lack of rule of law and difficult economic situations
have allowed black market economies to flourish," the
report says. "Smuggling of goods, arms and people,
corruption of state employees, organized crime groups
and acceptance of illegal ways to earn money as well
as unregulated migration have become the new norm."
The report adds, "Poorly functioning legal and law
enforcement systems make trafficking less risky for
perpetrators in Southeastern Europe than [in] European
Union countries."
"This low risk and high profit are combined with a
large demand for sexual services, created in part by
the international community based in the Balkans."
Trafficking in humans for sexual purposes permeates
southeastern Europe, but one exception is Croatia.
"Croatia, in which the economic situation is
relatively better and where there is no large
international presence, does not appear to be a major
country of origin or destination for trafficked women
and children," the study concludes.
While the European Union has promised more resources
to combat human trafficking, most programs are a
shambles and have left women and children even more
vulnerable, the report says.
"In general, trafficking is viewed as an issue of
migration or national security and not as a human
rights violation. As a consequence, the victims of
trafficking, in a majority of cases, are not
recognized as such and are treated as criminals."
===*===
BOSNIA: SEX TRADE CLAIMS SPREAD
Another western organisation in Bosnia accused of using prostitutes
By Julie Poucher Harbin in Sarajevo
A Bosnian driver has alleged that he was sacked from a US-backed
development project in Sarajevo after expressing discomfort at
ferrying around prostitutes.
Edin Zundo has filed suit against KPMG Consulting over the
termination of his contract six months early by its Barents Group
division, claiming it was a result of his complaints.
The action, which is due in court next month, comes in the wake of
other recent cases involving western companies operating in Bosnia and
Herzegovina facing accusations against staff using prostitutes, as
well as a major controversy over the UN's alleged involvement in the
Balkan sex trade.
Zundo served as personal driver for a Barents IT manager before his
sacking. According to Zundo, his Barents project supervisor told
him, "You are not a good guy. You are not a good driver."
However, 27-year-old Zundo insists the real reason for his dismissal
was that he complained of being asked to drive on unofficial business.
"I told [the supervisor] that I had a problem with [the IT manager],
that I drove hookers in the firm's car," Zundo told IWPR. "He told
me, 'No Edin, it's not your problem. Don't get involved'."
Zundo is now seeking compensation of one year's lost pay plus
insurance. He claims that after losing his job with Barents, he was
unable to find another job for twelve months.
The Virginia-based Barents works as a contractor for the US Agency for
International Development, USAID, managing major programmes to help
regulate and supervise Bosnia's post-war banking system.
The suit by Zundo was first brought in spring 2001 but allegations
about the company were brought to wider attention with a recent
report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.
The article quoted an anonymous British-based banker working on the
same project, who had tipped off the US State Department with similar
complaints. The US Embassy in Sarajevo investigated the matter, and
ordered both the IT manager and the supervisor off the project in
August 2001.
In a statement issued on August 12, 2002, in reaction to media
reports, the US Embassy said that although a local police
investigation had not resulted in criminal charges, its own internal
inquiry "gave us sufficient cause to insist KPMG remove these
individuals from their employment on a USAID assistance project".
It said that this was part of a "zero-tolerance policy" for employees
and contractors "regarding involvement in prostitution or patronising
locations where it is practised".
In response to enquiries about the issue, USAID referred IWPR to
Barents. In a telephone interview, Ken Neal, a spokesman for KPMG and
Barents in New York, told IWPR that the company had offered total
cooperation to the US government inquiry.
"After a full investigation we were informed by the [local]
authorities that none of the allegations were substantiated, " said
Neal.
He added that although the men were removed from the project, they
were not fired from KPMG but have both since left the company
for "unrelated reasons". Neal claimed not to have heard of Zundo,
despite the lawsuit.
Zundo, for his part, says local police never contacted him, although
he says he spoke twice to an investigator attached to the US Embassy,
and handed over a videotape.
Following a part-time assignment for USAID, Zundo says he started
working as a full-time driver for Barents in February 2000. A few
months later, he went to the airport with the IT manager to pick up
his "girlfriend" who was arriving from Bratislava, Slovakia.
However, he became suspicious when the Barents representative and the
woman, Susanne, did not recognise each other.
Zundo said she had apparently arrived without a visa, and diplomatic
connections were used to get her through customs. He later
recognised her picture on a website, Captain 69's Worldwide Escort
Reviews, that he saw on the IT manager's computer.
According to Zundo, Susanne went back and forth between Sarajevo and
Bratislava several times during the year, sometimes bringing friends.
Zundo told how he would drive them from the airport to the IT
manager's house, in a vehicle with a USAID sticker and diplomatic
plates, and claims he sometimes drove them to Mostar.
Both prostitution and trafficking - women being brought into a
country and sold as chattels against their will - are big business in
Bosnia. The International Organisation for Migration puts the number
of trafficked women and girls in the country at 6,000-10,000.
Earlier this month Kathryn Bolkovac, a former human rights
investigator for the UN's International Police Task Force, IPTF, won
a lawsuit against DynCorp Aerospace UK Ltd.
Bolkovac claimed that she was fired by the company, which is the US
State Department's personnel subcontractor for the UN Mission, in
April 2001 because of a detailed email she sent to DynCorp and UN
officials alleging international police complicity in trafficking
women.
An industrial tribunal found that the company had violated the United
Kingdom's provisions for whistle blowing, and will rule on the level
of damages in October.
In a statement, Bolkovac's attorney, Karen Bailey, said, "She took on
the big guns and won. The plight of trafficking victims is
appalling, and Kathryn's case has gone some way to bringing it to
wider attention."
DynCorp spokesman Chuck Taylor did not respond to inquiries from IWPR.
Kirsten Haupt, a spokesperson for the UN Mission to Bosnia, confirmed
that in 18 cases IPTF police monitors have been "implicated in
incidents of sexual misconduct by soliciting sexual services".
In each case they were sent home, but none were been expelled for
involvement in trafficking, Haupt said.
Julie Poucher Harbin is freelance journalist in Sarajevo
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 360, August 21, 2002