The modern sex slavery

For describing the mechanism of the modern sex slavery I will also use the report of the head of the criminal police in Augsburg Mr. Klaus Bayerl “Die Situation der Prostituierten im Internationalen Menschenhandel” (“The situation of the prostitutes in the international human trade”), which can be found in the Internet. This is the only objective writing on the topic I have met written by a professional with human capacity.

I will concentrate my attention on the big central organizations. Not only because I know them better on the example of the Hungarian one but mainly because these organizations are the backbone of the modern slavery – the state machines for exploitation and suppression were set up because of them and through them and all new trends in the sex slavery go through them and for many reasons, also because of the high competition the treatment of the women in these organizations predetermines the treatment of the other dependent prostitutes. Besides, the western press does never write about them – like the law-enforcement bodies deals with small pimps presenting them as the main culprits of the modern slavery.

In the previous articles I explained that such organizations are controlled by the colonial power of Eastern Europe – the United States of America with the local American dogs as operative managers and perhaps junior partners. The first function of the slavery is the enslavement of the women. Mr. Bayerl points out in his report that the recruiters of the organization targeted young women from poor families or with limited or none social contacts/support. Clearly no such woman can reject “proposals” of the organized crime, when it is backed by the state. So lack of social support i.e. helplessness, appearance and age are the major criteria for the selection of the victims and not the willingness for prostitution. The personal acquaintance is necessary just to make sure that the prerequisites are available. Bearing in mind the enormous exploitation the modern sex slavery is based solely on forced prostitution – no woman would work voluntarily under such terms anyway. The central human trafficking organizations have to guarantee their foreign partners that nobody in the countries of origin will effectively step in to defend their women and that they can be treated as commodities.

For the exploitation of the women are set up criminal joint ventures, whereby the Eastern part is responsible for the delivery of the human commodity and its “processing”, while the Western part takes care of the market and of the control over that commodity. These joint ventures predetermine that the women have to give up minimum twice as much of their earnings than the independent women, as they have to satisfy the full financial demands of two pimping organizations - hence the heavy norms and the minimum 16-hours workdays. Mr. Bayerl writes (back in 2008) that the initial “training” of the women was conducted in the country of origin before sending them abroad. In Leipzig we see from the client

reports that the training takes place abroad as all local state bodies support the organization anyway. At this stage they are forced unconditionally to obey the orders of their boss, to provide all kinds of services the clients want until the norms are fulfilled. They typically experience all available punishments. They do not get a leave unless they have not fulfilled the norms for all the days they have worked. The main lesson they learn from their start is that there is no other way for them but to comply.

There are clear rules in the use of violence against the women in the modern sex slavery: first, only the pimp beats, not anyone else; second, violence is exercised only in the absence of outsiders (the violence to the Hungarians in front of

German women was definitely a mistake, made because of the full support of the state and town authorities, presuming that no one can undertake anything against anyway); third, no traces from the violence must stay and if still available, the victim should be released from work so that no client can evidence the traces from violence. In Leipzig the women are beaten mainly early in the morning so they can recover until the active visit time at 10-11 am comes. The pimp is nothing more than a supervisor who dispatches the women to their workplaces (they change them regularly) and does the dirty work for his bosses making sure that the women deliver, otherwise he has to pay from his own funds and by not less than thousand women this is not possible. Anyone in his position will do absolutely the same so the cruelty of the sex slavery is not so much in the nature of the pimps but in the business model, according to which large fixed amounts have to reach their destinations

The profitability of the sex slavery is enormous. Provided that a young woman, healthy and not drug addict is traded in Germany on the average for EUR 5000, the Hungarian organization does not pay more than 2000 – 3 000 for each woman. With the 50 EUR daily lease the investment is paid off within two – three months. And still they use the women until they can fulfill the norms and be competitive.

While lots is written about the East European human traders very little is know about their partners – the brothel owners in the West. Mr. Bayerl highlights also this issue. Thanks to the booming human trade these people enjoy an abundant supply of women and pick them up from the catalogues of the human trafficking organization according to market demand. They prefer to work with sex slaves because with them unlike with the independent women the occupancy is full and the payment of the rent is guaranteed by the pimps, who lease the flats and rooms from the owners and sublease them to their women. The sex industry is highly profitable when sex slaves are used. Mr. Bayerl describes the brothel owners as predominantly criminals with contacts to the organized crime. They work in close cooperation with their Eastern partners, often encourage and demand punishments for the women and demand guarantees for the behavior of the women. Their typical requirements for 7-day workweeks and for diversified services by the women very often generate violence. The German laws have no formal requirements to the brothel owners and they do not need any licenses.

Control over the prostitutes and the information they give to clients is a very important function of the human traders. Mr. Bayerl writes that in the brothels the women are subject to a very tight control system including video cameras, security personnel etc. They are not allowed to phone, may leave the brothel only with permission and are not allowed to have clothes on during worktime. He dwells on the use of the clients’ chat-forums as a tool for control over the women and we have seen that in Leipzig we have seen that this tool has very often led to punishment of the women. Nowadays police authorities are also very instrumental in the control over the women. The Hungarian women in Leipzig believe that their phones are tapped – they must have found out how in a number of cases some of them have come to punishment. Further argument for the validness of this claim is the fact that they are not allowed access to the Internet – a control makes sense only when it is tight and if the women could talk freely over the phones why should they not have access to Internet? The Hungarian police is tapping their Hungarian phones, and the German – their German phones. The last three days before the second dinner I have been away from Leipzig. The day before or same day around lunch time I called Lili to make sure that a dinner with me would be still convenient for her and her friend, she confirmed and it is this call which led to the disruption of our dinner. Lili had worked almost 4 years for the organization and knew not to talk. If she talked at all, also our first dinner would have become known. The result of the whole system of control is what the German woman had told me; “They know everything about their women.” Other important result is that the women do not speak out about their situation in front of their clients – the probability of being caught is big and the punishments are cruel and most important, nobody can help them anyway as their bosses are backed by the state machine anyway. Therefore when I started asking Lili questions about her situation she told me that I think too much – clear expression of the hopelessness of her situation.

By the current deep involvement of the European states in the human trade the sex slaves from the central organizations are sent only to destinations, where the official support is guaranteed. Therefore their availability in certain country or town is a clear sign that the authorities are involved.

The modern slavery is correctly associated with the ancient slavery, however, not all parallels hold true. The major differences come from the fact that the ancient slavery was legal while the modern one is illegal. First, keeping the situation secret requires more restrictions and punishments for the victims. Second, when every body might buy slaves their prices were higher which forced the owners to take care of the human commodities, which is not the case now. If Kerry had been expensive, her boss would not force her to risk her life for additional EUR 30. Third, the above the law powerful slave holders today have much more slaves than the ancient ones which further deteriorates the treatment of the victims. Besides, in view of the development of the medicine part of the slaves become inevitably victims of the industry of death – the human organs trade. Lastly, the legality of slavery presupposed clear rules for enslavement in the past – like non-payment of taxes, while the current illegality leaves only one rule – the vulnerability of the victims, which in Eastern Europe is valid for more than 80% of the population.

The situation of the victims of human trade will further deteriorate. First, poverty is further growing in Eastern Europe and for more women prostitution is the only way to make a living. Second, demand in Western Europe is dropping in view of the crises. The sex industry will grow only in an intensive way i.e. through the offer of more services. The American porno industry shows us that these additional services are in direction brutality. The American industry is the advertising network of the sex slavery. Many of the services shown there can be performed only under threats and violence and more and more actresses are sex slaves like many of the Hungarian women who while waiting for a shooting work between 16 and 24 hours for their bosses. What is shown by the industry today will be demanded in the brothels tomorrow.

Up to now I have revealed the true role of the European states in the human trade. A look at the official side and figures will confirm my findings. According to BKA statistics in 2007 in Germany only 689 women have been helped out of human trade and 714 suspects have been detained in this connection – less than a woman per suspected pimp. According to press figures the number of dependent women in Germany is around 360 000. In Switzerland in the years 2004, 2005, 2006 for human trade have been convicted respectively 2, 11 and 5 persons. That means that according even to official figures the authorities in both countries are doing almost nothing against human trade and in addition they concentrate on small pimps, probably making some problems to the large organizations, which as we see are untouchable and enjoy the support of the same authorities.

Now I come with some words on the official contribution of the German politicians and lawmakers. In 2002 the German parliament passed a new prostitution law, which according to Mr. Bayerl strengthened the legal positions of the brothel owners, allowing them to give instructions to the prostitutes and weakened the legal positions of the prostitutes. Of course the lawmakers did not address the issue of excluding people with criminal background from the industry thus leaving hundreds of thousands of women in the hands mainly of criminals. Legally prostitutes in Germany are not obliged to work in brothels. With the exception of two cities (Leipzig is one of them) they can work on streets or simply hire flats in which to work (under certain preconditions of course). In reality Jens Kottke vandalized such flats while the police did not move in, thus silently supporting him. I was told this by the German woman and one of the comments in my German blog confirms this situation. Thus any German woman in Leipzig has to work in a brothel for some of the authorized by the town leadership and police brothel owners, so that the bulk of the money from their absurdly high rents goes to the town rulers.

The law had another important consequence. It gave grounds to the German courts and institutions to consider all prostitutes as independent women whose testimonies are fully valid and acceptable. No sentence is issued unless the

accusations are not supported by the testimonies of the prostitutes. However, the reality is that the victims of the central organizations are completely dependent on them to the extent that any testimony against them is equal to suicide for them. No reasonable woman will provide evidences against an organization backed by the authorities of both her country and of the country in which she is exploited. Therefore I had no doubts that Lili would testify as Kottke wanted her and waited for her testimony to rebuff it with her SMS. The German court procedures preclude any opportunity that anyone from the big organizations is ever sentenced while it leaves the door open that other people can get either not justified sentences or too heavy sentences for their deeds if they are inconvenient for those who control the women. The German court procedures contradict directly the European Convention on Human Rights which almost 60 years ago, when technologies were almost primitive compared to those nowadays urged the states not to rely solely on the testimonies of the victims in view of their dependency.

However, the crucial contribution of the politicians to the human trade is in the tax area. For unknown grounds prostitutes in Germany, the majority of whom, including the sex slaves from Eastern Europe, are self-employed, are released from the standard for all other self-employed taxation and owe a daily lump sum tax of EUR 5, 10 or 15 depending on the province. The beneficiaries of this unjustified generosity are not the prostitutes, who particularly when dependent, are left at the end of the day without money anyway but those upon whom they depend and take away their money and most of all the politicians and those who promoted these politicians as the bulk of the released from taxes money goes to them. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that discussion of the brothels taxation is a taboo in Germany and practically no authority bothers the brothel owners with taxes. Mr. Bayerl writes that even small brothels make at least EUR 100 000 monthly. It would be interesting against this circumstance to track what taxes the brothels in Germany actually pay. It has been said many times that a return to proper taxation in the sex industry, including the use of cash registers like in the shops will put an end to the exploitation of the women and hence to the human trade but this is the last thing the politicians want. They express concerns for the budget only when they cut the social welfare but the taxation of prostitution proves that these concerns are not real. By the current taxation a prostitute working 30 days a month will pay a EUR 300 if the lump sum is EUR 10. They are included in the flat rents, however it is up to the brothel owners to register the prostitutes and to make the payments or keep the money for themselves. In reality a prostitute in Germany earns between 6000 and 9 000 EUR monthly. No matter how inventive, she can barely avoid to pay at least EUR 1 500 for taxes at the ongoing tax brackets particularly if she is not obliged to pay rents to specific brothel owners. This makes EUR 1,200 more taxes to the budget. Based on the official statistics saying that about 500 000 women work as prostitutes in Germany, this makes EUR 600 million more taxes monthly or 7,2 EUR billion more taxes annually. I don’t need to discuss the stimulation effect of having many women with money and allowed to go out and shop for themselves on the internal demand in Germany and on the demand growth in their own countries because of this.

Instead what takes place today in Europe is an unseen in peacetime mass violence and cruelty against women for the purpose of their exploitation, which are hidden very efficiently by perpetrators and governments and remain unnoticed. The criminal and based on violence industry is growing quickly and criminalizes and corrupts the European political establishments and societies. It fills the pockets and bank account of decision-makers and politicians, finances political and election campaigns, predetermining their outcome and destroying the remnants of democracy and calling into question the legitimacy of governments who have come to power with money from brutal crimes.

For the East European countries this industry means quit and persistent genocide and continuation of the economic downturn as obviously the West expects from us sex slaves, for which purpose poverty and state protection of the organized crime are major prerequisites.

The system of modern sex slavery jeopardizes the very existence of our countries, nations and civilization.