The U.S. government is worried that women will be forced to become prostitutes and sell themselves at the month-long World Cup event in Germany.As a result, Washington asked Germany on Monday to step up its plans to stop sex workers from crossing into the country to take advantage of the popular games.
Prostitution is legal in Germany, where 400,000 sex workers pay taxes. But anti-prostitution activists in the U.S., claim foreign women, many from Eastern Europe, will be forced to become sex-trade workers at the event, which starts June 9. The German government said it does not tolerate forced prostitution. And, indeed, the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which condemns countries that don’t do enough to fight the trade, gave Germany a top rating for trying to stop trafficking.
“Nonetheless, due to the sheer size of the [World Cup] event, the potential for increased human trafficking during the games remains a concern,” according to a report which was released on Monday. The report said the U.S. government opposes prostitution as “inherently harmful and dehumanizing.” It said as many as 800,000 people — mostly women and children — are sold every year as labourers or sex workers, lured across borders with promises of a better life.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called trafficking “the sordid trade in human beings,” and likened the fight against it to “a great moral calling.” The report named 12 countries for failing to fight human trafficking. They are: Belize, Cuba, Iran, Laos, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.
via:cbc.ca
Tags: World Cup, Germany, United States
Leave Your Comments Below