Did anyone catch PBS FRONTLINE: "Sex Slaves" last night?

[Killer-B]

I was channel surfing last night and ran across a little blonde gal speaking Ukrainian - and of course this caught my attention -

It turned out to be PBS Documentary on "Sex Slaves" and Trafficking from Ukraine, Moldova and some other FSU countries into Turkey.... Must confess, it was both compelling - and made my stomach turn - The numbers of UA women "shipped" into other countries to "work" is staggering.... And Germany was listed along with Turkey as being the highest for trafficking (USA was up there too) - Based on this alone, I can KINDA see why IMBRA may "help" - but really, think (in the case of this programme) that the Turkish government is more to blame than anyone (as well as the female "pimps" selling these gals off to Turkey and God knows where else -

Wow........ Unsettling stuff...

Here's the intro - as well as the link to the show....

KB

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/slaves/


An undercover journey deep into the world of sex trafficking, following one man determined to rescue his wife -- kidnapped and sold into the global sex trade.


Twenty-one-year-old Katia (see update on her story below) left home on what she believed would be a trip to buy goods in Turkey, but instead she was sold into sexual slavery for $1,000 by the man who agreed to take her there. "He didn't look like a person who would do something like that," said Katia's husband, Viorel. "He sold my wife for $1,000 because she'd given birth before, … so as merchandise she was only worth $1,000. Girls who haven't had children are more expensive."

In "Sex Slaves," FRONTLINE follows Viorel on an extraordinary journey deep into the world of sex trafficking to try to find his wife, Katia, who was four months' pregnant when she left home, and then free her from the violent pimp who now "owns" her. Along the way, the production team takes a rare, hidden-camera look at the various traffickers, pimps and middlemen who illegally buy and sell hundreds of thousands of women each year. Lured by traffickers who prey on their dreams of employment abroad, many of the women are then kidnapped and "exported" to Europe, the Middle East, the United States and elsewhere. During this process, they may be sold to pimps, locked in brothels, drugged, terrorized and raped repeatedly. In Eastern Europe, since the fall of communism, sex trafficking has become the fastest growing form of organized crime, with Moldova and Ukraine widely seen as major suppliers of women into the global sex trade.

"How much will a girl cost?" co-producer Felix Golubev asks a trafficker in Moldova while posing undercover as an interested buyer from North America.

"Five hundred to 600 dollars—that's what I get," replies the trafficker. "The final price is higher, but I have to share with the middleman and the guy who transports them." When Golubev asks how he can be sure the girls won't run away, the trafficker tells him, "Once they arrive, be sure to take their passports away."

Early in his search, Viorel receives help from an unlikely ally—Vlad (last name withheld), the man who initially sold Katia—and FRONTLINE manages to track Vlad down for an interview.

"Why did I phone [Viorel]?" Vlad asks himself. "To say that I felt guilty might sound absurd after what I did. However, strange as it may seem, guilt played its part." Vlad helps Viorel contact Apo, the pimp who now has Katia. He also provides rare insight into the world of the traffickers. "Debt bondage represents the money that a girl is told she has to work off," Vlad tells FRONTLINE. "That amount is easily inflated if the pimp wants. That way, the debt never goes away, and she continues to work … without ever receiving a penny."

As Viorel searches for Katia, we learn what she might be enduring from other trafficked women. "They took me to a villa and locked me in," says Tania, 23, about her six months in captivity in Turkey. "We worked for as long as we had clients. They didn't see us as human beings, but just as flesh that they could use." Twenty-eight-year-old Oksana was sold 13 times over an eight-month period before finally being allowed to return to her native Ukraine. "There were 22 girls in a three-bedroom apartment, and each girl got beaten up at least once a day. One girl ran away and went to the police for help, but she was taken back to her pimp. Policemen … used our services."

As Katia's story is brought to an extraordinary conclusion, "Sex Slaves" exposes the government indifference that allows the global sex trade to continue virtually unchecked and what needs to be done. "The prosecution rate is abysmal in most of these countries," says Ric Esther Bienstock, producer and director of the program. "The official line is `We're doing as much as we can; we have a counter-trafficking unit; we're trying to prosecute.' … We know that there is a level of corruption; we know that there is bribery. But without the political will to address this, traffickers will continue to operate with impunity. That's why we set out to investigate this story."

UPDATE: MAY 2006 - Katia recently joined Viorel in Odessa where he is working at a bar. Katia is looking for work and her child is living with her mother in Moldova. Tania had been living in a shelter in Odessa and recently left it. She wants to move to a nearby town so that she can find work and bring her family to live with her. Money contributed by viewers of this film is being used to help Tania.

[Michelangelo]

This is a very sad story, and so true.

Last week I read a book by Paulo Coelho called "11 Minutes."  It begins with...

"Once upon a time, there was a prostitute called Maria"

but it is no fairy tale :-(

And it is based upon a true story and what happend to Marie, a beautiful and simple girl who only wanted a better life.

So many girls from the FSU and South America are tricked into sex slavery.  And it's not their fault at all....

Evil is ugly, really ugly.

[BC]

And it is based upon a true story and what happend to Marie, a beautiful and simple girl who only wanted a better life.

This statement could be valid for many sad scenarios besides the business mentioned here. It makes me wonder if somehow the MOB scene helps to promote such thoughts in young womens minds.. They say only a very small percentage of agency women are actually courted by foreign men..

[Killer-B]

I would agree BC - and MA your thoughts are spot on...

You guys are overseas, so, guess you have no way of really seeing this (there is a 3-4 min. video clip on the link) - But I could hardly sleep last night for it upset me so much - Not the sad story, but the sheer numbers involved - AND the fact that these gals are "sold" by "friends" that know the family, and know they are desperate for money...

I was too tired to catch the exact figures - but think they said 35,000 are in Germany alone -- Maybe that was USA - I can't recall -

But here were my thoughts - Some of these gals "make it back" - MANY don't ... But makes you wonder who you're meeting in UA or Moldova (they literally load them on a ship in Odessa and off they go to Istanbul)

It is sad -

I really am at a loss for words and don't know what more to say ---

KB

BC: when you remarked that "they say, only a small % actually date foreigners" - Where does this come from - or more importantly, How does this tie into the theme? (I'm not being defensive - I'm seriously "lost"!) LOL Cheers

[BC]

BC: when you remarked that "they say, only a small % actually date foreigners" - Where does this come from - or more importantly, How does this tie into the theme? (I'm not being defensive - I'm seriously "lost"!) LOL Cheers

Killer,  my general thought is that women sign up with agencies, for a chance at a better life with a husband outside the country. Only a very small percentage of the many thousands of woman get lucky enough and do so.  The rest remain with their desire, maybe a bit of added desperation at not being one of 'the chosen' and may ultimately be easy prey for scams that get them into darker and more dangerous businesses.

[Killer-B]

Thanks for the clarification BC - I understand your point now...

I guess with all the "money shot" gals that bring in the biz, it's easy to forget about the 100's that don't get much mail or any attention - Point well made...

Personally, after seeing this show, my "perspective" will be very different when I go again over in August...

Cheers,

KB