On trafficking and prostitution

                                                         Danish anti-trafficking poster




Creeps


Stand-up comedian Eric Seufert, recently wrote in ERR News (Jan. 18, 2011) that one good reason to learn Estonian is to prove you’re not a Creep. What did he mean?  He was talking about the English speaking men that come to Tallinn for unbridled partying and sex. “’Creep’ people think”, says Seufert, “This walking hormone flew into Tallinn on a RyanAir jet and is living a roving, three-day frat party in Old Town./…/Tallinn is a playground for the fat and middle-aged. The locals should cater to me. And why aren’t the steps of that beautiful church coated in vomit yet? My services are in need!”

Unfortunately, that is the reality.  Before RyanAir decided to put Tallinn on its route, easyJet had been here already for years bringing stag parties and a variety of free-wheeling males. 

Albeit years of public awareness raising (I have been involved with it) about prostitution and human trafficking, collaborating with lobbying groups in the other Baltic States, the Nordic countries and Brussels, training people for the ministries and the police force, Riigikogu (parliament) ratifying in 2004 the Palermo Protocol which obliges the state to combat trafficking in women and children, the Estonian Council of Churches urging the government to adopt laws prohibiting the buying of sex and to combat trafficking, the government even adopting a 4-year (2006-2009) action plan for combating trafficking, and the US State Department reports placing Estonia among countries which do not pay enough attention to the problem of international trafficking in human beings, the country has not moved closer to removing this sordid blemish from her countenance.

The European Union (EU) whose member Estonia has been since 2004 has designated October 18 as Anti-trafficking Day in order to direct attention to this serious social problem. However, another October went by last year without the government having taken steps to pass a law against human trafficking.

The Justice Ministry does not see the necessity to include trafficking in the criminal code. For years, Minister Lang’s position has been that it is covered in Estonia’s criminal law under such crimes as torture and enslavement.  Last year the Justice Ministry started to work on a draft of a new law that would include the term “human trafficking” partly under pressure from the new European Commission directive which aims to be tougher on traffickers.  But still, there is a lot of foot-dragging.

As recently as last November, Ülle Madise, the legal council to the President of the Republic, wrote me that the problem is not that we don’t have laws to punish traffickers (she also maintains that the extant laws on torture and enslavement cover cases of trafficking); the problem is with enforcement.  According to her, failure to punish these offenders is due to the victim not filing a complaint, is helpless, or the matter is not a priority for the police.

The reality is more complicated. In the cases that have reached the court, the accused generally walks out a free man.  Even if found guilty, probation has been the maximum punishment. This happens not only in cases of trafficking, but also pimping. In the latter case, most pimps have returned to their former activity.

It used to be easier to catch trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation at the border, but border controls ended after joining the EU. No reliable statistics exist on trafficking and prostitution, and a lot that we know is pieced together from available information. Thus, it is estimated that in Tallinn alone operate anywhere from 50 to 100 brothels in which 37% of prostituted women offer their bodies for sale in the city.
Neither is the number of prostituted women in Estonia known exactly; recent estimates place it at 3000, but that seems high, considering that about five years ago the estimated number was half of that.

It should be noted that prostitution is not illegal in Estonia. Reform and IRL (initially Mart Laar of Pro Patria [now IRL] wanted to legalize prostitution in order to add revenues to the state coffers), which have been in power most of the time, have consistently defended prostitution as an individual’s right to choose.  It is illegal, however, to pimp and to rent rooms for the purpose of selling sex.


I have begun to wonder whether the inaction with respect to human trafficking for sexual exploitation by the powers that be is not due to the sway of money over politicians.  Recently the public heard that legislation can be bought for 32000 EEK (2045 euros).  Well, if you can buy a law, you can also pay to obstruct the adoption of a law.