Gend.

Issues (2007) 24:46–50

DOI 10.1007/s12147-007-9001-0

ARTICLES

Prostitution and Human Trafficking for Sexual

Exploitation

Svitlana Batsyukova

Published online: 19 June 2007

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Abstract The paper aims to enhance understanding of sex trafficking and pros-
titution and provides distinction between the two. It argues that it is not prostitution
itself which may fuel sex trafficking, but the exploitation of prostitution. Examples
of the pro-prostitution and anti-prostitution policies are provided to support this
argument.

Keywords Human trafficking
Sexual exploitation
Prostitution

Legalization
Victims

Trafficking for sexual exploitation dominates the discussion on human trafficking.

There are good reasons for this. The sex industry is more visible than, for example,
domestic servitude, or organ trafficking, and it is also less economically important
than other industries which use trafficked workers [2].
The emergence of human trafficking in the recent decades is cutting across the
issue of prostitution. Debates on how to address prostitution are hot on both the
political and public level.
There are different views expressed in support and against prostitution:
• Prostitution is not the oldest profession, but the oldest form of violence.
• Legalization of prostitution is a sexual liberation.
• Prostitution is a humiliation and a sexual exploitation and should be named as
such.

Svitlana Batsyukova received her Masters Degree in Public Administration with concentration in
International Development from University of Washington, USA.

S. Batsyukova (&)
Public Administration and International Development, Evans School of Public Affairs,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
e-mail: svitlana@u.washington.edu

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Gend. Issues (2007) 24:46–50 47

• States which promote prostitution protect the customer and not the victim.
• Regulated prostitution should be decriminalized.
To escape unnecessary biases, I would like to mention that it is not prostitution
which may fuel sex trafficking, but the exploitation of prostitution. Ways in which
the market of prostitution operates can create opportunities for human trafficking.
The purpose of this article is not to express my own opinion on prostitution and
sex trafficking and possible links between them, but rather to provide the reader
with this opportunity. I will do that by testing two phenomena (sex trafficking and
prostitution) against chosen criteria and by providing examples of prostitution
related policies implemented in different countries.
The term ‘‘prostitution’’ refers to the ‘‘act of having sexual intercourse or
performing other sexual acts, explicitly for material compensation—normally
money, but also other forms of property, including drugs, expensive clothing,
jewelry, or real estate’’ [4].
The human trafficking phenomenon is more complicated than prostitution.
Article 3 of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, especially Women and Children, provides the definition for human
trafficking [6].
‘‘Trafficking in persons’’ shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other
forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of
a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose
of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the
prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or
services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of
organs’’.
The tendency to simplify human trafficking cases derives from a lack of
knowledge and training among law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders on
how to make an in-depth analysis to distinguish sex trafficking from prostitution.
Table 1 below is designed to provide more clarity on these two phenomena.
The facts that individuals prostitute themselves (prostitution) or somebody else
forces individuals to sell their bodies for sexual purposes (trafficking) are
exploitative in their nature. The difference between those two is that in the case
of prostitution, women, girls and men chose their path voluntarily (depending on the
law, this may be legal or not, but this is what they chose to do for a living); in the
case of human trafficking they are usually forced into prostitution and other sex
services.
Depending on the type of services—escort sector, street prostitution, in-door
prostitution, lap-dancing, etc.—sex workers are paid differently, but as a matter of
fact, they normally get material compensation for their services. They should be
able to quit their ‘‘job’’ whenever they want.
In human trafficking cases victims may or may not be allowed to leave after
paying their assumed debt in total. Traffickers use debt bondage, threats, fraud, and
coercion to make victims work harder. Traffickers require enslaved women to pay

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Table 1 Trafficking for sexual exploitation versus prostitution

Criteria Human trafficking for sexual Prostitution
exploitation

Nature Exploitative Exploitative

Choice Individuals are forced to provide sex
services; they are forced to work
even if sick—involuntary
involvement.
Compensation Victims are not paid or their
compensation is very limited.
Concept of consumers Both are highly dependent on the
male demand for sex services
Vision of service- Women are likely to be seen as
providers commodified bodies.
Legal status Always illegal
Voluntary involvement. But women
may not have control over the
choice of client and a nature of
sexual activity.
Workers are paid for the services
which they provide.
It may be legal or illegal, or
regulated depending on the
regulations.

them back unbelievable prices for the transportation, visa, food and clothes.
Trafficked women are often kept in sex slavery as long as they may be used, and are
forced to work even if they are sick. Victims are subjected to multiple forms of
violence and abuse.
There are four known ways out of trafficking enslavement:
• victims are rescued by authorities;
• freedom for victims is bought by customers (especially applicable to the cases of
sexual exploitation);
• the escape of a victim;
• the death of a victim.
The sex market and prostitution market would go broke without male consumers.
Human trafficking, including trafficking for sexual exploitation, is recognized as
illicit activity by international law. Prostitution may be legal or illegal, or regulated
depending on what is stipulated by a country’s law.
Many researchers argue that legalization of prostitution is never the answer.
Prostitution establishments are reported to do little to protect their workers. In the
Netherlands, where prostitution is legalized, 60% of prostitutes suffer physical
assault, 70% experience verbal threats, and 40% experience sexual violence [3].
West Australian government plans to implement the decriminalized model of
prostitution, meaning that ‘‘approved operators of brothels and escort agencies
would be regulated under the certification system’’ [7]. Currently, prostitution is not
prohibited in Australia, but brothels are illegal. Government believes that the
regulation of brothels will ensure that they operate in the appropriate areas, will
prevent expansion of the industry, and will reduce police corruption in the sex
industry.
Attempts of many European countries to regulate prostitution have fallen short
(Netherlands, United Kingdom, Greece, Denmark).

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In the Netherlands, for example, prostitution is considered a legitimate profession

and not prohibited if exercised according to regulations. Regulations include, for
instance, that health and safety conditions in brothels be inspected in order to be
granted a municipal license.
Efforts to increase health control among prostitutes often fail because the price
for non-protected sex is higher than sex with condom use. In countries with
regulated and legalized prostitution, sex workers are obliged to show their
identification document upon request, but they do not have to go over the health
checks. The latter is true for the United Kingdom. A sex-worker may not be forced
to undergo health checks regardless of the suspicion that she may have caught and
transmitted a disease. Forced health checks may violate the privacy of the
individual.
In Sweden, prostitution ‘‘is officially acknowledged as a form of exploitation’’
which undermines equality between women and men [5]. Both outdoor and indoor
prostitution are prohibited. Only clients are criminalized (up to four years of
imprisonment) and not prostitutes. Prostitutes are considered as victims of violence.
By exercising these regulatory measures, Swedish government was able to
significantly reduce demand for prostitution and make Swedish sex market
unattractive for international traffickers.
Nationals of other countries are usually allowed to work as prostitutes in the
country of destination only if they hold a valid residence permit from the country of
destination. Persons staying illegally are arrested and deported. But among the
illegal prostitutes arrested, there may be victims of human trafficking. They often
get deported along with their traffickers, and therefore are likely to be re-trafficked
again. Active deportation policies are not an option to tackle sex trafficking.
There are successful stories related to the identity checks, when possible victims
of sex trafficking are removed from the influence of their traffickers on the account
of arrest.
A licensing system for sex establishments makes the supervision of the licensed
sex industries easier. An inspection may be concerned with the possession of a
license and employment of illegal prostitutes and victims of human trafficking.
Nevertheless, traffickers continue to search ways to enter the regulated segment of
prostitution. They usually use two options to achieve their goal: identity fraud and
arrangement of the residence status for illegal prostitutes.
Administrative enforcement of the sex industry cannot reach certain ‘‘secret’’
prostitution sectors. Lifting a ban on brothels in the Netherlands has led to the
relocation of prostitution [1]. Sex industries moved to the less enforced locations.
There has been a shift from regulated prostitution to streetwalker districts, and
escort sectors, which are associated with illegal prostitution and victims of sex
trafficking. The competition among women in streetwalker districts is similar to the
drug-addicts prostitution. This leads to low prices for sex services, unprotected sex,
violence from the side of the clients, and fights among women.
Escort businesses do not require any permanent address, and therefore are almost
impossible to track and control. Prostitutes usually work in the client’s home or a
hotel. Escort services are not reachable for police and victim support organizations.

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Due to low risk, those who manage escort businesses are not afraid to break the law
and recruit underage illegal aliens.
In the era of globalization, when everything travels, including people, money,
diseases and crime, we do not have a right to disregard human trafficking and its
links with the exploitation of prostitution. A comprehensive understanding of these
two phenomena should provide for effective crime prosecution, victim assistance
and should prevent the mistreatment of trafficked victims. Authorities in destination
countries are obliged not to treat victims of sex trafficking as prostitutes.

References

1. Dutch National Rapporteur. (2005). Trafficking in human beings. Bureau NRM: The Hague.
2. Kauko, A., & Lehti, M. (2006). Trafficking for sexual exploitation. Criminologist, 5(2), 12–15.
3. O’Connor, M., & Healy, C. (2006). The links between prostitution and sex trafficking. [e-book].
Coalition against Trafficking in Women. Available from http://action.web.ca/home/catw/readin-
groom.shtml
4. Prostitution. (2007). Wikipedia. [Internet]. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution
[cited January 20, 2007].
5. Transcrime. (2005). Study on National Legislation on Prostitution and the Trafficking in Women and
Children. European Parliament.
6. United Nations. (2000). Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially
women and children. Available from http://www.segretariatosociale.rai.it/INGLESE/codici/tratta_es-
seri_umani/protocol_ing.pdf
7. WA plans to legalize brothels. (2007). The age, [Internet]. 15 February 2007. Available from http://
www.theage.com.au/news/NATIONAL/WA-plans-to-legalise-brothels/2007/02/15/
1171405338368.html [cited 15 February, 2007].

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