The Netherlands
DEMAND.
Shared Hope International
Rotterdam Some sources indicate that Rotterdam has become an even larger trafficking hub than Utrecht or Amsterdam. A port city, Rotterdam has better infrastructure for moving trafficked victims to clandestine locations with less policing than other regions. Reportedly six million containers pass through the port every year. Despite Rotterdam’s closure of its tippelzone in 2006,139 it is very difficult for law enforcement to keep up with the rapid trade in commercial sex victims. The Netherlands has one of the most advanced ports in the world (Rotterdam) and an excellent network of roads and waterways. Consequently, this infrastructure not only facilitates legitimate trade, but inevitably, also the illegal transport of people and goods.140 Several observed clubs raised concerns about trafficking situations in Rotterdam. Mon Cherie, Café Bodega ‘t Koetshuys, and an unnamed Greek bar, were staffed with women claiming to be Lithuanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Polish appearing to be between the ages of 18 and 24. The women reported being in Rotterdam for just a few months. Maritime Rouge is a restaurant with erotic dancing, belly dancing, and karaoke. The women working were Bulgarian, Romanian, and Dutch. The Dutch women claimed that the Romanian and Bulgarian women obtained work visas from their home countries entitling them to work in the Netherlands as a result of their recent accession to the European Union. The observed buyers were middle-aged Dutch men. Rhodos is a Greek bar that employs women of East European origin. One of the women working at the bar was observed being retrieved at the end of the night by a van driven by an East European male.141
Marketing As in most countries, the Internet is the chief means of advertising women available for sexual services to interested buyers. In the Netherlands, one of the most popular websites is http:www. hookers.nl. This website is in Dutch with no other languages provided and has a membership of an estimated 6,000 people. The website has charted most prostitution locations with addresses and window numbers as a service to its base. As Councilwoman and former prostitute, Karina Schaapman, points out, the website offers tips to clients such as where to find a cheap prostitute willing to have sex without a condom.142 What is worse, in her view, is how much www.hookers. nl charges the women who advertise—roughly €1200 per advertisement. In addition to advertising male and female sex partners, the Internet is used to promote the commercial sex markets in the Netherlands as tourist attractions for people of all ages. While some websites may emphasize the historic quality of Amsterdam’s Red Light District, others advertise the great variety of women “on display.”
Field Research Report, March 3, 2006. On file with authors. See also “Street Prostitution Ends in Rotterdam,” Expatica News, September 14, 2005 <http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=25531>. Accessed on November 14, 2006. 140 Van de Bunt and Kleemans, p. 203, 206. 141 Field Research Report, March 10, 2006. On file with authors. 142 “Ladies of Pleasure or Sex Slaves,” Expatica, January 23, 2006. 139
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