of the United States military and corrupt local police have encouraged the forced prostitution of thousands of East European women in Bosnia Herzegovina.
The human rights group spoke to BosNewsLife just before releasing its report at 0001 GMT, Tuesday, November 26, in a move that was expected to lead to a strong response from missionary workers and other Christian aid workers in the region.
Many church organizations and evangelical leaders including Franklin Graham have been helping people in need in post war Bosnia Herzegovina, including women and girls suffering from abuse, by delivering Christmas presents and the Gospel.
"HOPES BETRAYED"
The 75-page report "Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution," documents wide spread abuses, despite a presence of tens of thousands of NATO-led peacekeepers and UN police.
Human Rights Watch reports that local corruption and the complicity of international officials in Bosnia Herzegovina have "allowed a trafficking network to flourish in which women are tricked, threatened, physically assaulted and sold as chattel."
Most of the estimated 2,000 victims of forced prostitution are believed to be women and girls from mainly impoverished countries Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. Some girls are reportedly as young as 13 years old.
Human Rights Watch said that women were often promised lucrative jobs in Western Europe, but that instead they found themselves trapped in debt bondage and forced prostitution.
BOSNIAN CORRUPTION
Martina Vandenberg, who wrote the report, told BosNewsLife that Bosnian police officers facilitate the trafficking of women by creating false documents, visiting brothels to partake of free sexual services, and sometimes engage in trafficking directly.
She said traffickers and corrupt Bosnian officials could move in relative freedom as they had little to fear from the United Nations-led International Police Task Force, which was supposed to bring stability in post-war Bosnia Herzegovina.
"Some International Police Task Force officers had gone to the clubs as clients, sending a very strong message to trafficked women that they couldn’t even trust the international police," she explained in a telephone interview from Washington DC.
UN HIRES "SLAVES"
"We found that some, again a small number, but some International Police Task Force officers had women delivered to their homes for sexual services. And we found that in three cases International Police Task Force officers had actually purchased women, negotiating purchase prices for women and their passports with owners of night clubs."
She explained that her three-year investigation revealed that many women and girls are sold for prices ranging from nearly $700 to more than $2,300.
Vandenberg claimed that besides UN personnel, civilians hired by the United States military in Bosnia Herzegovina were also involved, in what apparently resembles sex-slave trade.
CONTRACTORS HIRED
"So contractors hired to accompany the U.S. military in Bosnia, some members of that contingent, had also purchased women for private use. And than those women lived with the men in their homes and provided sexual services," she said.
Her findings have been confirmed by the United Nations Mission in Bosnia Herzegovina.
But speaking from Sarajevo, UN Spokeswoman Kirsten Haupt told BosNewsLife that since the repatriation of 18 United Nations police officers for sexual misconduct, the situation has dramatically improved.
Haupt stressed it is important however not only to focus on what she considers to be the minor role in the women trade of the International Police Task Force, also known as IPTF.
"JUICY SUBJECT"
"I know it is a very juicy subject to concentrate on the few IPTF officers that were found (to be involved). But you have to think that there are thousands of customers in these bars," she argued.
"The real problem is the plight of these women. Not the involvement of these officers. What we have to look at is how can we get this women out of this situation."
She added that since July last year, the UN managed to rescue at least 350 women, in part during raids in brothels. There is however concern that these actions will stop when the European Union takes over from the UN from January.
Human Rights Watch is urging the EU and the government of Bosnia Herzegovina to fight corruption and to make anti-trafficking a priority by providing witness protection as well as services to victims, and to arrest, and prosecute, the traffickers.
The international community arrived in Bosnia Herzegovina during and after Europe’s most bloodiest conflict since World War Two, which ended in 1995, after an estimated 200,000 people died.
