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Sex trafficking is defined as transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions, and is commonly associated with organized crime. The selling of young women into sexual slavery has become one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the global economy. While Human trafficking has existed for centuries all over the world, it has become an increasing concern for countries in the Balkan part of southern Europe since the fall of Communism. In 1997 alone as many as 175,000 young women from Russia, as well as the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, were sold as commodities in the sex markets of the developed countries in Europe and the Americas.〔Johanna Granville, (“From Russia without Love: The ‘Fourth Wave’ of Global Human Trafficking” ), ''Demokratizatsiya'', vol. 12, no. 1 (Winter 2004): pp. 147-155.〕 Economic hardship and promises of prosperity have left many individuals vulnerable to trafficking within their countries and to destinations in other parts of Europe and the world. The United Nations reports that 4 million people a year are traded against their will to work in one or another form of servitude. The measures against trafficking of women focus on harsher criminal legislation and punishments, and improving international police cooperation. There are vast media campaigns which are designed to be informative to the public, as well as policy makers and potential victims. In various countries where legislative measures against trafficking are still in their infancy, these media campaigns are important in preventing trafficking. ==History of trafficking== Since antiquity, conquered people were forced into slavery and were taken to the victor nation. These people were given new lives of servitude, as servants or sex slaves. It is interesting to note that prior to 4000 BC, there is no evidence of sexual servitude and slavery in human culture. Greece and Rome were notorious for capturing people and making slaves out of them. In the height of the Roman Empire, one in every three persons was thought to have been a slave. Men were used as laborers, while women and girls were used for enjoyment purposes. Brothels and mistresses became common. During the 13th century, when the African slave trade was in full swing, women slaves garnered a higher price than men both because of their reproductive value, but also because they were sex objects as well as servants. Not much changed in the next few centuries in the plight of the slaves. In the 19th century in the United States, rape was common on southern plantation by masters. By the start of the 20th century, a white slave trade had begun in Europe and North America, involving thousands of young women who were transported as sex slaves. In Europe at the time, governments had been part of sex slavery schemes for over a century. International treaties were adopted in 1904, 1910, and 1925 outlawing the trading of women. In the 1990s, the problem of sex trade and sex tourism was increasing and caught international attention when nonprofit groups started making noise about the problem. A company called Big Apple Oriental Tours, out of New York, specialized in sex tours for men who wished to go to places Philippines, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, among other destinations, to engage in sex with prostitutes and later would share their experiences with other customers. In Japan, corporations began offering all expenses paid sex tourism excursions to Taiwan as a perk to their executive personnel. After the Soviet Union fell, the demand for sex slaves boomed. It was fueled by economic austerity. This was the first time since the white slave trade of the 19th century that huge numbers of Caucasian women were bought and sold for the purpose of sex. Israel took advantage of the demand for European women that brothels were big money makers. The ''New York Times'' and NBC’s ''Dateline'' both did stories on Israel’s sex trafficking business. In response to all the press that sex trafficking was receiving, the United States and the Netherlands jointly funded a media campaign to warn women about scams of employment offers and other debt bondage schemes that were being employed by traffickers to lure these women into what is essentially slavery. In 2000, the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as the Palermo Protocols, was adopted. About 80 nations signed and ratified the new treaty. Since the Palermo Protocols, prostitution scandals involving United Nations peacekeeping troops and defense contractors have been plentiful. In one case, in Liberia, U.N. administrators were implicated in a scam where food aid was used to force girls and women into servicing peacekeeping troops and local businessmen. Another issue arose in 2002, when a DynCorp employee testified to Congress that fellow workers stationed in Bosnia had bought girls to keep in their homes as sex slaves. Today, sex trafficking is still prevalent and booming. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sex trafficking in Europe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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