Church groups urge action against abuse of women in Czech Republic 2003-06-02

["Cor Groenendijk" <groenend at antenna.nl>]

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Ecumenical News International 
Daily News Service 
02 June 2003 
 
 
Church groups urge action against abuse of women in Czech Republic 
ENI-03-0252 
 
By Jonathan Luxmoore 
Warsaw, 2 June (ENI)--Church organisations have appealed for
urgent action to stop the trafficking of women in the Czech
Republic, and to raise public awareness of this growing problem
throughout Europe. 
 
"Although this is a problem in all European countries, we feel
the Czech government should be doing a lot more to tackle it,"
said Torsten Moritz, a spokesperson for the Brussels-based
Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME). "Certainly
the hardships of post-communist transition have contributed to
it. But economic difficulties don't explain everything." 
 
Moritz was speaking after accompanying church representatives
from Belgium, Germany, Greece and Italy to Prague in mid-May as
part of a newly launched CCME project, Christian Action and
Networking against Trafficking in Women. 
 
The CCME is an ecumenical agency that works in co-operation with
the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European
Churches  
 
Moritz told ENI the project supported calls by local
organisations and those made to the European Union to allow
trafficking victims to be given residence rights where they
lived. 
 
Generally, the women travel through several countries. "Whereas
Germany is a country of destination [for the women], Italy of
transit and Romania a country of origin, the Czech Republic
combines all three," noted Moritz. "It's widely assumed ordinary
Czechs aren't affected, since both the trafficked women and their
customers come mostly from abroad. In reality, it's a problem the
whole of Czech society should be made aware of." 
 
Asked about recent controversial calls for the legalisation of
prostitution by Vaclav Maly, a Czech Roman Catholic, Moritz said
initiators of Christian Action and Networking Against Trafficking
in Women were divided over the comparative merits of legalisation
and prohibition. 
 
Czech churches had previously backed demands for clampdowns on
prostitution, which is especially widespread in western areas
bordering Germany and Austria. 
 
In a joint statement, CCME and Caritas Europa, part of a
confederation of Roman Catholic relief organizations, said church
representatives had visited Dubi, 10 kilometres from the German
border, a place dominated by sex-clubs and street prostitution.
There they had learned how trafficked women and girls were "held
in slave-like conditions". 
 
Moritz said, "Although trafficking is relatively new to Europe,
it's well known from countries like Thailand and the Philippines,
which have been sending women here for years. Churches should be
raising awareness of this problem. If you look at the people who
frequent the sex business, you can see that most must be church
members themselves." 
 
The CCME-Caritas statement said European Union officials based in
Prague had underlined the need for a campaign against trafficking
before the Czech Republic's planned EU accession in May 2004.
[450 words] 
 
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