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------------------------ Start of message from list: eni-full ----> 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] All articles (c) Ecumenical News International Reproduction permitted only by media subscribers and provided ENI is acknowledged as the source. Ecumenical News International PO Box 2100 CH - 1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland Tel: (41-22) 791 6088/6111 Fax: (41-22) 788 7244 Email: eni@eni.ch ------------------------ End of message from list: eni-full ----> |