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Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation

East Timor

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Prostitution

East Timorese girls and women become prostitutes as a consequence of rape by Indonesian soldiers, high levels of unemployment and the need to support themselves and their children, often in the absence of their men who are away fighting or have been killed. (Dr. George J. Aditjondro, East Timor Human Rights Centre, Newcastle University, Australia, "Violence By The State Against Women In East Timor" A Report to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Including its Causes and Consequences," 7 November 1997)

Organized and Institutionalized Sexual Exploitation and Violence

Since the 1975 invasion of Timor by Indonesia, Indonesian authorites, particularly the military have systematically violated the rights of Timorese women and girls. They have been forcibly sterilized, forcibly married, coerced into taking contraceptives and gang raped. (East Timor Human Rights Centre, "Distressing secrets for East Timor’s women," The Age, 6 December 1997)

East Timorese women are in forced marriages with Indonesian soldiers, who abandon the women and any children born when they leave. (Dr. George J. Aditjondro, East Timor Human Rights Centre, Newcastle University, Australia "Violence By The States Against Women In East Timor - A Report to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Including its Causes and Consequences, 7 November 1997 )

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Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation
Donna M. Hughes, Laura Joy Sporcic and Nadine Z. Mendelsohn