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Factbook
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Factbook on Global Sexual
Exploitation
Spain
Trafficking
An international trafficking network was broken up and 15 people
arrested for allegedly trafficking dozens of women from the Dominican Republic, Brazil,
Columbia, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria to Spain, forcing them into prostitution. The
network had charged the women US$1,300 for recruitment and transportation fees.
("Spanish Prostitution Ring Busted," Associated Press, 18 April 1998)
The Venezuelan Consulate receives requests for emergency passports and airfare back
home from women who have escaped from brothels. (Venezuela's Consulate in Madrid,
"Venezuelan Sex-Slaves Sold in Trade-Offs to Spanish Wayside Brothels," Patrick
J. O'Donoghue, Vheadline-Venezuela's Internet News, 18 November 1997)
Methods and Techniques of Traffickers
Women, aged 18-24, from Venezuela are being trafficked under false pretenses for
prostitution in highway massage parlors and similar fronts for brothels in Spain. The
trafficker places promising advertisements in the newspaper, then arranges for the woman
to be met at the airport; where her passport and identity papers are taken away.
(Venezuela's Consulate in Madrid, "Venezuelan Sex-Slaves Sold in Trade-Offs to
Spanish Wayside Brothels," Patrick J. O'Donoghue, Vheadline-Venezuela's Internet
News, 18 November 1997)
Venzuelan women are in demand by traffickers from Spain because they look similar to
Spaniards from the Canary Islands, who don't need visas, and are less likely to be
detected by Spanish police. ("Venezuelan Sex-Slaves Sold in Trade-Offs to Spanish
Wayside Brothels," Patrick J. O'Donoghue, Vheadline-Venezuela's Internet News,
18 November 1997)
Trafficked Venezuelan women have to service a man every 20 minutes for US$ 33-50/hour;
money they never see. ("Venezuelan Sex-Slaves Sold in Trade-Offs to Spanish Wayside
Brothels," Patrick J. O'Donoghue, Vheadline-Venezuela's Internet News, 18 November
1997)
Official Response and Action
Organized crime rings, abundant in Spain, take advantage of legalized prostitution, to
traffic women into "puti-clubs" (a new name for brothels), which are increasingl
rapidly along the motorways. Police are powerless to take action unless drugs or other
crimes are involved. (Foreign Alien Brigade Chief Inspector Jose Moreno, "Venezuelan
Sex-Slaves Sold in Trade-Offs to Spanish Wayside Brothels," Patrick J. O'Donoghue, Vheadline-Venezuela's
Internet News, 18 November 1997)
Prostitution
20% of Spaniard men have purchased prostituted women at least once. (El
Mundo, "Venezuelan Sex-Slaves Sold in Trade-Offs to Spanish Wayside Brothels,"
Patrick J. O'Donoghue, Vheadline-Venzuela's Internet News, 18 November 1997)
Organized crime rings make US$ 666 per prostituted woman per day. (Foreign Alien
Brigade Chief Inspector Jose Moreno, "Venezuelan Sex-Slaves Sold in Trade-Offs to
Spanish Wayside Brothels," Patrick J. O'Donoghue, Vheadline-Venezuela's Internet
News, 18 November 1997)
The Basque guerrilla group ETA has been linked to drug trafficking, prostitution and
money laundering to finance its operations. (Interior Ministry, "Spain probes ETA
links to drugs, prostitution," Reuters, 4 August 1997)
Case
A prostitution and pornography network was discovered after a couple had "rented
out" their 10 year old son to buyers for $200. As many as 85 children were sexually
abused in the network in Barcelona, Spain which was in operation for 10 years. Those
arrested include doctors, teachers, a local politician and the former head of a child
recreation centre. Thousands of pornographic videos, picture and diskettes were seized
during raids. At a news conference in Barcelona, police displayed some of the 2,000
slides, 3,000 Internet images and hundreds of videos and diskettes seized in the district
of Ciutat Vella. Pornography distributed by this network has reached France, Mexico and
the United States etc. More than 800 suspects were arrested. This network has contacts
with other foreign networks that exchange and sell pornography ("Spain child-sex ring
victimised 85," Reuters, 12 August 1997) (Police, "Spain paedophile
network has ties abroad," Reuters, 30 July 1997)
10 people, including a school headmaster, teachers, a doctor and owners of some
apartments used for child prostitution, were arrested in a prostitution ring which abused
at least 40 children, aged 5 to 14 in the Catalan district in Spain. ("Child
prostitution ring uncovered in Barcelona," Reuters, 29 July 1997)
Sixteen men were found guilty of abusing thirty boys, ages 14-17, in a child
prostitution ring that was broken-up in 1996. In the Seville homosexual nightclub, the
boys were given money, clothing and vacations for sex and offered as prizes for the night
to those who won bingo games. 27 others, including a former juvenile court judge, a singer
and a television presenter, were acquitted ("Spanish Celebrities Absolved," Associated
Press, 19 March 1998) & ("Sixteen convicted in Spanish gay child abuse
cases," Reuters, 19 March 1998)
Pornography
Cases
October 1996, Spanish police broke up a ring distributing child pornography on the
Internet. Two men who were the ringleaders were arrested in Barcelona. (BBC, 8 Nov
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
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