Nun Puts the 'Red Card' on Forced Prostitution at World Cup
May 3, 2006 — -- With the start of the World Cup soccer championship in Germany a little more than a month away, many people are gearing up to participate in the event one way or another.
On June 9, about 3 million visitors from all over the world are expected to converge on the 12 German cities hosting matches. The German sex industry is ready to meet the challenge of increased demand during the four-week tournament, and so are anti-sex industry activists concerned with human trafficking and forced prostitution.
Officials say there may be about 40,000 additional prostitutes in Germany, many of which are going to be smuggled into Germany by profiteers in time for the World Cup.
"Those women come mainly from Bulgaria, but also from other Eastern European countries, such as Romania, Ukraine and the former Yugoslavia," said Sister Lea Ackermann, a German Roman Catholic nun and the founder of SOLWODI -- SOLIDARITY with Women in Distress.
"Those countries where poor women, while looking for a job abroad, are often lured into prostitution by false promises," she said.
A Magnet for Sex Trade and Trafficking
When Ackermann first founded SOLWODI in Kenya in 1985, it was simply an aid project for women living in the slums of Mombasa.
"Seeing the violence, exploitation and misery of these women, who were forced to work as prostitutes because they were poor, convinced me I had to help change their situation," she said.
"Upon my return to Germany in 1987, I realized that even in civilized Europe, migrant women and girls are being exploited and mistreated in very similar ways. I founded SOLWODI in Germany to support some of the weakest members of our society: women, foreign to our country and way of life, with no command of the language, little or no knowledge of their rights, completely dependent on their exploiters."
Ackermann said SOLWODI decided to focus on victims of prostitution as the World Cup games approached because sports events tended to increase demand in the sex trafficking industry.
"With the World Cup coming up, we are obviously taking a closer look at victims of trafficking and forced prostitution," Ackermann said. "Past experience with events of that kind shows us that thousands of women are going to be forced to work in the so-called sex industry to meet the increased demand by the expected influx of customers. That's why we have decided to flash the 'red card' to those prostitution profiteers."
'Red Card' for Help
In the sports world, a red card is typically used to indicate that a player has received a certain level of punishment. Ackermann's red card is the emergency hot line she and her volunteers have established for the duration of the World Cup.
About 20 nuns, who can speak all the Eastern European languages -- from Polish to Russian to Croatian -- have established an emergency hot line for women in distress. All the woman needs to do is call the nationwide number -- 08 000 111 777 -- and there will be help available.
Ackermann said that most of the women who had been in touch with SOLWODI in the past had been victims of violence.
"They have been threatened, beaten, raped. They have been tricked into coming to the West by false promises," she said. "Sometimes they have been deceived by so-called friends, relatives or lovers. The young women have been forced to work in prostitution. They are usually traumatized, distrustful and scared."
"Many women blame themselves for getting in the mess they are in and they're totally in despair when they come to us," Ackermann said. "So we must make clear that we are there to support their interests, and we are there to help them."
Finding Safety
The women in need can expect to find immediate help. Ackermann said they would be provided safety, anonymous shelter, medical treatment, counseling and help finding a social worker or a lawyer if they wanted to take their alleged exploiters to court.
Prostitution as such is not considered a crime in Germany, but forcing a person into prostitution is a punishable crime.
A lawyer, paid for by SOLWODI, can negotiate with social services and a lien's office where necessary, and the woman can choose to stay in the country. If she's willing to give evidence, she can be placed in the victims' witness-protection program. Traffickers have no means of influencing the witness because she is safe in the shelter.