Andrea Nyberg is a freelance researcher and reporter. In this article she analyses the impacts on human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in view of the Italian government's new approach to ban street prostitution. Her report highlights the pros and cons without any prejudice. We invite interested individuals to join this debate and send your comments on this very delicate subject, which is ultimately an attempt proposed to prevent the exploitation of women. Send your comments directly to nyberg.andrea@hotmail.com with "Report, Italy" in the subject line.
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Italy has outlawed street prostitution, but how will this impact human trafficking in the country?
In mid-September 2008, the Italian cabinet approved a measure to outlaw street prostitution, which was later adopted by the Parliament. Since 1959, brothels and red-light districts are illegal in Italy, which has continually increased street prostitution in many of Italy's major cities. Remarkably, a number of the women found on the streets in Italy today are victims of human trafficking, many of them minors and of foreign origin, prevalently Nigerian or from Eastern European countries.
The main concern regarding this new measure to outlaw street prostitution is, of course, whether prostitutes as well as victims of human trafficking will become even more invisible, and therefore more vulnerable and less likely to receive help, as they move off the streets and into houses; in Italy, in fact, prostitution behind closed doors is still legal. Instead, Italy's Equal Opportunities Minister, Mara Carfagna, has argued that the law will make it more difficult for criminal organizations to operate, thus hoping that the law will cause a reduction in the activity of human traffickers.
Legalized prostitution ? a hampering factor in the fight against human trafficking
In her paper "Trafficking for Prostitution in Italy", Esohe Aghatise from Italian Associazione IROKO Onlus argues that "[t]hose who call for an end to the trafficking of women and children and yet support the legalization and thus the expansion of systems of prostitution send contradictory messages. ? [W]e cannot end trafficking unless we first put a stop to the commercialization of women?s bodies in prostitution." According to this view, hence, the new Italian law would constitute a positive element in the fight against trafficking in persons.
Whether this law will actually have a positive impact, however, on the reduction of human trafficking in Italy is by no means self-evident. Human trafficking is identified as a high-profit, low risk crime, which constitutes a gross human rights violation. Within the EU borders, thousands of women, children and men fall victims to human traffickers each year, and the way human trafficking gangs operate is difficult to identify, as these are often international networks which operate on very complicated routes. In fact, national legislation by itself does not suffice to create hostile environments for this type of criminal organizations, let alone one piece of legislation criminalizing only a form of the sex-trade; instead, combating trafficking needs a multi-faceted approach, with international law enforcement cooperation as its corner stone.
Outlawing street prostitution could hinder victims of trafficking from being identified
The argument that this new law could contribute in hiding away trafficking victims and make them even more invisible could, as mentioned above (and in contrast to Minister Carfagna's view), be a negative consequence of this relatively new law. However, given the fact that trafficking victims in many cases are terrified or unable to seek help or to go to the police, that they might not speak the language of the destination country and that they sometimes are illiterate, make them, to a large extent, unapproachable and "invisible" in the first case. But the main concern remains: it will be harder to reach out and assist the victims if they are locked up in houses.
Justifying the new law to outlaw street prostitution
On the other hand, the streets largely contribute to the profitability of the human trafficking trade. The "red-light" streets, parks or districts are known to every Italian, who has easy and uncomplicated access to these. One could argue that banning prostitution from the streets would reduce the demand, since access would become more complicated, and visiting a prostitute or abusing a victim of human trafficking would need to become, per definition, a planned act ? eliminating, in turn, any "spontaneous" clients from the picture, who maybe decide to visit these areas due to such things as peer pressure, the influence of drugs and alcohol, curiosity, or similar. In addition, trafficking victims could also, possibly, thanks to this law, be spared the violence found on the streets, the inability to visit a restroom, and having to endure nocuous whether conditions (especially during winter time).
In any case, the long term impact of the new law on human trafficking in Italy is not clear. Both arguments make sense: a criminalization of street prostitution will ideally reduce the crime by making the environment more hostile for traffickers to operate in, but trafficking victims will possibly become even more invisible and therefore even more victimized this way. The most important thing to realize is that combating human trafficking needs a holistic approach and all parties need to be addressed, i.e. victims need to receive care and protection; potential victims need to be informed; traffickers need to be caught and prosecuted; the demand side of prostitution needs to be tackled; and, lastly, perpetrators who knowingly abuse victims of trafficking need to be prosecuted. This can only be achieved through international law enforcement cooperation and a continuous monitoring on the local level.
Andrea Nyberg, 03 July 2009