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German Government Blasted for Facilitating Massive Prostitution at World Cup in Berlin

Mega brothels being constucted for additional 40,000 women to be added to 400,000 prostitutes already in country

By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The woes of legalized prostitution in Germany are about to be felt by the world.  With the World Cup soccer tournament to be held in Berlin beginning June 9, an estimated three million fans are expected to flood the city. The German government and local governments are preparing for an increase in sex-traffic and the resulting tax revenues by aiding the construction of huge brothels.  A four-story brothel, the largest in Germany, opened late last year a short distance from one of the main venues of the World Cup.

As many as 40,000 additional women are expected to be added to the approximately 400,000 prostitutes in Germany's sex industry. German authorities are rushing to accommodate the trade in women by facilitating the construction of mega-brothels and "sex huts." Moreover, cities hosting the games will issue special permits for street prostitution, creating a virtual partnership with brothel owners, pimps and traffickers.

At a press conference in Washington today dozens of human rights groups and experts in human trafficking came together to decry the German governments involvement in the exploitive sex trade.

Addressing the press and the gathered leaders was US Representative Chris Smith, Vice Chairman, House Intl' Relations Committee and author of America's three landmark human trafficking laws. 

"The sad and disturbing news is," said Smith, "that the German government currently is facilitating prostitution and, we believe, what will be a very significant influx of trafficked women who will be exploited. They will be treated as commodities. They will be raped as a direct result of their having been trafficked into Germany for the World Cup event."

Smith who also co-chairs the Commission on the Security and Cooperation in Europe, has frequently met with his counterparts from the German Bundestag to express the outrage of Congress over the issue. "In January, at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Belgium, I raised on three separate occasions during this Parliamentary Assembly with our German counterparts the fact that this is an outrage," said Smith.  "They will be remembered in Germany more for what happened off the field rather than that which happened on the field," he added.

Smith warned that unless the German government alters its stand it should be ranked as "an egregious violator of human trafficking" because of their "providing venues, building houses of prostitution." The government he explained, is doing this "with state funds and with local funds, and then providing official state sanction for what will be a very serious trafficking problem."

Smith noted that it is estimated that about 75% of the 400,000 prostitutes in Germany are foreigners from Central European countries.  "We know beyond any reasonable doubt," he said, "that so many of these women are coerced and they are there because of force, fraud or, like I say, coercion."

Dr. Janice Crouse, of Concerned Women for America warned that the resulting damage to Germany from the increase in organized crime could be permanent.  "With sex trafficking already a major problem in Germany," she said, "bringing in over 40,000 women for prostitution during the World Cup is sure to bring about a tipping point for organized crime and criminal activity that won't go away at the end of the games."

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