Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Human Trafficking in [Lithuania] [other countries] Street Children in [Lithuania] [other countries] Child Prostitution in [Lithuania] [other countries] In the first ten years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2009 Republic of Lithuania Lithuania's economy grew on average 8% per year for the four years prior to 2008, driven by exports and domestic consumer demand. Unemployment stood at 4.8% in 2008, while wages grew at double digit rates. The current account deficit rose to roughly 15% of GDP in 2007-08. Lithuania has gained membership in the World Trade Organization and joined the EU in May 2004. Despite Lithuania's EU accession, Lithuania's trade with its Central and Eastern European neighbors, and Russia in particular, accounts for a growing percentage of total trade. Privatization of the large, state-owned utilities is nearly complete. Foreign government and business support have helped in the transition from the old command economy to a market economy. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]   Lithuania is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. One estimate concluded that approximately 20 percent of Lithuanian trafficking victims are underage girls. Lithuanian women are trafficked within the country and to the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, France, and the Czech Republic for the purpose of forced prostitution. Women from Belarus are trafficked to Lithuania for the same purpose. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]

CAUTION: The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Lithuania. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. *** FEATURED ARTICLE *** http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Lithuania.htm

 

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frontline 13

The Unionisation of Sex Workers

Dr Gregor Gall, Reader in Industrial Relations, University of Stirling continues the debate on prostitution, sex workers and sexual exploitation.

Introduction

Throughout many countries of the world in recent years, sex workers, ranging from prostitutes, escorts, and massage parlour workers, to strippers/exotic dancers/lap dancers, pornographic models, pornographic actors/actresses, and sex chatline telephone operators, have begun to be in trade unions for the first time. This poses stark questions for socialists. Since the rise of the womens movement, and almost exclusively, the broad range of socialists, feminist socialists and radicals have viewed prostitution and pornography as either, or both the cause and consequence of womens oppression, in general and sexism, sexual exploitation and sexual oppression in particular . Consequently, the abolition of both prostitution and pornography has been viewed as essential to womens liberation.

But with the unionisation of sex workers, some of those who sell sex and sexual services are putting forward the claim to be workers. If this is valid, then unionisation is open to them as much as it is to any other workers. And if this is possible, then what role do sex workers stand to play in their own emancipation and liberation? This article will first trace the genesis of sex worker unionisation and the extent of this before briefly returning to these questions.

From:

http://www.redflag.org.uk/frontline/13/13sexwork.html

 

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