Sex trafficking is by general agreement the fastest growing and one of the most pervasive forms of contemporary slavery in the U.S. and around the world. Now, under intense pressure by women’s advocacy and anti-prostitution groups, governments and law enforcement agencies are looking to Sweden for a possible solution.

There, a decade-old national law makes the purchase of sexual services a crime. Offenders face a fine or up to six months in prison, with pimps and other traffickers facing stronger penalties, including jail for up to 10 years. Prostituted women, instead of being prosecuted, are instead offered social service assistance to help them develop another career choice, while recovering from the dehumanization of their experience. One of the best descriptions and analysis of the Swedish law is from the California-based Women’s Justice Center.  Most importantly, as the Women’s Justice Center article makes clear, the law appears to have made a serious dent in sex trafficking into and within Sweden.  In the past few years, only 200 to 400 women and girls have been sex trafficked into the country, compared to the 15,000 to 17,000 that are trafficked into neighboring Finland.

The Swedish law (since adopted in similar form by Norway and Iceland) represents a radical change in the philosophy of how to deal with prostitution.  Currently in the U.S. and most other nations, women who sell their bodies are most often prosecuted under state or local vice laws; their controllers (pimps) often receive light or no punishment — as do the customers buying sex.  Seldom do police have the time or the command to look more deeply into situations that could include the telltale signs of trafficked slavery: women held against their will, under threat of real or psychological violence, and with no ready means of escape. This imbalance in the law deeply offends some women’s rights groups — but for widely differing reasons.  Some want to eradicate prostitution as a modern-day equivalent of slavery; others, however, hope to see prostitution legalized as a legitimate form of work.  Both sides agree upon the fundamental unfairness of laws that place the full burden of prosecution on the women themselves.

Now, with Sweden leading the way, that imbalance may be righting — with huge consequences in the U.S. and elsewhere.  Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and other nations are evaluating the Swedish model, as are several cities (including Cook County, IL — Chicago) and states in the U.S.

Is there a trend developing? Is this the common sense solution to an age-old societal problem? It’s too soon to tell, but if government and law enforcement is serious about stopping the human trafficking of girls and women for sex, it’s probably time to look to Sweden for an answer that just might work.

Tags: sex trafficking, Sweden's prostitution law

Posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 5:36 pm in Commentary, Human Trafficking, Slavery Today.
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