Sex trade in Finland more international than before

Sex workers in Finland come from as far as Jamaica and Brazil

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Foreign sex workers in Finland are increasingly coming to this country for short stays.
      Prostitutes will come into the city for a few days or a week, after which they will move on to the next country.
      The sex workers come from dozens of countries, and from farther away than before, including Jamaica, Brazil, and Nigeria.
     
The sex worker’s support organisation Pro-tukipiste estimates that “a few hundred” sex workers are working in Helsinki every day.
      The arrival of sex workers on the Finnish scene who stay here for only very short periods of time makes the outreach efforts of Pro-tukipiste more difficult.
      Sex services are sold less frequently on the streets than before. Transactions take place inside restaurants and bars and over the Internet.
      Jaana Kauppinen, the director of Pro-tukipiste says that prostitutes do not fall victim to violence and coercion nearly as often as imagined.
      “It exists, but there is little of it. There are much more of those who are able to dictate the limits of their own activity.”
     
Pimps are less frequently seen on the edges fo the sex trade, and catching them has become more difficult than before.
      Prostitution is not a crime as such, but procurement is. Kauppinen says that the stereotype of a pimp as someone who exploits sex workers through intimidation and violence is not nearly always the case.
      “Prostitutes will pay part of their profits to someone who makes practical arrangements for them. Under Finnish law that is procurement, although the sex workers do not necessarily see it that way.
     
Kauppinen is pleased that two men were given prison sentences of four years last week for raping a prostitute.
      “This is a clear message that violence against sex workers is taken seriously. Hopefully people will no longer think that rape somehow belongs to prostitution.
     
Police are very critical of the present law which makes it illegal to buy sex from the victim of human trafficking.
      “The police are unable to enforce the law, and an ordinary customer cannot determine, who are being pimped and who are not. Either a complete prohibition, or complete legalisation would be better”, says Seppo Sillanpää of the Helsinki Police.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Criminal gang charges Nigerian prostitutes thousands of euros for entry to Finland (7.10.2009)
  Domestic violence and residence permit problems drive Thai women underground (18.5.2009)
  Police suspect some Helsinki Thai massage parlours of procurement (10.10.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat