Cyprus and the Global Polemics of Sex Trade and Sex Trafficking

Abstract

This article problematizes the burgeoning transnational attempts to homogenize the ways in which national authorities deal with prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes. The case of Cyprus is used as a paradigm where local socioeconomic, geopolitical, and historical parameters indicate that they cannot be sidestepped for the purpose of implementing offshore legislations and policies on commercial sex and human trafficking and that often enough draw upon different interests and aim toward different ends. Rather, as is the case of Cyprus, the regulatory approach to prostitution (that exists since the colonial epoch) allows the state to assume an ambivalent stance toward the local sex industry and its negative corollary (sex trafficking) for the purpose of “facilitating” revenue enhancement. As such, neither the abolition nor the legalization of prostitution can effectively deal with the issue in hand. That said, any adamant argument in support of either approach is unquestionably, subject to criticism.

Sex trafficking in Cyprus: An in-depth study of policy, services, and social work involvement

“…Paid sex has been a source of revenue in Cyrus for years, and prostitution is legal (Constantinou, 2013). Research indicates that countries with legalized prostitution also have large flows of sex trafficking victims (Cho et al, 2013), with the relationship most pronounced in those countries lacking strong anti-trafficking measures (Marinova and James, 2012).…”

“…However, comparative data on the proportion of tourists to nationals involved as customers are lacking. Moreover, according to Constantinou (2013), due to the economic situation of the country and the profits provided by the sex industry, the government, although wanting to adhere to European anti-trafficking legislation, remains ambivalent in dealing with it.…”

Is crime displacement inevitable? Lessons from the enforcement of laws against prostitution-related human trafficking in Cyprus

“…To reiterate, the government of Cyprus has time and again been faced with barbed criticism for its feeble reaction to combating human trafficking for sexual purposes, since the domestic sex industry has been castigated for creating fertile conditions for the sexual exploitation of women, especially foreign women (Constantinou, 2013b). This pushed the government to seek a rather quick solution, and it came up with the implementation of an (immigration-oriented) anti-prostitution policy that would eventually lead most cabarets and pubs to close.…”

“…However, it led to the creation of a new scattered form of clandestine prostitution. In fact, after the abolition of brothels, procurement was reported to have decreased, yet prostitution did not; on the contrary, it dispersed to various locales in the urban areas and, while it became less conspicuous, it diminished the police’s capacity to apprehend culprits (Constantinou, 2013b).…”