Barracks and Brothels: Peacekeepers and Human Trafficking in the Balkans
- Document number
- 1804
- Date
- 2005
- Title
- Barracks and Brothels: Peacekeepers and Human Trafficking in the Balkans
- Author/publisher
- Sarah E. Mendelson, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Violence, Human rights violation, Crime against humanity, War crime, Armed conflict, Post-conflict situation, Terrorism,
- Summary
- The majority of uniformed service members and civilian contractors working inpeacekeeping operations do so honorably. Yet peacekeeping operations in the Balkanshave had the unintended consequence of providing the demand for traffickedfemales from Eastern Europe and Eurasia for forced prostitution. Human traffickinginvolves the recruitment, harboring, and movement of people through the useof force, fraud, coercion, or deception for the express purpose of enslavement. Sextrafficking is therefore not “just about prostitution.” Rather, it is about people beingsold as chattel, stripped of their passports, and forced to pay off bogus debts to theirtraffickers. In the Balkans, literally thousands of women and girls have been traffickedin the last several years. At least 10 percent of them are minors.In addition to the implications for human rights and the rule of law, humantrafficking in post-conflict regions has security implications for peacekeepers thatto date have been overlooked or downplayed by defense officials and militaries.Most importantly, the criminal networks that traffic in humans also traffic in gunsand drugs, and human trafficking provides these networks with revenue. Peacekeeperswho serve with honor are being tainted by the minority who commithuman rights violations and support criminal networks.
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