The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade

Catholic New Times, March 8, 2005 by Louise Smendziuk

The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade, by Victor Malarek, Viking, Toronto, 2004, 304 pp.

In today's world, over two million women and children are being bought and sold before our very eyes. Why isn't there a global outcry at this scandalous affront to human rights? Victor Malarek, an investigative journalist on CTV's W-Five has written a book, The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade, that is a well-researched expose of modern-day slavery. The epidemic proportion of this global issue is described in detail. Profit-making and greed fuel the endeavour. The crippling poverty of women and girls makes them vulnerable and easy prey for marketers in human flesh for the sex industry. The prediaments of people in war-ravaged countries in Eastern Europe account for the most recent wave of human trafficking. In countries where military bases are present, rest and recreation for soldiers translate into sexual exploitation and an increase in trafficking of local prostitutes. Deceptive recruitment practices lure unsuspecting and vulnerable women and girls seeking legitimate employment into an industry fraught with violence, danger and disease. The victims are stripped of their identification and transported to a foreign country, where they don't speak the language. They are then imprisoned, beaten and raped until they are puppets in the hands of their predators.

Fear of reprisal paralyzes these victims. Graphic warnings of the punishment they will endure and the threatbof violence toward their families ensure their submission. For the few courageous enough to resist, disappearance is a stark reality.

Malarek's outrage is palpable as he describes "the breaking grounds" in Serbia, where the girls are broken and "trained." The stories, told by female interviewees, are heart-wrenching. Sofia, an 18-year-old Romanian, describes the terror and panic at her abduction at knifepoint while she walked home one evening on a rural road. She was taken to an apartment in Serbia, where many other frightened girls from Moldova, the Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania were held captive. On the third day of Captivity Sofia was "trained." The experience haunts her to this day.

In spite of the risks, it is imperative that the survivors of this atrocity dig deep inside themselves and find a way to bring their stories to the attention of those working to stop human slavery.

Don Cesare, a Roman Catholic priest who operates Regina Pacis, a safe house on the Adriatic Coast of Italy, has had his life threatened by Albanian mobsters who don't take kindly to holy people relieving them of their "goods." Don Cesare believes his mission in life is to rescue women from the seedy streets of Italian cities. Surrounded by heavy security, he believes he is doing God's work.

Malarek exposes the corruption that exists in the governments, politicians, police forces and even among United Nations peace-keepers, whose systemic complicity re-enforces sexual exploitation and trafficking. He dares to name those involved.

According to Malarek: "The Internet is the steamiest whorehouse on the planet, and is responsible for the massive growth in the global sex trade." With a click of a button, men can check out sex tours, scan pictures of young girls and women and get directions to where they can be bought for sex.

Malarek's investigative analysis demands a response from the reader. Those opposed to this social travesty must become well-organized and imbued with a zeal that will bring perpetrators of this lucrative multinational business to a halt. His riveting account also raises questions: how do we create a world where human rights are respected, and women and children valued and protected? How can we advocate for policies, laws and programs that address the prevention of trafficking? The obvious answer is to be informed, take action and address insistently at every level of our communities the abuse, sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and children. Readers of this powerful text are challenged to spread the word. In the forefront of this important struggle are several female religious orders. Many more need to join them.

Louise Smendziuk, an associate of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, writes from Winnipeg.