Americans Join the World Cup Prostitution Fray

In an article posted to the SF Gate website last week, the AP reports that the US government has joined in placing pressure on the German government to prevent trafficking during the World Cup this summer in Germany:

The expected World Cup boom for Germany's sex industry has ignited a trans-Atlantic tiff over prostitution, with a U.S. congressman and other anti-trafficking advocates contending Thursday that thousands of foreign women will be forced into sex work during the four-week tournament.

The German government, while defending its policy of legalized prostitution, emphatically denies that it condones human trafficking and says it has intensified efforts to combat it. It also denies claims by some critics that it is subsidizing construction of new brothels.

Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., remains skeptical. He urged Germany to recriminalize prostitution and suggested that it should be reclassified as an "egregious violator" of human trafficking unless tougher steps are taken before the World Cup starts on June 9.

Smith, chairman of the House subcommittee on global human rights, convened a hearing in Washington titled "Germany's World Cup Brothels." Witnesses included representatives from Amnesty International, the International Organization for Migration, and the Angel Coalition, an anti-trafficking women's group in Russia.