Sexual exploitation of women on the decrease

THE NUMBER of women sexually exploited has dropped significantly compared to last year, the House Human Rights Committee heard yesterday.

According to Maria Kyraizi from the social welfare department the number of reported cases so far this year is eight, a dramatic drop from the 104 last year.

The House committee met to discuss moves to further strengthen Cyprus’ position combating the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women.

Following widespread accounts of sexual exploitation in the entertainment industry, deputies have been discussing measures to further ensure that women who enter the country to work in bars and cabarets do not find themselves being manipulated and taken advantage of.

There are roughly 120 cabarets, 300 ‘bars’ and a number of other massage parlors islandwide that employ foreign women for roles including waitresses, dancers and masseuses. However, the role of many of these venues as platforms for prostitution is well known The issue of the categorisation of venues was also discussed during the meeting, as the majority of nightspots where foreign women work are simply classified as ‘bars’, and are therefore very hard to monitor.

President of the house committee Sophocles Fittis said new rules that will govern the way in which artistes’ visas are handled will soon be in place.

From September 1, the process of approving entry to women seeking work in caberets and bars will become more strict to give authorities a clearer picture of reasons for employment, qualifications and final destinations of applicants. There will also be a number of amendments to rules governing which women are allowed to work in restaurants, bars and cabarets, with any women applying for such positions needing to prove that they have had at least one year’s experience in the given field, to be part of a troupe of no less than four, and to be over 21 years old.

Referring to the cases of exploitation and trafficking that had reached her department, spokeswoman for the Department of Population and Migration Archive Katerina Papachristodoulou said that the eight cases all pertained to women from the Dominican Republic. As a result, applications from women from the Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan to work in cabarets and dance centres will not be considered for approval in the future.

The measures are part of the government’s campaign to eradicate human trafficking from the island.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.