Ministers seek clampdown on sex trade

By Charlie Charalambous

TOUGH measures controlling the running of cabarets will be ready when the House returns from its summer recess, ministers said yesterday.

Coming out of yesterday’s ministerial committee meeting on the issue, Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou said a bill setting out a more “realistic control of the situation” would be submitted to parliament in the autumn.

In the meantime, temporary measures to restrict the number of foreign girls working as strippers will be put in place.

“The number of foreign artistes employed at cabarets will be sufficiently reduced,” Christodoulou said.

Not only will a six-month limit be slapped on strippers, but no new cabarets will be able secure permits for foreign lap dancers, while pubs and bars will be restricted to one foreign artiste instead of the two currently allowed.

The authorities have blamed the mushrooming cabaret scene for gangland turf wars and rising crime levels.

“We must bring the situation under control because it’s causing huge problems,” said Justice Minister Nicos Koshis.

He said the real aim was to prevent Cypriot getting rich on the so-called white slave trade in which foreign dancers usually find themselves caught up.

“Prostitution is not a new phenomenon, it’s an ancient profession which, whatever we do, we cannot stop. The issue is preventing girls from becoming victims,” said Koshis.

Many of the women, hailing from the former Soviet Union, come as “dancers” but then find themselves forced to have sex with the clientèle or face the threat of deportation.

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