Migration and Sex Work
The Dilemmas of Illegality
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
More and more women around the world are looking work far away from home. Prostitution is one form of work. Legal migration is hardly possible. With regard to laws on residency, such women are living illegally in the European Union. They are pushed to the fringes of the labour market. Illegal migrants now account for the majority of prostitutes. Most come from Eastern Europe. The dominant public view that they are victims of trafficking in women does not correspond to reality. The struggle against trafficking in women must not lead to the struggle against prostitution. Instead, an improvement in the rights of illegal sex workers is necessary. Only so can better working conditions and health be achieved and the exploitation and crime in the sex industry be fought.
(Osteuropa 6/2006, pp. 55–66)