World Cup brothels upset Sweden
2006-04-03 12:43
Stockholm - Sweden's sexual equality
ombudsman demanded on Monday that his country's soccer team pull
out of the World Cup in Germany in protest at extra brothels
being set up to cope with demand from visiting football fans.
The idea got short shrift from Swedish Football Association
president Lars-Ake Lagrell, who told Swedish Television such a
move would "disappoint the nation" and probably get it knocked
out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as well.
With a million foreign visitors heading to Germany for the
month-long tournament starting on June 9, red light districts of
the 12 host cities are braced for a huge influx.
"I'm a soccer fan myself but the point is that the World Cup
in soccer is an opportunity for men to show our abhorrence of
the trade in human beings," Equality Ombudsman Claes Borgstrom
told national radio. "Other countries might follow our example."
European Union lawmakers have warned that thousands of women
could be forced into prostitution by criminal gangs to cope with
the increased demand during the World Cup.
Unlike Germany, where an estimated 400 000 prostitutes ply
their trade legally, Sweden has introduced some of Europe's
toughest laws against prostitution, targeting those buying sex
rather than prostitutes themselves, who are treated as victims.
Alarmed politicians
Alarmed at news reports of giant brothels and wooden "sex
huts" being built for the World Cup, Swedish politicians have
taken up the cause, earning Lagrell the offer of a guided tour
of a brothel from a group of German prostitutes, which he
declined.
Justice Minister Thomas Bodstrom - himself once a player in
the top Swedish soccer league - has called on Germany to simply
"forbid buying sex" to prevent the exploitation of women.
Equality Minister Jens Orback told the UN in February that
"hundreds of thousands of women are being recruited, transported
and sold as slaves in Europe. The disturbing thing is that
wonderful big sports events increase this slave trade".
Sweden faces England, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago in the
early stages of the tournament and Swedish fans have applied for
a record number of World Cup tickets.
Lagrell promises no Swedish player will use brothels in the
World Cup, but has resisted calls for high-profile players like
Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg
or Barcelona's Henrik Larsson to campaign against prostitution.