|
The testimonies of human trafficking survivors that appear in this section of the site are compiled from a variety of sources, including print and online media, television, governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and individual survivors. Note: All the news stories are the copyright of the publications. All non-public sources have granted Polaris Project permission to include the testimonies for the purpose of raising awareness about the real life experiences of men, women, and children who have been forced into labor and sexual exploitation.
|
|
"My name is Dewi. I am now 16, but this happened to me when I was 15. I am the oldest in my family, and have three brothers, all still at primary school. I only finished grade five and do not go to school anymore, because I was lazy and wanted money. My father died in 1993. My mother has no work. We are a poor family. |
|
Read more...
|
|
"My name is E.R. and I am from Elbasan. When I was 15, my parents married me, against my will, to a man aged 35, whom I did not love. So started my miseries.
Not too long afterwards, I abandoned him and returned to my family. But my parents did not accept me back because I had dishonored them by leaving my husband. I had no support and nowhere to go. I got acquainted with a boy who was 20 who said he loved me and promised to marry me. He convinced me to go to Italy for 'a better life.' |
|
Read more...
|
|
Q: Tell us how it all started. Elena: I was a waitress in a dance club in Tutrakan. My boyfriend came one evening and told me my mother asked me to see my father in Sofia. I was happy about the idea to see my father. Two other guys have been there. I never saw them before, but my boyfriend said they are his fellows. |
|
Read more...
|
|
"I made a decision to go to Lebanon as a dancer on consummation terms. A recruiting company in St. Petersburg explained to me that I would receive $1000 a month for dancing in a cabaret. The duties would also include joining clients at their tables, who would then buy champagne for me. For each glass of champagne, I would get interest. I asked whether sexual services were included in the job description, and in response I was assured that intimate services are excluded. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Eleni, 25, didn't know the friend who wrote inviting her to work as a waitress was now a prostitute. Once at the Bosnian restaurant her new owner told her she had been bought for 900 DEM and had to repay him by having sex with his customers. When she refused she was beaten until she couldn't walk for days but was still forced to have sex. |
|
Read more...
|
|
In the seedy Kafe Bar Berlin, Essmerelda Seferi throws back her head and croons in a husky Edith Piaf voice. Hard-drinking men leer across the smoke-filled room.
This hell in a dirt-track town in Macedonia is the end of the road and of her young life. At 14, she claims, she was sold to a man who took her virginity, prostituted her and then discarded her. That was two years ago. |
|
Read more...
|
|
"My name is F., and I am twenty years old. I was born in L. in a northern city of Albania. I have three sisters and two brothers as well as my father and my mother. We have always been living under a patriarchal mentality where the man of the family has the right to judge and decide for everything and everybody. |
|
Read more...
|
|
"When my husband died I was left alone with my four children. I did not have money and the children’s needs were increasing, they needed education, clothing and so on. I could not find a job in Armenia. My neighbour who was also looking for a job told me that many of her friends had found work in Turkey through bus operators. |
|
Read more...
|
|
"Now I live with my two children and mother. I am an engineer. Who needs my knowledge here? It was my neighbour who told me about an agency that recruits women to do cleaning work at families in Dubai. I was very happy when I found that they were going to buy my ticket and pay me a small advance to get there. When we arrived in Dubai my passport was taken away and I was told to prostitute myself. |
|
Read more...
|
|
"I am living in Vanadzor and used to work as prostitute together with my friends. When our neighbour returned from Turkey and told us about the perspectives of work there it seemed attractive to us. Our neighbour said that she knew people there and that she could arrange our trip and job. If we did the same work in Vanadzor why not try to do it in Turkey for a better salary? We gave her our passports and money to buy the ticket. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 2 of 7 |
THE FRONTLINES