Non governmental organization Resource center for women “Marta” has three year long experience of preventive work and rehabilitation work with victims of trafficking in human beings.

Trafficking in human beings is manifold problem that can occur in every person life. There are centuries since the ancient slavery vanished but modern forms of slavery in its refined and even violent version exists nowadays. Girls, women, young men, children are those whose bodies and souls are at risk to be sold, exploited, wounded and then thrown away as useless things.

There are no exact figures on how many Latvian women has been sold abroad and across the country, but according to State Police every month approximately 100 women are going abroad for prostitution, large part of them become victims of the global crime known as trafficking in human beings. One must take into consideration that both prostitution is closely linked to trafficking and that persons who are sold are not only used in sexual exploitation but also in forced labor and illegal removal of viscera.

In our organization during last year 22 women who have suffered from various forms of sexual exploitation and forced labor received professional help from our social workers, lawyer, psychotherapist and physician. They have been trafficked to Denmark, Germany, Spain, Ireland, England, Italy, France, and Sweden and across Latvia as well. Women who search help in our organization has no age, ethnicity, education and domicile specifications. It means that women can be at risk to be sold and treated as a thing independently of education level, ethnical affiliation, family status and age. She can be abused due to the fact that she is a woman in the society where patriarchal values prevail.

Women who have been suffered from the trafficking very often have multiple problems. Their psyche had been traumatized, they don’t trust people and authorities, they feel ashamed and blame themselves, they feel angst and depression, in many cases they lack physical and mental power to protect themselves, to help and serve themselves, their abilities to take responsibility and to make sane decisions is seriously damaged.