MovieChat Forums > The Whistleblower (2011) Discussion > Why did human trafficking increase after...

Why did human trafficking increase after the war ended?


At some point in the movie Kathryn asks the woman at the shelter 'Why did human trafficking increase after the war ended?'. The woman answers 'Because half of our men died'.

What is the logic here. Why would human trafficking increase if there are fewer men?

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Perhaps she meant that there were no more husbands and brother and fathers to take care of the women, and so many of them weren't able to provide for themselves. Bosnia's economy was probably really bad after the war; jobs weren't easy to come by.

Or...I just shoot you - "baby."
- Special Agent Dana Scully

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Human trafficking is also up in Russia for the similar reasons -- a lack of economic opportunities, a corrupt state, and the rise of terrifying social pathologies. One estimate suggests that up to half a million Russian women are sex workers.

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I agree with LittleSwallow ... the economy is awful after a war, and no men means no protectors or providers for wives and children. However, I would also say that its because in the chaos of a post-war situation, organised crime thrives - rule of law is nowhere to be found as governments are either not formed or are in disarray and have many other, higher priorities

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I did not see this movie so can't speculate what that line has to do with plot. However, speaking from true events that line makes no sense. In Bosnia and other Balkan states most women were trafficked from countries like Romania, Moldova, mostly Ukraine. I visited couple of brothels while back in Bosnia and for most parts girls were from Ukraine. My than 14 year old cousin lived close to a brothel and made friends with couple of those girls from Ukraine, he and his friends supplied them with ecstasy, heroin, cocaine and in return got sex from them. He told me "that way we both win. She needs drugs to pass time *beep* old guys and she would rather *beep* us 14 year olds anyways. Free trade". I think that by now most of those brothels are closed, but the only good thing out of all of that, STD check was mandatory either every week/month.


There were cases where UN soldiers had sex/gang raped Bosnian women/girls. No trafficking though.

So yeah, mostly organized crime connected from Balkans to Baltic moved girls around.

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Well, your own post shows that there was trafficking ... just that it was trafficking of women INTO Bosnia rather than out of it. Perhaps thats what was referred to in the film. So why do you think trafficking into the Balkans is so prevalent?

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I don't know about trafficking from or out of the country either however there were a lot of cases where Bosnian women raped by especially Serbians; really, a lot of women were raped and sold and used. It is horrible. I have read books from the real people experiencing those days. I can't take it.

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There was more dialog in that scene (although the shelter woman was hard to understand) and I think the point wasn't just that trafficking had increased, but also whom was being served by the trafficking.

The shelter woman said, "Half of our men died during the war. Who do you think these women are serving?" It was a way of helping Kathryn understand that the brothels were there primarily for the peacekeepers. There were hundreds of thousands of troops, nearly all male, who did not have wives or girlfriends with them, and who had lots of expendable income. This made a much more fertile environment for prostitution, and hence human trafficking, than had been in place before the conflict.

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What Slimhope wrote is correct. No army base, no brothel. You couldn't go to downtown Sarajevo and find a brothel, you had to follow foreign troops. Also, during and after war mafia/crime syndicate was on rise. Gas, cigarettes, guns, whiskey, girls everyone wants that so somebody has to supply it. Very easy to do in a country/countries where everyone from a president to a local cop is corrupted. As troops number decreased so did brothels, wouldn't surprise me that same thing is happening in Kosovo as we speak.

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that is correct

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by FuTBoL_HooL
> (...)
(vivid description of unbearable sex slavery in former yugoslavia, that was driven by demand by UNHCR/SFOR/IPTF/DynCorp employees)


Rape and sex slavery is a common and well-known byproduct of almost any war. But a byproduct of UN/private contractor "stabilisation"? OMG

What would Jesus do? Shove coins up a girls vagina?

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There are many Jesuses out there so can't know what would one Jesus do over the other one.

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There were hundreds of thousands of troops, nearly all male, who did not have wives or girlfriends with them, and who had lots of expendable income. This made a much more fertile environment for prostitution,


This.

Pretty much everywhere the US/NATO military forces go, there is prostitution.
Even in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Especially considering these military contractors are actually immune to prosecution for ANY crime, as they do not fall under the jurisdiction of military courts (which ordinarily govern foreign occupying forces) as they operate as civilian contractors, who are only accountable to US Civil Courts and would never be extradited anyway.

The Peacekeeper Sex-Trafficking controversy in Bosnia has been mirrored in numerous other conflict zones that were moderated by UN forces after hostilities ended. Haiti, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea just to name a few.


There were cases where UN soldiers had sex/gang raped Bosnian women/girls. No trafficking though.

So yeah, mostly organized crime connected from Balkans to Baltic moved girls around.


That's what I assumed as well.

I've personally known a lot of Sarajlijas who lived in Sarajevo during and after the war and if you'd ask them about sex trafficking they'd give you a puzzled look.

There's prostitution of course, but like the majority of Europe these women are either of Russian or ex-Soviet extraction and not local Bosnian women.

When the Defecation hits the Oscillation

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Having read comments, I feel like nobody here actually watched the movie! The reason why theres huge human trafficking there (or anywhere else) is that the UN is present there. Watch the movie again maybe?!

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yes,.... I am sorry but are u guys stupid???
the prostitutes were for the UN, IPFT, police officers, diplomats, for Democra....


sorry my english

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what sara-dantas said..... and yes...r u guys stupid??

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Please stop calling them prostitutes. They are slaves, bought and sold, not making money or having a choice to go home here right? This is the horror of it.

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Leaves gaping holes in law & order. Also leaves a moral vacuum because during the war such heinous crimes were committed against civillians.

Same thing will have happened with Iraq and Afghanistan.

And if you remember it was the so-called peacekeepers who were also heavily-involved in the trafficking.

"I still don't understand it, why they hate us so much" - Valerie, V for Vendetta

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[deleted]

She said "Half of our men are dead. So who do these girls work for?"

The point she was making was that the trafficking was being done by the occupying agencies, not by her own people.


"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

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that was my interpretation as well
L.L Jacobson

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that was my interpretation as well
L.L Jacobson

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'Half our men are dead. So who are these girls brought in for?' She implies that girls were not brought from countries like Ukraine, Moldova for locals but for the peacekeepers who had money to pay for it.

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