NATO SEX SLAVES; ALLIANCE SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF PREYING ON CHILD HOOKERS IN RUBBLE OF WAR-TORN KOSOVO
Daily Record (Scotland) - May 7, 2004

By Derek Alexander

NATO peacekeeping troops were accused yesterday of callously exploiting child sex slaves in Kosovo.

Girls as young as 11 are being sold into prostitution in the former war zone for as little as pounds 34 each.

Human rights campaigners say NATO troops' demand for sex has sent the vice trade spiralling out of control in the former Yugoslav province.

And they claim that some soldiers have even been involved in trafficking women and girls.

The victims are beaten, raped and forced into sex with huge numbers of men. One woman claims to have had 2700 clients in less than a year.

NATO troops are immune from prosecution in Kosovo. But Kate Allen of Amnesty International said last night: 'Peacekeepers must be held accountable for their role in this trade in human misery.

'The international community in Kosovo have triggered an explosion in demand for trafficked women.

'They are not only failing to stop this despicable trade, they are actively fuelling it by paying for sex themselves.'

When the Kosovo war ended in 1999 and NATO ground troops went in, Amnesty knew of 18 bars in the province where sex wason sale.

By last year, the number of such brothels had soared to 200. Amnesty say most are run by gangsters.

British troops, including Scots regiments, have played a major role in Kosovo. Around 10,000 UK soldiers served there in 1999 and 1000 are on duty today.

A British lieutenant colonel was sent home from Kosovo four years ago after allegedly being caught in a red-light district.

And in 2001, three Royal Marines found in a lap-dancing bar were returned to Britain in disgrace.

Amnesty say every soldier who pays for sex in Kosovo boosts the brutal trade in vice girls.

The victims come from some of the poorest parts of eastern Europe Moldova,Ukraine and rural Kosovo.

Some told Amnesty they were sold into the sex trade for 50 Euros pounds 34.

The slaves are tortured, beaten and raped by their masters.

One victim, a 21-year-old mother from Moldova, said of her pimp: 'We were his property.

'By buying us, he had the right to beat us, rape us, starve us and force us to have sex with clients.'

A 12-year-old Albanian girl added: 'Even in cold weather I had to wear thin dresses. I was forced by the boss to serve international soldiers and police officers.'

Another woman told how she was kept in a room so dark that she could not see the menwho used her body.

And a fourth vice girl claimed she was forced to have sex more than 2700 times in less than a year. She said she was subjected to group sex and even abused at gunpoint.

Many women are drugged and abducted before being sold from one trafficker to another.

They are forced into sex without contraception. And if they get pregnant, their pimps make them have abortions.

Underage girls interviewed by Amnesty could not say for sure whether British troops were among their clients.

But Allen insisted our soldiers are partly to blame for the women's plight.

She said: 'British soldiers have been sent home from Kosovo for visiting bars and clubs where trafficked women may have been working.

'Too often, we hear that 'This is just something men away from home will do'.

'The Ministry of Defence and the Army must make it clear to soldiers that many of these women suffer great violence and are not truly consenting to what they do.

'They must also make it clear that any soldier involved in trafficking, or knowingly using the services of trafficked women, will not only be dismissed but also prosecuted.'

Five French soldiers were sent home last year after claims that they had been involved in human trafficking.

In the 18 months to July 2003, as many as 27 peacekeepers were suspected of trafficking offences. But under an immunity agreement, the soldiers cannot be prosecuted in Kosovo.

And they can also escape charges in their own countries a situation that enrages Amnesty.

Allen said: 'The international community is adding insult to injury by securing immunity from prosecution for its personnel and apparently hushing up their shameful part in the abuse.'

A fifth of all the slaves are brought in from outside Kosovo. And Amnesty found that many women were later trafficked into western countries including Scotland.

Albanian trafficking gangs have posed as refugees from Kosovo to infiltrate the UK.

Police fear the Albanians will soon control most of the British vice trade.

The Ministry of Defence yesterday said they had yet to see the Amnesty report.

A spokesman insisted: 'We take such allegations very seriously.

'If there is evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of our armed forces, there are procedures in place to deal with it.'

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2, 21

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