Recently, four Moldovan sex slaves won more than £600,000 in compensation from their captors in a British legal battle.
The facts: The women were tricked into coming into London after being offered jobs as dancers. They arrived all shiny happy people, but were instantly told by a gang that they had been bought for £20,000 and would have to earn at least £1000 each day through charging customers £50 for a 15-minute session of unprotected sex - refusals and defiance would result in fines and further punishment. The women hustled 24/7. In addition, their traffickers Gavril Dulghieru and his wife Tamara, served the women one miniscule meal a day and dropped them with £300 in rental charge for disgusting rooms.
The result: Mr Justice Treacy awarded each of the sex-slave victims more than £100,000 for their traumatic ordeal. Disgraced Tamara has been banged up five years, whilst her husband will enjoy nine years behind bars for conspiracy to traffic in prostitution and sexual exploitation.
My verdict: You lucky lucky girls...
Of course, this is just in comparison with sex slaves prevalent and suffering in regions such as India, Thailand and South Africa - rarely do they seek nor see justice. In South Africa alone, it has been reported that a large percentage of the 900,000 people smuggled across its borders are used as sex slaves - it comes as no surprise then that the South African government estimate that there are over 50,000 women raped in the country each year. The saddest thing remains that there is currently no anti-sex trafficking law to punish the pimps, and give the women their justice and respect. That's what makes the four Moldovan women lucky.
Ctrl.Alt.Shift took this issue to the streets. We put the law in the hands of the public, testing their leniency on the subject of sex trafficking, and their knowledge of dire conditions in other parts of the world. We asked:
How much compensation would you expect from being a victim of sex slavery?
What punishment would you want put upon your pimps?
Did you know there is currently no law against sex trafficking in South Africa?(How does that make you feel?)
And consider you are the law...how do you stop the problem of sex trafficking?
Zuzana, 20:
"I don't know if money would help the situation, the only thing that would help in that situation is justice and a harsh punishment, definitely jail, at least five years and some sort of community service would be needed. I didn't know that there wasn't even a law against this in South Africa, this is terrible, I personally have never experienced anything like this, but it sounds so terrible. I don't know the answers to this problem, I've never thought about it, perhaps harsher punishments - if people knew the punishment was serious jail-time it may act as a deterrent."
Patsy, 25:
"I don't know if there is a figure that could compensate something like that; you can’t put a price on it. It's hard with punishments, because for every one you put away, there are three waiting in the wings to take their place. The punishment has to fit the crime, and needs to act as a deterrent, so it needs to be a long stay in jail. There should be a law in every country. For South Africa not to have anything in place, where is the deterrent? There needs to be a warning that these crimes are not acceptable. To solve this sorry situation, women need to be given a voice, these people (pimps) operate using fear, so they need to be aware that there is somewhere to go and that someone is there to help."
Parveen, 21:
"Compensation? I wouldn't want compensation, I would want justice - I wouldn't want it dragged through the courts either, the only thing that would make me feel better is if the culprits were either castrated or given a lethal injection. In certain countries it's shocking to think that there are no laws in place, when people are being exploited there should always be some sort of deterrent to stop things like this happening. While I can't think of a solution, I think if the women who are being targeted by sex traffickers were given opportunities, so they didn't need to turn to dodgy people for a better future, then there wouldn't be as much of a problem, along with harsher deterrents for the criminals, who should get their fingers cut off!"
Hannah, 19:
"I would ask for much more than £125,000, when you consider the psychological damage and all the other issues surrounding it, I'd want nearer £200,000. I think we should hang the culprits, if you take away someone's human rights you don't deserve them yourself. I didn't know about the situation in South Africa, that's terrible! I think the key to putting a stop to this would be education, for the victims, and potential victims and harsher punishments for not only the pimps, but the clients who use the prostitutes in this country."
Persia, 18:
"I don't think you can really put a price on it, when you are talking about someone's life, it's hard to quantify. In terms of a punishment, I don't think you should kill the pimps, however I think solitary confinement for life is about fair. I heard about one girl in South Africa who reported a rape to the police, and was arrested herself for having premarital sex with stoning as the punishment - things like this are disgusting and shouldn't be allowed anywhere in the world. The only solution I can think of is empowering the women who would usually get targeted, hopefully if they have opportunities they won't have to turn to things like prostitution."
Nanna, 23:
"Money wise, I don't think you can put a figure on the compensation, but counselling and other therapy should be included in the package, and the package in total should amount to millions in my opinion although it depends on who is paying for it. I would say jail time is the primary punishment, I don't think five years or even nine was enough (for the Dulghierus), I think they both should have got at least 20 each. For a country like South Africa to not have a stance on these crimes is terrible, where's the deterrent? There needs to be a law saying sex trafficking carries a long jail sentence. The first issue that needs to be looked at is illegal immigration, and the second is focusing on the men who use the strip clubs, brothels, streets etc to get a hold of vulnerable women."
Photos: Tekla Balfour