ABSTRACT
"Traffic in women" is a broad category covering various forms of exploitation and violence within a range of labor sectors that migrant women work in, including prostitution, entertainment industries and domestic work. Looking at trafficking from the perspective of the majority of the women people are concerned with, it is clear that most women come to Western Europe because they are looking for a better way to make a living. The growing gap between the rich and poor countries particularly affects the situation of women and children. The breakdown of national economic and political systems, as in the Central and Eastern European countries, brings hardship and confusion to the general populace, but women are particularly vulnerable in such situations. States have different policies on prostitution. All policies have in common that prostitutes are denied basic human rights, held in contempt, isolated, marginalized and sometimes criminalized.
