Human rights group Amnesty International says sex trafficking of women and children to Greece has intensified significantly during the last ten years.

The non-governmental organization has released a new report which says the number of women and children brought illegally into Greece and forced into prostitution is ten times greater than 10 years ago.

Amnesty said the situation is worsened by the fact that the Greek government does not offer support and protection to the victims. The country’s legal system offers little support to the thousands of trafficked women and girls, mostly coming from Eastern Europe and Africa.

The victims are required to testify against suspected traffickers in order to receive legal and personal protection.

Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty programme director for Europe and Central Asia, explains why this is not efficient.

“In the face of this modern form of slavery, continued protection for trafficked women is made conditional on their willingness to testify in court against their traffickers. Some are silenced by threats of reprisals from their traffickers. As a result, traffickers escape justice while their victims do not get assistance.”

Amnesty International says Greece does not offer an effective witness protection programme or relocation to another country for trafficked women. According to Amnesty’s estimates, in 2000 almost 90,000 people may have been trafficked into Greece. The majority of these are believed to have been women trafficked for prostitution.

Amnesty noted that Greece revised its anti-trafficking legislation in 2002. Many victims are nevertheless still afraid of reprisals from their traffickers, the organization added.

“The system of cooperation in exchange for protection is deeply flawed,” Duckworth commented.

Women identified as “victims of trafficking” have 30 days at their disposal to testify against the traffickers and in exchange receive protection. If they do not testify, they are detained or prosecuted for unlicensed prostitution or illegal entry and are deported, Amnesty said.