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| East European prostitutes find haven in Greece
ATHENS, Oct 30 (AFP) - The hostel looks ordinary enough -- four bedrooms, a television room, a work room with two computers, a kitchen and a bathroom located above a charity medical centre in a run-down district of the Greek capital. But 15 Michalis Boda Street, Athens, opened on October 24, is the first shelter in Greece for east Europeans lured by human traffickers into prostitution and there are security guards on the door to prevent pimps sinking their claws back into their prey. Adaptive intelligence for a serious advantage: business, investment and technology- BizVantage! "We want to give a chance to these women, who want to get out of slavery. Because it really is slavery," explained Yannis Mouzalas from the Greek section of French relief agency Medecins du Monde (MDM, or Doctors of the World). "These young women have gone through terrible things," added the surgeon, whose idea it was to create the hostel. MDM, which offers medical care to immigrants from its clinic below the hostel had staff trawling the country every day seeking out sex trade victims, he told AFP. The shelter, which is so undecorated as to be monastically austere, is currently home to 12 young women aged 22 to 32, most with diplomas, who fled Russia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Uzbekistan in search of a better life. By the time they reached Boda Street they were in a pitiful state, Mouzalas recalled. "When they came here they were completely out of it. They'd lost all notion of time or space or their bodies. They were completely destroyed," he remembered. Some of the women were taken to the centre by police, rescued thanks to a 2002 law that reclassified them as victims rather than illegal immigrants who should be deported. Others discovered the refuge by word of mouth or adverts MDM put in the Greek papers. One was even directed there by a client who fell in love with her. Once they arrive, MDM staff and volunters start the slow process of recovery. The women stay at the shelter for two to three months, during which time MDM applies for their residence papers and starts tending their physical and psychological wounds. After that they are given a room for another month or two in a private flat whose address is kept secret from outsiders. The charity, whose initiative is largely sponsored by the Greek foreign ministry, offers the women training in Greek, English, computing and therapy through art and gymnastics. Once the period is up, the women "choose their fate". "They can stay in Greece, go to one of the other Schengen countries or go back home with our help," Mouzalas said. Greece is one of 15 European countries that signed the Schengen Accords and allow free movement of people between their borders. MDM worked illegally with the prostitutes several months before the hostel opened, albeit with the tacit support of the authorities, who turned a blind eye. Now Mouzalas and his team plan to open a second shelter, with the support of the Athens city hall, set up MDM offices in the "supply countries" and launch a "blame the client not the girl" campaign. The charity estimates there are between 7,000 and 20,000 foreign women in the clutches of human traffickers in Greece, which has been accused by the United States of failing to clamp down on the pimps. There have been sad developments along MDM's way. One women succumbed to her traumas and has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. But the charity's efforts have already borne their first small success. One of their Moldovan proteges has fallen for an Israeli man and the couple are getting married. dk/hb/gil/wdb Greece-EEurope-trafficking-prostitution
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