Behind the Curtains of the Sex Trade and Women's Rights in Cyprus (2013)

Undergraduate: Jashawnna Gladney

Faculty Advisor: Leslie Frost
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

---

The sex trafficking industry exposes the global nature of the issue that has extended across international boundaries over time due to the lack of efforts made to address or combat sex trafficking. The political energy focused on the ethnic divide in Cyprus has removed attention from the problem of sex trafficking. The history of sex trafficking in Cyprus traces back to the early 1990s, when thousands of Asian women were lured to the island by the promise of high-paying legitimate jobs. With increasing financial difficulties, sex trafficking has become a financially lucrative business. Once the curtain is drawn and the reality of sex trafficking is revealed, the circumstances portray the profit sex traffickers earn for each sexual activity a woman performs.
Sex trafficking exposes these women to debt bondage, involuntary servitude, violence and abuse with a lack of government protection. It will be used to analyze the conditions in which these women live, how they are treated, viewed by society and efforts being made by Cypriot officials to discourage sex trafficking. By closely analyzing the presented issues, I will portray the connection between the sex trade, women¿s right and efforts made to acknowledge these women who have become victims of such difficult circumstances.