WALKING THE BEAT IN THE HAGUE'S RED LIGHT DISTRICT TO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 000285 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, EUR/PGI, EUR/WE STATE PLEASE PASS HSTC - MGORELICK AND RHALL STATE FOR AID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN ELAB SMIG ASEC KFRD PREF NL SUBJECT: WALKING THE BEAT IN THE HAGUE'S RED LIGHT DISTRICT TO COMBAT TIP THE HAGUE 00000285 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: During a March 5 briefing and tour of the red light district in The Hague, Henry Koper, the coordinator of The Hague regional police prostitution and child pornography unit, provided an overview of Dutch police efforts to combat TIP in the regulated prostitution sector. Koper stated that the city's licensing requirements provide a mechanism for the police to enter prostitution establishments to talk to prostitutes in private in order to identify TIP victims. In addition to checking documents, police use the visits to establish a relationship of trust with the prostitutes and to check for any signs of coercion or other illegal activities. Members of the prostitution squad patrol the red light district every day. In addition to conducting routine controls of licensed sex businesses, police build cases against suspected traffickers by filing reports on observed suspicious behavior or information obtained from other sources to make connections among traffickers and their victims. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Global Issues Officers toured a portion of the red light district in The Hague with Henry Koper, coordinator of The Hague regional police prostitution and child pornography unit, for a street level view of Dutch police efforts to combat TIP. The unit, which is responsible for conducting licensing controls of brothels, window prostitution businesses and escort services, is one of three units under the vice squad, and has 12 plainclothes investigators. There is a similar specialized prostitution team in each of the 25 regional police forces in the Netherlands. ¶3. (SBU) Less well-known than the red light district in Amsterdam, which is a tourist attraction in its own right with nightclubs, restaurants and historical sites in addition to prostitution establishments, the red light district in The Hague is dense and clearly delineated. Fluorescent red light floods the two short but densely concentrated streets that house prostitution windows. There are no other businesses on these streets. At one time, the red light district in The Hague had over 850 windows, and was the largest in the Netherlands. Gentrification led to the closing of at least one prostitution street, but over 450 windows remain. Both streets have numerous police surveillance cameras, which did not appear to deter the clientele. Emboffs were the only women on the streets not sitting in a window. ¶4. (SBU) During the tour, Koper told Emboffs he knew many of the window prostitutes from previous rounds, and it was evident that many of them also recognized him. Emboffs witnessed a prostitute call Koper to her window to ask for assistance in recovering her belongings, which had been impounded, apparently in a rent dispute. The conversation took place in the woman's private room with the door closed. Koper promised to look into her situation; he later commented that this type of assistance is instrumental in building trust between the police and prostitutes that can lead to cooperation and information sharing. He also pointed out a bar located near one of the streets where pimps hang out. Koper said he often spends time there, watching for suspicious activity and eavesdropping on conversations, sometimes overhearing information that leads him to possible TIP cases. ¶5. (SBU) The Hague has had strict licensing requirements in place for prostitution businesses, including escort services, since 2000, and requires police to regularly check brothels, prostitution windows, and escort services to ensure that those working in these establishments have not been trafficked. (Note: Similar licensing requirements for escort services went into effect in Amsterdam on 1 February 2008. End note.) Koper said that it is these administrative "control" requirements that allow police to enter prostitution establishments and talk to prostitutes in private in an effort to identify TIP victims. Allowing the police access to conduct such license controls is a condition for obtaining a license. In addition to checking documents, police routinely ask prostitutes in private whether they or co-workers are being coerced and inform them of the resources available to TIP victims in the Netherlands, including temporary legal residence permits (B-9 visas),and access to shelters and social services. They are also alert to any signs of trafficking or other abuse during the inspection visits. Such signs may include bruises or other evidence of physical injury, extreme nervousness, or a claim that a woman has left her identity documents with a boyfriend. Additionally, Koper noted that women working longer than normal or double shifts (often an indication that she is expected to turn over a high daily income to a pimp or THE HAGUE 00000285 002.2 OF 003 trafficker),or several women arriving in a car escorted by one man, who follows them at a distance to a window, are signs of possible trafficking for the vice squad to further investigate. ¶6. (SBU) The vice squad conducts escort service checks by arranging "dates" with the escorts using phone numbers advertised in the press or on the Internet. When the escorts arrive at the designated location, the police identify themselves as police, and conduct interviews and document checks. ¶7. (SBU) Koper voiced the commonly held frustration among law enforcement officials that TIP victims are often reluctant to come forward, as many are frightened and generally distrustful of the police. He said that his squad's regular presence in the red light district allows them to build relationships with trafficked women and encourage them to speak out over time. Members of the unit visit each establishment daily. Koper gave examples of women who had known him for one or two years before admitting to having been trafficked and asking for help; he expressed frustration over cases in which he is convinced that a woman is being coerced but she remains unwilling to confide in the authorities. ¶8. (SBU) Given the difficulties in getting TIP victims to come forward, Koper said the vice unit also relies on old-fashioned police work to identify victims and their traffickers. Prostitutes who suspect that a colleague is being coerced often reveal bits of information. There are numerous cameras installed along prostitution window streets and police review the tapes regularly. Daily patrols of the prostitution areas and frequent visits to businesses that have a high likelihood of being fronts for unlicensed prostitution, such as massage parlors, allow police to identify suspicious behavior. Asked whether the licensing controls don't simply result in traffickers moving to unlicensed, or underground, prostitution businesses, Koper maintained that even underground businesses had to advertise, which sooner or later brings them to the attention of the police. (Note. The Hague has prohibited streetwalking since 2005. End Note.) Koper, who has been assigned to the prostitution squad since 1999, said his experience has been that the license regulations were a valuable tool for combating TIP because they gave the police access to information they otherwise would not have. ¶9. (SBU) Information about suspicious or illegal behavior observed during license controls and foot patrols is recorded in electronic files that are then used to build cases that merit further investigation. As an example, Koper said that the police might record the license tag of a car they observed picking up or dropping off prostitutes being "escorted" to work, or the name of a purported boyfriend called to bring identity documents for a prostitute during a routine control. He said that such details, in combination with other reports, allow the police to identify patterns of suspicious behavior. Additionally, the prostitution and child pornography unit has two intelligence analysts who regularly mine police report data to identify trends or relationships between subjects or establishments that can indicate a TIP problem. The reports are also regularly sent to the National Crime Squad's Expertise Center on People Trafficking and Smuggling (EMM),which looks for such connections at the national level. This is crucial, as prostitutes move locations frequently within the Netherlands. ¶10. (SBU) Koper said that the owners of brothels and prostitution windows are rarely, if ever, traffickers. Indeed, he said that in an unexpected development following the lifting of the ban on brothels in 2000, brothel and prostitution window owners often call the police to ask for assistance in verifying that a woman they are considering renting space to is a legal resident, and not underage or trafficked. He attributed this to the fact that infractions result in swift temporary closures. The city can and does order the closure of commercial sex establishments for violations of licensing requirements; this is an administrative procedure which is much quicker than a criminal case. Closures of thirty days in the event of a first infraction, or sixty in the event of a second, lead to significant financial losses for brothel or prostitution window owners, giving them a strong incentive to comply. ¶11. (SBU) Koper noted that an unfortunate side-effect of EU enlargement was that police lost a valuable anti-trafficking tool once women from new EU member states no longer required work permits. Previously, police could arrest and detain Eastern THE HAGUE 00000285 003.2 OF 003 European prostitutes for possession of false identity documents. The objective was not to prosecute the women for document fraud, but to interview them with interpreters in a safe place over the course of the three days they could be held without charges. This made it easier to identify TIP victims. Now, communication with Eastern European prostitutes is problematic, as many do not speak Dutch or English, and policemen are not able to conduct controls with a team of interpreters. ¶12. (SBU) The largest group of TIP victims in the Netherlands is comprised of internally trafficked young Dutch women. Koper described how pimps and "lover boys" prey on vulnerable 16-17 year olds and coerce them into the sex trade as soon as they turn 18, the legal age for prostitution. He said that according to data he obtained from the Dutch Coordination Center Against People Trafficking (Comensha, formerly STV) 53 percent of TIP victims in the 18-23 year old group are 18 year olds, most of whom were lured into prostitution by "lover boys." Koper said that he had spearheaded an initiative to convince prostitution window and brothel owners in The Hague to voluntarily restrict the rental of space to women who are 21 or older; approximately 80 percent of them had agreed to do so. (Note: The Ministry of Justice is investigating the possibility of raising the age for working in prostitution to 21. According to Ministry contacts, while there appears to be a parliamentary majority in support of this, it may be difficult to legislate since under international treaties adulthood is reached at age 18. End note.) ¶13. (SBU) The second largest group of TIP victims is currently African women, primarily from Nigeria. Koper said that in his experience many Nigerian victims who come forward as TIP victims often do not provide enough detail to assist the investigation; consequently, very few of the cases have so far been referred for prosecution. He speculated that some of the alleged victims in fact were prostitutes who had been smuggled into the Netherlands voluntarily by organized crime networks savvy about residency permit benefits for TIP victims. He lamented what he saw as a growing trend for Nigerian prostitutes to "take advantage of the system" by filing complaints that they had been trafficked, but failing to provide sufficient information to build an effective case against the traffickers. He said that many had been able to qualify for permanent residence because investigation and prosecution of their cases had not been completed within three years; many had subsequently moved to Italy to work. Koper noted that despite concerns about possible abuse of the system, the police endeavor to investigate all allegations of trafficking. He added that several victims of the Nigerian people-trafficking ring currently facing prosecution for smuggling under-age asylum seekers into the Netherlands and forcing them to work in prostitution had been found in The Hague. ¶14. (SBU) Comment: Our guided tour of The Hague's red light district confirmed what we have heard from other local and national law enforcement officials in the Netherlands: the routine police controls mandated by municipal licensing regulations allow police access to every commercial sex establishment in the city, but checking documents is just one part of the effort to identify potential TIP victims and their traffickers. The vice squad's daily presence in th red light district and regular interviews with rostitutes enables them to spot the often subtle sgns of trafficking, and more importantly to gainthe trust needed for trafficking victims to come forward. GALLAGHER