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