Four new La Stradas are set to be opened later this year. Inna Schvab of La Strada Kiev blames widespread poverty in the countries that used to make up the former Soviet Union. The main reason is the economic situation. Women are looking for a better life, but the main reason is the dire economic circumstances in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Some may be looking for a husband, but the vast majority just wants to make money abroad, explains Inna Schvab.
Most women end up in men's clubs or brothels in Western Europe.
Germany has been the main destination for smuggled women. Another popular country is Italy, which Ukrainian women can enter through Albania without a visa. Brothel owners invariably justify forced prostitution by arguing that women have to pay back the costs that have been made. But as long as women have no passports and as long as they are forced to work illegally abroad as prostitutes, they have nowhere to go. They are stuck even if they have repaid all their so-called debts.