Sex trade thrives in Cyprus despite visa reforms

NICOSIA — Cypriot radio stations are working together to put the spotlight on the victims and crack down on customers of a thriving sex trade on the divided island despite some timid visa reforms."I came to Cyprus to work as a waitress. That is what they told me. Now they force me to sleep with clients! I am not a prostitute. They force me to do it," said a woman speaking on Radio Astra, owned by Cyprus's ruling Akel party.A condemnation follows: "Human trafficking is a serious violation of human rights. The tolerance and use of victims' services is our complicity."The plan to enlighten Cypriots was launched two years ago when the government abolished "artiste" visas for "dancers," often from eastern Europe, in any of the 100 or so cabarets that the holiday island used to have.Since then, the Greek Cypriot authorities in the government-controlled south of the island, which joined the European Union in 2004, say there are only 44 of the clubs left."The interior minister has changed the rules and now it's better," said Neophytos Neophytou, deputy editor-in-chief of Radio Astra."But it's still important to inform Cypriot society, especially the young people, to teach them the difference between (consensual) prostitution and trafficking."Monday marks the annual European Day against Human Trafficking which the 27-nation bloc launched three years ago.But experts in the field say Cyprus's abolition of artiste visas -- around 3,000 were issued in 2007 -- has made barely any difference at all, instead moving the problem elsewhere, mostly to bars and massage parlours."The truth is that two years ago they sold girls with artiste visas, and today they sell them with work visas," said Androulla Henriques, vice president of ACESS-Suisse, an organisation combating sexual exploitation.In a report on human trafficking, the US State Department warned in June against the dangers involved in granting special visas to performing artists and waitresses in Cyprus.And in a letter to Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis, EU High

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