Germany Win Opens World Cup 2006; Churches Condemn Threat of Sex-Trafficking

The FIFA World Cup 2006 has begun in Germany, Friday 9th June 2006, with the hosts opening the tournament with an exciting 4-2 win over Costa Rica, in what was the highest-scoring opening match in the history of the World Cup Finals. However, as the largest sporting event in the world kicked off, Church groups were uniting in their condemnation of the possible flood of prostitutes entering Germany’s major cities.

|PIC1|Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann hailed his side's "incredible energy" after the World Cup hosts won their opening Group A game. However, the Methodist Church’s women are urgently seeking action to stop sex trafficking that will take place during the event.

Using the slogan “buying sex is not a sport,” the women joined forces with The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), and are aiming to highlight the appalling effects on the lives of vulnerable, young women.

A Vatican Archbishop has also this week rebuked the threat, saying it cheapened the dignity of women, “who cost less than a ticket to a soccer game”.

Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, a top official of the pontifical council for the care of migrants, was asked by Vatican Radio about the expected World Cup boom for Germany's sex industry during the four weeks of the tournament.

It has been rumoured that as many as 40,000 women could be brought into Germany to be exploited as sex workers, although some German officials have questioned those numbers.

Archbishop Marchetto told Vatican Radio, "Using soccer terminology, I say that red flags should be given to this industry, to its clients and to the public authorities who host the event. Prostitution, in fact, violates the dignity of the human person, reducing her to an object and instrument of sexual pleasure.”

|PIC2|"Women become goods to be purchased, whose cost is even less than that of a ticket to a soccer game.”

Prostitution is legal in Germany, with approximately 400,000 registered sex workers paying taxes and receiving social benefits from the government. Yet Germany's government insists forced prostitution is not tolerated.

"Certainly we know that prostitution is allowed in some areas of Germany, but it is even more serious that more than 40,000 women will enter the circuit of prostitution during the World Cup and that many of them are forced to carry out this activity against their will," Marchetto said, according to AP.

The main venue in Berlin now has a 3000-metre fenced-in area filled with ‘performance boxes’, equipped with condoms and showers, which are being specially set up near stadiums where matches will be playing. Members of Cumbria District Methodist Women’s Network will try “discourage’’ visitors to Germany from using these sex facilities.

Mary Moody, a worship leader at Gosforth Methodist Church, said: “To think that in 21st century Europe, human beings can be bought and sold like goods is appalling. We must do all we can to put pressure on governments for immediate action.

“Although we can feel helpless when faced with such issues, there is no doubt that writing letters can help, so we are urging people to show their support.’’

With one million male fans expected to head to Germany for the World Cup, campaigners are concerned it will prove too attractive a prospect for sex traffickers, combined with the fact that prostitution is legal in the country.

Worldwide it is estimated that between 700,000 and four million women, children and men are trafficked each year. Traffickers lure women with false promises of jobs such as waitresses or models. Once in a foreign country, their documents are retained, they are watched over by security guards and their lives are controlled through isolation. The trafficked women can also suffer extreme physical and mental abuse.


9th June Results:

Germany 4-2 Costa Rica
Poland 0-2 Ecuador

Meanwhile, England are set to kick off its World Cup campaign today, Saturday 10th June, against Paraguay.