Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation and Organized Procuring in Finland
| Published date | 01 January 2010 |
| Date | 01 January 2010 |
| Author | Minna Viuhko |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370809347945 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Corresponding author:
Minna Viuhko, European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI), PO Box 444 (Pitkänsillanranta
3 A), Helsinki 00531, Finland
Email: minna.viuhko@om.fi
Human Trafficking for Sexual
Exploitation and Organized
Procuring in Finland
Minna Viuhko
European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI), Finland
Abstract
A joint Finnish–Swedish–Estonian study, completed in 2008, analysed the connections between
human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and organized crime. This article deals
with prostitution-related human trafficking and organized procuring in Finland in the 21st century.
Finland is studied as a country of destination where foreign women, mainly from the adjacent
eastern and southern regions, are brought to sell sexual services. The article concentrates on
the perpetrators, their modi operandi and the structure of the criminal organizations. In particular,
the control measures that are imposed on the procured women are examined; such measures
comprise different sets of rules, violence and the threat of violence, and the so-called debt bondage.
Keywords
Finland, Human Trafficking, Organized Crime, Procuring, Prostitution.
Human trafficking is a complex phenomenon encompassing many different aspects. It
may consist of sexual exploitation, different forms of forced labour, or the trading of
human organs (see United Nations 2000, 2009). This article focuses on human traffick-
ing for the purpose of sexual exploitation, as well as on organized procuring.1 The article,
which aims to answer the question of how human trafficking is organized, concentrates
primarily on criminal operations. In Finland, the victims of human trafficking for sexual
exploitation are mainly foreign women, while the perpetrators are mostly men, of both
Finnish and foreign origin. Relying on qualitative methodology, the Finnish situation
was studied as an example of a destination country2 for human trafficking.
Human trafficking, especially its connections with organized crime, is a subject that
has not been studied extensively in Finland. However, prostitution and human trafficking
have been studied recently in Finland within a legal perspective (Roth 2007a, 2007b,
2008), in relation to cross-border prostitution (Marttila 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2006, 2008)
European Journal of Criminology
7(1) 61–75
© The Author(s) 2010
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370809347945
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