Stop Russian Prostitution!   1AC

Introduction: Every year thousands of young Russian women are tricked into coming over to the United States. They are told they will become models. They are promised the American Dream. They dream of financial independence and line up to go. Once they get over to the U.S. it is a whole different story. They are told they are in debt. Their passports are stolen. They are told they have to dance for money in strip clubs.  They are told they must do side work, which is sleeping with customers for money, which is later taken from them anyway. They become financial slaves with no way out. If they don't do what they are told and sometimes even if they do they are brutally beaten and sometimes even killed. Although the government is completely aware of this immorality they do nothing. 

Therefore my partner and I stand resolved: that the United States should substantially change its foreign policy towards Russia. We will begin our advocacy of this year's resolution with 

Observation 1: Inherency.

Initially we note that there has been an increase in the numbers of Russian women who arrive in the U.S. sex trade every year, according to the St. Petersburg Times in 1998.

Charles Digges, staff writer, St. Petersburg Times, March 23-29, 1998.

According to one veteran New York stripper named Sonya Kolesnichenko - who is Ukrainian by birth, but was raised in America - at least half of the women working in the some 30 clubs she dances at are newly arrived Russians.
Kolesnichenko said the increase in Russian dancers has been steady over the past three years. "They're considered exotic - the hottest thing since the Brazilians - and they're suckers for any customer who is nice to them, and do lots of side work," said Kolesnichenko. How such impressive numbers of Russian women are finding their why into low-tide Brooklyn strip clubs, massage parlors and brothels - and who is controlling the apparent explosion - is a matter of dispute.  Additionally note that this immorality is a common occurrence as written by Victoria Rope in 1997.

Victoria Rope, staff writer, US News Online, Trafficking in Women, 4/07/97
 
Accounts of journeys like hers have become all too common in Russia, Ukraine, and many other regions of the former Soviet Empire. According to a forthcoming report by two non-profits, Global Survival Network and the International League for Human rights, tens of thousands of women from the former Soviet Union are trafficked each year to disparate ports of call--Macao, Dubai, Germany, Israel, and even the United States-- for work as go-go and striptease dancers, call girls, and escorts. Many would seem to have everything going for them: They are attractive, well educated, and resourceful. But they are exploited because they are desperate for work and for a future that their impoverished homelands cannot give them.

Due to the inherent problems of the status quo we offer the following plan:

The United States Federal Government will pass laws increasing the penalty for the trafficking of women for the sex trade, overseen by a congressional committee. Women who will come forward to testify will not be deported but placed in a witness protection program. Funding will be through normal means. Enforcement will be through Congress. We reserve the right to clarify our intent. 

Observation 2: The Harms of the Status Quo

First note that these women are suckered into coming into the United States, as written in the St. Petersburg Times in 1998. (Same cite)

Marina is one of a half million women annually lured, duped, or kidnapped into the $7 billion world wide flesh trade, one in which new Russian traders are more and more channeling their chattel to the United States. The international bazaar in women is nothing new. Asians have been in its staple merchandise for years. But economic unpredictability in the post-Soviet world and the prestige many Russians associate with working abroad has created a whole new population of young Russian women ready to start abroad, chasing dreams of financial independence. The women are enticed by promises of work as dancers, waitresses, models, barmaids and baby-sitters - but those promises evaporate almost as soon as they arrive in Europe or the States. 

Next we point out that these women are brutally beaten, according to the St. Petersburg times in 1998. (Same cite) 

The brutal beating of one of Marina's apartment mates who had refused to prostitute herself also had to be factored into the equation. "They were careful not to hit her in the face, but she couldn't walk for a week," Marina said. While recovering, the woman received no medical attention and was fined for not working. "I understood then that they owned all of us, that we had to do everything they said, including the side work," Marina said.]

Additionally, these women are suckered into this life style with out knowledge of what they are getting into, as stated by Victoria Rope in 1997. (Same as above)

The road to these sex-business jobs is often littered with deceit and coercion. Traffickers rustle up false papers, assumed identities, and phony marriage partners so that the women can work abroad. Young, pretty women are told they have modeling jobs, only to be forced into the sex industry. In some instances, they may be smuggled in as illegal aliens. In December, Los Angeles police arrested four Russian women said they had gone to Mexico on tourist visas and later smuggled into California. 

Also note that through bribes these agents or pimps can get by International Security easily, as written in the St. Petersburg Times in 1998. (As above)

Once Andrei has gotten by the American authorities, the rest, is "cake." "The Russian authorities couldn't care less about what we are doing as long as we pay enough," he said. Paying enough, Andrei said, involves greasing the palms of Foreign Ministry officials to secure passports for women who don't have them, or to falsify the ages on passports for minors.  "Many of our callers are 16, 17 years old," said Olga. "And many agents in Europe and America request younger women. 

In addition note that these women become financially enslaved with no escape according to the St. Petersburg times in 1998. (As above)

As Marina found out, the new job in America entailed more than simply dancing if she ever wanted to earn enough money to leave it. Upon arrival at JFK airport, Marina's passport was taken from her by her new non-Russian speaking hosts and she was told in a confused conversation - involving gestulation, drawing on large scraps of paper and lots of shouting - that she owed them $1,800. That sum included the price of her plane ticket: drivers to take her to and from the go-go clubs she would work, booking fees for clubs; room and board for the duration of her "contract" - something she said she never signed - and a host of bogus visa registration fees. She and her new roommates were also fined by pimps for offenses like forgetting to make their beds, turning up late for work, and refusing to indulge in "side work" - paid sex with customers who come to strip clubs. 

Additionally the sex trade is spreading AIDS and as a D-rule, action must be taken, as stated by Karen Bastow in 1996.  Karen Bastow, staff writer of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, HIV/AIDS Legal Network Policy and Law Newsletter, 1996.

Legal, moral and social censure of prostitutes has increased dramatically since the advent of HIV/AIDS. As has been the case throughout history, sex-trade workers are seen as the "vectors of the disease." Female prostitutes in particular are perceived as the bridge between an HIV-infected "underworld" and the "general population" (to be read as heterosexual white males.) According to policy-makers and the media, the protection of public health justifies draconian legal measures.

Observation 3: Solvency

First note that increased penalties for trafficking of women for the sex trade are necessary to solve as stated by Victoria Rope in 1997. (As above)

The U.S. State Department is alarmed at the growth of the problem has invited two dozens Russian judges and law enforcement officers to a conference, cosponsored with the Justice Department, in early April on trafficking and other issues of sexual exploitation in Russia. It has also earmarked $1 million in U.S. aid for efforts to reduce violence against women. "If those who traffic in drugs should be punished severely--and they should-- so should those who traffic in human beings," Madeline Albright, the new Secretary of state, said in a recent address. Additionally due to fear these women are afraid to ask for help and won't testify. Plan solves this because we place them in witness protection programs, according to Victoria Rope in 1998 (as above) One major obstacle to halting the Russian trafficking trade is the reluctance of the other women to ask for help. Living in a netherworld of criminality, without passport or money, they feel they are as vulnerable to trouble with police as they are to smuggling gangs. "They are people without rights," says Elena Tiuriukanova, an expert on migration at Moscow's Institute of Population Studies. Their non-status makes them easy to victimize. Most fear Mafia reprisals to their families back home if they ask for help. The brave few who contact the authorities may face "prosecution or shocking indifference" says Caldwell of the Global Survival Network.
