Five of the first 100 men began being checked on Wednesday after admitting to having unprotected sex with HIV+ prostitutes who were recently arrested by authorities and who have tested positive for AIDS,
The Greek Health Ministry said in an announcement that about 29 sex workers have tested positive for the HIV virus, including registered and illegal immigrant prostitutes. Most of the prostitutes were arrested in and around the downtown Athens districts.
Here are a few other related stories on the issue of human trafficking in Greece as well as illegal prostitution that we have featured on hellasfrappe over the past few months.
A dramatic rise in prostitution by young foreign women in central Athens and 10 other areas in Attica prefecture, as well as an increase in an aggressive form of tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS and hepatitis C and B have been recorded by the health ministry, which is stepping up its collaboration with other authoritative ministries, agencies and international organisations to deal with the problem, health and social solidarity deputy minister Michalis Timosidis told a parliamentary inter-party committee on migration on Tuesday. He said an important tool in the effort to stem the problem was the "Street Work" Programme launched by staff of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO). (Read our full report here)
Prostitution is indeed on the rise in Athens, as are string of illegal brothels. Minister of the Interior Haris Kastanidis said on Friday that although Athens only has three legal brothels that are operating with proper licenses, there are dozens more that offer sex services illegally. He said that Athens municipal authorities in cooperation with the the Police have already closed down 71 of these so called “love-shacks” but as soon as one closes down, twenty others mushroom elsewhere. (Read full story here)
Many girls are lured into Greece by a respectable job offer, only to find themselves forced into prostitution. The women are constantly abused before being sold on to brothels in other countries. Human beings who are sold sometime up to ten times, like commercial commodities. After years of ignoring the problem, Athens has recently stepped up efforts to target global Mafia traffickers. But authorities admit that the problem can only be solved with international co-operation. (Read our report by clicking here)
Every night besides the town hall of Athens, next to Omonia square, where the narrow streets of the popular entertainment hub district Psirris begin, girls from Nigeria gather to work. Dressed provocatively, they approach people who pass by and offer their services. "Come on baby I know you want me", you hear one say playfully with a big smile on her face. Or is it a mask she wears? The young Nigerians, between 20 and 25 years old, are victims of trafficking, forced to prostitute themselves for little money. "Everyone knows that. The young Athenians who gather in Psirris to have fun; the policemen who casually drive through the area to keep an eye on things; the mayor of Athens; most of all the 'customers'," says resident Miltiadis Papathomopoulos, as he stares at the girls, and the people walking by. (Read another report on this here)
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