Vatican Official Criticizes Prostitution & Trafficking at World Cup

CUP-PROSTITUTION Jun-8-2006 (450 words) xxxi

Vatican official criticizes promotion of prostitution for World Cup

By John Thavis

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Vatican official has joined a chorus of criticism against the promotion of prostitution during the World Cup in Germany.

Prostitution is legal in Germany, and experts say an estimated 40,000 additional women will be engaged in prostitution during the soccer tournament.

"Many of them are forced into this activity. They are doing it against their will, they are trafficked. This is a fundamental human rights violation," Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, told Vatican Radio June 8.

"Women have become market commodities, which can be bought. And they cost less than a ticket for a football match," the archbishop said.

The World Cup is being held in 12 German cities June 9-July 9. The event is expected to attract 3 million sports fans.

German newspapers have reported that wooden "sex huts," equipped with condoms and showers, have been erected for the World Cup in Dortmund and Cologne. A newly opened brothel in Berlin next to the World Cup stadium can accommodate 650 male clients.

International nongovernmental organizations and church groups have said many of the additional women brought in as prostitutes will come from the poorer countries of Eastern Europe or from Europe's immigrant population.

Archbishop Marchetto, whose council has campaigned against sex tourism for years, said that in this case German authorities have a special responsibility to curb the practice.

A year ago, the archbishop said, the Vatican sponsored a meeting to examine the growing connection between prostitution and human trafficking. In a final declaration, participants said the church needs to defend these women and their rights and support them economically, in education and in formation.

Already in Italy, more than 200 nuns are working with women who ended up in prostitution through trafficking, he said.

Archbishop Marchetto said the church should also give more attention to the clients of prostitutes, examining their motives and educating boys and men in healthy human sexuality.

As for those profiting through the sex industry and trafficking, Archbishop Marchetto said they should be prosecuted and severe financial penalties should be imposed on them.

In a separate interview, Msgr. Aldo Giordano, secretary-general of the Council of European Bishops Conferences, said the prostitution promotion during the World Cup was a "scandal."

"The churches want to challenge this with all their strength, because it is a real sign of decadence in Europe," he said.

Msgr. Giordano said this type of exploitation was totally against the spirit of the World Cup. He said he hoped Europeans in general -- and especially women -- would strongly react against the marketing of prostitution during the tournament.