SWEDEN: Sweden's sexual equality ombudsman has demanded that his country's soccer team pull out of the World Cup in Germany this summer in protest at extra brothels being set up to cope with demand from visiting football fans.
The idea got short shrift from Swedish Football Association president Lars-Ake Lagrell, who told Swedish television yesterday that such a move would "disappoint the nation" and probably get it knocked out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as well.
With a million foreign visitors heading to Germany for the month-long tournament starting on June 9th, red light districts of the 12 host cities are braced for a huge influx.
"I'm a soccer fan myself, but the point is that the World Cup in soccer is an opportunity for men to show our abhorrence of the trade in human beings," equality ombudsman Claes Borgstrom told national radio. "Other countries might follow our example."
MEPs have warned that thousands of women could be forced into prostitution by criminal gangs to cope with the increased demand during the World Cup. Unlike Germany, where an estimated 400,000 prostitutes ply their trade legally, Sweden has introduced some of Europe's toughest laws against prostitution, targeting those buying sex rather than prostitutes themselves, who are treated as victims.
Alarmed at reports of giant brothels and wooden "sex huts" being built for the World Cup, Swedish politicians have taken up the cause, earning Mr Lagrell the offer of a guided tour of a brothel from a group of German prostitutes, which he declined.
Justice minister Thomas Bodstrom - once a player in the top Swedish soccer league - has called on Germany to simply "forbid buying sex" to prevent the exploitation of women.
Equality minister Jens Orback told the United Nations in February that "hundreds of thousands of women are being recruited, transported and sold as slaves in Europe. The disturbing thing is that wonderful big sports events increase this slave trade."
Swedish fans have applied for a record number of World Cup tickets. Mr Lagrell promises no Swedish player will use brothels during the tournament, but has resisted calls for high-profile players such as Juventus striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Arsenal's Fredrik Ljungberg or Barcelona's Henrik Larsson to campaign against prostitution. - (Reuters)