Prostitution in Spain - Migrant Workers

Migrant Workers

According to a 2009 TAMPEP study, 90% of sex workers are migrants. Of all countries studied, only Italy had such a high percentage of migrant workers. About 80% of these were Latin American (mainly from Ecuador, Colombia and the Dominican Republic) (see also Laura Oso, 2003, 2010), however this is changing rapidly due to arrival of Central European migrants (mainly Romania and Bulgaria) who now make up 25% compared to 50% from Latin America. There is also considerable cross-border traffic between Spain and Portugal and France. Equally, some 80% of Spanish national workers have worked outside Spain, mainly from economic necessity. This needs to be appreciated in the overal context of Immigration to Spain. As in other countries in Western Europe, there is concern over the presence of migrant workers on the streets and claims that many of them were coerced. In 2008 the Spanish Government announced plans to aid women who had been trafficked.

Organisations working with migrant women, include Proyecto Esperanza and shelters such as IPSSE (Instituto para la Promoción de Servicios Especializados)

The 30th november of 2012, arrest in Cuenca a woman from Paraguay, 34 years old, when work in a burdel, with his daughter minor age