南非:世界杯足球赛将迎来32国队伍跟…四万名性工作者?

如果你打算前往南非观看2010世界杯足球赛,你大概也得准备见见四万名来自世界各地,将要涌入南非的性工作者…如果你相信谣言的话!

南非开普敦街头,照片来自Flickr用户candinski(2005)

印度时报网站的一篇报导这么写着:

不管你相信不相信,据说至少有四万名以上的性工作者即将从全球各地前往南非,准备在世界杯下个月开打之后从足球迷身上大赚一笔。

Nehand Radio的Savious Kwinika 写到辛巴威的性工作者随着世界杯逐渐逼近,已经往南非移动

随着2010世界杯渐渐逼近,辛巴威的性工作者短暂离开了他们的国家,前往南非寻求更大片的绿地,全球的人权团体跟教会组织则呼吁大家拿出对策解决人口贩卖跟性交易泛滥的问题。但是估计五十万名参观世界杯的外国足球迷带来的商机已经吸引了许多贫穷的劳工前往掏金。

在这篇文章中的一个段落,神奇的数据再次出现

性交易对世界杯来说已经习以为常了。2006年在德国举办的世界杯,妓院跟性工作者都被合法规范,估计引进了另外四万名性工作者–当然也引起了人权团体的抗议。南非的中央药物管理局也预估,为了即将到来的世界杯,将有四万名性工作者来到约翰尼斯堡,尽管该单位并未解释这数据从何而来。

另一个类似故事(跟另一个神奇的数字–十亿个保险套!),南非世界杯:十亿个保险套跟四万名性工作者

备受争议地,世界杯足球赛对性产业来说就如同喜庆假日对糖果点心铺一样。极为兴奋的群众突然增加,共同感受着嘉年华般的欢乐,很乐意多花一点钱享受一些额外的放纵。

南非的药物中央管理局估计将有四万名性工作者进入南非,最远来自俄罗斯,刚果,还有奈及利亚,以便满足四十万大多数为男性的外国访客的各种喜好,以及他们在足球之外的需求。

Brett Davidson是博客及媒体顾问,他将事实跟虚构分开。显然,这数字(四万名性工作者)彻头彻尾是个谎言

我已经为了媒体上不断重复的“四万名性工作者”感到困惑及烦扰许久了,据说这些人将会在世界杯期间以人口走私的方式进入南非。

这个数字不断出现(在一则由南非电视明星拍摄的反人口贩运影片中,这个数字还暴涨为十万)。尽管这完全只是子虚乌有,缺乏任何事实证据佐证。

Brett表示这个虚构的数字也在上次德国的世界杯其中出现:

一模一样的说词在德国世界杯之前也出现过–但是到后来,鸥盟会议启动的调查结果发现仅有五起人口走私案例(文件号5006/1/07 与 5008/7)–是的,就五件。

我们知道,这虚构的数字每过几年就会加倍:

早从2007年二月,线上杂志Spiked就让大家注意到这件事。本周Spiked又再次检视这些无意义的故事如何流传不息。极为有意思的是作者Brendan O'Neill发现了这幻想出来的数字如何每几年就加倍–起自于澳洲奥运的一万名性奴隶,然后是2004年雅典奥运的两万名,接着是2006年德国世界杯的四万名,然后是南非(有人开价八万吗?)

但…这些数字到底从哪来?:

所以这些数字到底从哪来?这个嘛,我们看看David Bayever,中央药物管理局副局长是怎么说的。IOL报导中指出Bayever并没有证据支持这个数字,他只是把未经证实的二手资讯传了出去。他说中央药物管理局得到德班(译注:南非第三大城)市政府的警告,表示可能会有大批人口流入:“因为有人跟德班市政府说”,他表示,“他们听到风声”。所以–并不是中央药物管理局发出的数字,也不是德班市政府发出的数字,完全只是有人听到风声,把消息传了出去。但是Bayever指出这四万名的数字后来在报导中不断被引用,突变成了中央药物管理局发布的数字。

更有趣的是,这谣言还假设会有远从东欧来的女子。到这个地步我想任何记者或读者只有有半边脑袋就应该能判断这谣言之无中生有。拿Hillbrow的街头流莺价码来算算看,一个人口贩子在花了一大笔钱把上千名女子从东欧隐密地运到南非之后,怎样赚都无法赚回本啊!

他的结论

获得正确且严谨地研究,确保讯息清楚且有效地传播出去对我们来说是个重担,但也唯有如此才能确保公共政策不会因不扎实的错误讯息而扭曲。

在性工作的案例中,对人口贩运无根据的歇斯底里转移了人们的注意力–保障南非性工作者的人权,健康,以及安全,我们的邻近国家对这些要求都十分尊重且严格保障。

Chandré Gould在他发表于TheAfrica.Org的文章中提到了同一个议题,文章标题为:人口贩运及世界杯:威胁有多大?

在2006德国世界杯之前,同样的恐惧蔓延开,担心人口贩运会在比赛期间,因为球迷的性需求激增而大量增加。同样的担忧也发生在2004雅典奥运前。而就如何我们在南非看见的,2006德国世界杯时,媒体也报导会有四万名性工作者涌入,其中大部分是透过人口贩卖。

但是国际移民组织在2006年球赛后立即进行调查,并没有发现人口贩运案件有任何增加,估计四万名的性工作者传言完全“没有根据”,简直是“超现实”。的确,这份(2006年九月的)报告做出结论,保释毫无可靠资料证明性剥削人口贩运以及重大活动赛事之间有关连。同样地,国际移民组织或希腊警方也没有发现奥运其中有人口贩运及性剥削的事件。2004年国际移民组织协助希腊警方找到四名人口贩运的受害人,但并非在运动赛事期间。

有理由解释为什么人口贩运跟性交易并未在过去的运动赛事期间增加:

国际移民组织的报告提供了许多理由,解释为何在长达一个月的德国世界杯期间,人口贩运事件并无增加。一方面来说,受访的非政府组织跟警方专家表示许多措施,如提高防范意识活动、以及加强执法等都有效阻止了人口贩运。另一方面,性服务需求比原先预估得来得低了太多。这可以解释为许多球迷都是全家一起来,因此降低男性花钱买性服务的机会。此外,大多数的球迷旅行经费都有限,所以没有多余现金寻芳。也有人认为因为世界杯期间很短暂,要将受害人从边境运进来然后捆绑拘留的成本太高,人口贩子很难获利。

那十亿个保险套是怎么回事?博客们还没讨论到这个。

If you are going to South Africa to watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup, you should probably be prepared to meet 40,000 prostitutes from around the world who are expected to flock to South Africa…well, that is if you believe in rumours!

Street art in Cape Town, South Africa by candinski on Flickr (2005)

An article that appears on Hindustan Times website reads,

Believe it or not, atleast 40K prostitutes from around the world are making their way to South Africa hoping to make a fortune from soccer fans at the World Cup that kicks off next month, suggest reports.

Savious Kwinika of Nehand Radio writes about Zimbabwe's sex workers moving to South Africa as the World Cup draws near:

Zimbabwe's sex workers are deserting their country for greener pastures in South Africa as the World Cup 2010 draws nearer, causing human rights and church groups worldwide to call for measures to curb human trafficking and prostitution. But the economic promise offered by the arrival of some 500,000 World Cup foreign fans is already attracting impoverished workers.

Somewhere in the post the magic figure appears:

The event is no stranger to the sex trade. The 2006 World Cup in Germany, where brothels and prostitution is legalized, brought on an additional influx of an estimated 40,000 sex workers – plus a lot of criticism from rights groups. South Africa's Central Drug Central Authority has also estimated that 40,000 sex workers will come to Johannesburg for the 2010 World Cup, though the agency gives no reasoning for this figure.

Another similar story (with another magic figure – a billion comdoms!) reads, South Africa World Cup: A Billion Condoms And 40,000 Sex Workers:

Arguably, the soccer World Cup is to the sex industry what the holiday season is to candy shops. A temporary surge of excited people feeling collectively festive, willing to pay for a bit of extra indulgence.

South Africa's Drug Central Authority estimates 40,000 sex workers will trickle in for the event from as far as Russia, the Congo and Nigeria to cater to the wide taste spectrum of some 400,000, mostly male, visitors and their apres-soccer needs.

Brett Davidson, a blogger and independent media consultant, separates facts from fiction. Apparently, the figure (40,000 prostitutes) is a complete fabrication. It is a lie:

I have been puzzled and annoyed by the ongoing repetition in our media, that 40 000 ‘prostitutes’ are set to be trafficked into South Africa ahead of the World Cup.

This figure is continually repeated (and in one instance, an anti-trafficking video featuring several South African soapie stars, inflated further to 100 000). This despite its being a complete fabrication, with no basis in fact, and no evidence available to substantiate it.

Brett says that fabricated figures were also thrown around ahead of the last World Cup in Germany:

The exact same claims were made ahead of the World Cup in Germany — but afterwards, an investigation by the Council of the European Union (documents 5006/1/07 and 5008/7) found a grand total of just 5 cases of trafficking — yes, just 5.

These fabricated figures have doubled every few years, we are told:

The online publication Spiked, drew attention to this, way back in February 2007. This week, Spiked again takes a look at the ongoing circulation of these nonsense stories. Fascinatingly, the author, Brendan O'Neill, looks at how the imagined numbers have doubled every few years — starting with estimates of 10 000 sex slaves for the Australian Olympics, then 20 000 in Athens in 2004, 40 000 in Germany in 2006, and on to South Africa (80 000 anyone?).

But wait…where do the figures come from?:

So where do the figures come from? Well, let's look at what exactly David Bayever, the CDA deputy chair is actually supposed to have said. As reported by IOL, Bayever provides no evidence for this figure and indicates that he is passing on unubstantiated, second hand information. He says the CDA had been warned by the Durban Municipality of the possibility of huge inflows: “Someone informed the Durban municipality,” he says, “They got wind of it.” So — it's not the CDA issuing these figures, not even Durban municipality. It's just something somebody got wind of, and passed on. But now that Bayever has mentioned the 40 000, in subsequent reports suddenly it's the authority of CDA that is now quoted as being the source of these figures.

Even more interestingly, the rumours speculate that these women are likely to be imported from Eastern Europe. Now surely any journalist or any reader with half a brain should realise this is nonsense. Given the price of sex on the streets of Hillbrow, how is any trafficker going to make a profit, after having to pay at great expense to import thousands of women covertly from Eastern Europe?

His conclusion:

It places a huge burden on those of us who do have access to accurate and rigorous research, to ensure that we get our messages out clearly and effectively, so that public policy is not distorted by undiluted mis-information.

In the case of sex work, the unfounded hysteria about trafficking is diverting attention from the real issue — the need to ensure that the human rights, health and safety of sex workers in South Africa, and indeed in our neighbouring countries, are respected and protected.

Chandré Gould addresses the same issue in his article posted at TheAfrica.Org titled Human Trafficking and the World Cup: How big is the threat?:

Before the 2006 World Cup in Germany similar fears existed that human trafficking would massively increase during the event and it would be spurred by the demand by fans for paid sex. The same concerns emerged before the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Indeed, just as we have seen in South Africa, media reports in Germany during 2006 claimed that they would see an increase of 40 000 prostitutes of whom a large percentage would have been trafficked.

Yet, an investigation by the International Organisation for Migration shortly after the 2006 event found that there was no increase in human trafficking during the World Cup and that the estimates of 40 000 sex workers were “unfounded” and “unrealistic”. Indeed, the report (of September 2006) concludes that there is no credible data to link trafficking [for sexual exploitation] and major events. Similarly, neither the IOM nor the Greek police noted cases of trafficking for sexual exploitation during the Olympic Games. Indeed, the four victims of trafficking that the IOM assisted in Greece in 2004 did not occur during the sporting event.

There are reasons why there was no increase in human trafficking/prostitution during in past sporting events:

There were several reasons offered in the IOM report as to why there was no increase in trafficking during the month-long German World Cup. On the one hand, NGO and police experts who were interviewed argued that the measures put in place, including awareness raising campaigns and increased law enforcement during the event might have played a role in preventing trafficking. On the other hand, the demand for sexual services was much lower than had been expected. This was explained by the fact that fans typically attended the world cup in family groups thus reducing the opportunity for men to purchase sexual services. Furthermore, most fans were travelling on restricted budgets and so there was not extra cash for buying sex. It was also argued that due to the short duration of the World Cup there was little chance that traffickers would be able to realise a return on their investment, given the costs involved in bringing victims across borders and keeping them in bondage.

What about a billlion condomns? Bloggers haven't discussed this one yet.

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