She is neither a Moldavian nor a Ukrainian whose personal documents were seized by human traffickers, forcing her into prostitution in some nightclub in the Balkans β as was often the case in the nineties. She lives in a Vojvodina town in the north. Her parents are not divorced or poor. She receives clients in a luxurious apartment in the town centre. The client comes to the place where I provide my services solely based on a recommendation and is previously carefully checked.
She has never wanted children, is not interested in marriage. She believes that this business will make her enough money for a comfortable old age. Organised in five-star hotels in Skopje, exclusive summer resorts in Greece, on yachts in Montenegro and in pricey Sarajevo apartments. Hunger for perfumes, designer clothing and expensive summer resorts are the guiding stars of elite prostitutes which include a growing number of men. Members of the police β if not corrupt or pimping β are more interested in filing misdemeanour charges against street prostitutes, many of whom are minors.
BIRN research in Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro shows the slumped economy has driven many girls and single mothers into city streets, cheap motels or motorways to await tourists. They charge from 10 to 50 euros per hour, and it rarely drops to five euros, as in Macedonia. This army of oppressed women controlled by pimps are often physically abused. No so B. They work under incredibly bad circumstances and they are constantly exposed to all kinds of danger.
No one has ever tried to hurt me nor has any client ever insulted me. Until about ten years ago Moldavian, Ukrainian and Romanian women were extremely popular in these parts and most had procurers. Procurers still exist, but they no longer do their job outdoors in the sea of nightclubs that have mostly been shut down. Prostitution now happens in apartments for a select clientele.
Police claim it is difficult to arrest people suspected of organising or engaging in prostitution because it is disguised and hard to prove. We can freely label this elite prostitution. They do exactly this in exchange for some luxury, for a night out on the town, smart clothes, perfumes. Coordinator of the Belgrade Counselling Against Family Violence, Vesna Stanojevic says it is unbelievable how many women in Belgrade are prostitutes despite having technical school diplomas, university degrees, speaking foreign languages and sometimes with other work.
