Thinking global, living local: Voices in a globalized world. High unemployment and low living standards are forcing women in Northern Hungary to go West and seek work in the sex industry. The current overall unemployment rate in Hungary stands at Unemployment in northern Hungary is So people try to find other solutions.
Some women decide to go abroad and sell their bodies. Most — though not all — of these women are uneducated and come from an orphanage or from a dysfunctional family. Some of them worked as prostitutes in Hungary before which is forbidden. Prostitution is closely connected to human trafficking, but in this post I want to focus on those women who have voluntarily chosen prostitution as a means of earning a living. They are the minority among prostitutes.
They mostly travel to Switzerland and the Netherlands, but also to other countries in Western Europe. The Swiss city of Zurich is known as a popular destination in this business. Prostitution is legal and regulated there so sex workers must have a proper permit and pay taxes.
Still, in such an environment it is easier to get help if needed, as there are services supplied by the city and local NGO s. The situation of Hungarian prostitutes in Amsterdam is ond of the worst. But whether working legally or not, there is a definite pattern of life for Hungarian prostitutes in Zurich. Many of them come for short term stays only. They leave their family at home with the father or grandparents taking care of the kids. They send the money they earn back home, and after a few weeks they return and stay until the family needs money again.
How the money they earn is spent depends: there is a broad spectrum of scenarios from a father addicted to gambling to the gradual construction of a new house for the family. The situation of Hungarian prostitutes in Amsterdam, however, is much worse. She falls in love with a guy who lures her abroad and makes her work as a prostitute. He keeps saying he loves her and she believes it. In the grip of their loverboys, these Hungarian sex workers in Amsterdan give the cheapest service, have no kind of protection and and are exposed to the greatest risks.
