'Don't use prostitutes,' UK police urge World Cup fans

SHEFFIELD, England - British police are urging soccer fans heading for the World Cup to think twice before visiting prostitutes in Germany as many of the women may have been forced into sex slavery.

Grahame Maxwell, the head of a UK-wide operation against people-trafficking, said police had written to soccer club magazines to warn fans the prostitutes could have been coerced or kidnapped.

His officers were sharing information with German police on sex traffickers, who they expect will try to cash in on a rise in demand for prostitutes during next month's tournament.

"We feel there might be 100,000 fans going from the UK to Germany and it's for us to raise awareness among them that there could be trafficked women there," said Maxwell, Deputy Chief Constable of South Yorkshire police.

Up to 40,000 women are at risk of enforced prostitution in Germany during the championship, media have reported. Organisers expect at least 3 million fans to attend the World Cup.

German police are worried that the huge inflow of fans - most of them young men - will increase demand for prostitution, Maxwell told Reuters.

If the supply of sex workers in Germany, where prostitution is legal, cannot meet World Cup demand, traffickers will smuggle more women into the country to meet the shortfall, he added.

Youth television channel MTV, which has enlisted the support of Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in its own anti-trafficking campaign, is working with British police on information leaflets to be distributed at UK and German airports and hotels.

Human rights and religious groups have also raised concerns about forced prostitution during the tournament.

Amnesty International has called on European countries to ratify the European convention against human trafficking, which sets out a legal framework for the prosecution of traffickers and the protection of victims.

- REUTERS