This document gives a good overview of the law and the research done about it, up until 2003:
http://action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/Ekberg.pdf
On trafficking:
The National Rapporteur for Trafficking in Women at the
National Criminal Investigation Department (NCID), Kajsa
Wahlberg, is responsible for the collection of data related to investigations
and convictions for trafficking crimes in Sweden and for
reporting annually to the Swedish government about the trafficking
in women in Sweden.16 In her reports published in 2003 and
2004, she noted that there are clear indications that the Law has
had direct and positive effects in limiting the trafficking in
women for prostitution to Sweden.
The NCID estimates that between 400 and 600 women are trafficked
into Sweden every year, mainly fromthe Eastern European
countries such as Estonia and Lithuania, as well as from Russia.
This number has remained fairly constant during the past several
years (National Criminal Investigation Department [NCID],
2004). This figure should be compared to the numbers of women
who are victims of trafficking for sexual purposes in neighboring
Scandinavian countries, such as Finland, Denmark, and Norway,
where the purchase of sexual services is not prohibited. In Denmark,
5,500 to 7,800 women are prostituted every year. It is estimated
that 50% or more of these women are victims of trafficking
in human beings (Ledberg, 2003; D. Otzen, director for Reden,17
Copenhagen, Denmark, personal conversation, December 15,
2003). According to a 2003 report from the Finnish Criminal Intelligence
Division of the National Bureau of Investigation, approximately
10,000 to 15,000 women from Estonia, Russia, Latvia and
Lithuania are prostituted in Finland every year (Leskinen, 2003).
In its report from 2003, the Swedish NCID stated that, despite the
increase in information and knowledge of trafficking cases in
other countries in the area, there is no equivalent increase in the
number of women who are victims of trafficking to Sweden.
There is also no conclusive evidence that the number of women
trafficked to Sweden has decreased (NCID, 2001, 2003).
Before July 1, 2002, when a new law against trafficking went
into effect, cases of trafficking in human beings for sexual purposes
in Sweden were prosecuted under the procuring provisions
or, depending on the individual case, under the provisions on kidnapping,
unlawful deprivation of liberty, placing a person in a
distressful situation, coercion, or sexual exploitation. Between
1999 and 2002, 25 persons have been convicted and sentenced to
prison for trafficking-related crimes. Since the implementation of
the new legislation criminalizing the trafficking in human beings
for sexual purposes, two individuals have been convicted and
sentenced.18 During 2003, 21 preliminary investigations under the
same legislation were initiated. Similarly, during 2003, approximately
20 cases of procuring were investigated. The women victims
of trafficking for sexual purposes came mainly from Eastern
Europe, the Baltic countries, and Russia, and most of them were
prostituted in apartment brothels in Sweden (Riksrevisionsverket,
200119; Kajsa Wahlberg, National Rapporteur on Trafficking
in Women, at the NCID, personal conversation, January 16,
2004). In the trafficking cases, most of the implicated pimps were
of foreign heritage but lived in or were citizens of Sweden and had
connections with organized crime networks in their countries of
origin that supplied the victims. However, this does not give a full
picture of trafficking ofwomen to Sweden. There are some indications
that Swedish and Danish motorcycle gangs are involved in
prostitution and trafficking in Sweden, mainly in the south.
The NCID has received signals from Europol and national
police forces in other European countries that Sweden no longer is
an attractive market for traffickers. Traffickers and pimps are
businessmen who calculate profits, marketing factors, and risks
of getting caught when they decide in which countries they will
sell women into prostitution. In conversations recorded during
crime investigations, pimps/procurers and traffickers have
expressed frustration about setting up shop in Sweden and
attracting customers who are willing to buy their women in prostitution.
According to these intercepted telephone conversations,
and fromadditional testimonies given bywomenwhoare victims
of trafficking, the pimps and traffickers experience the following
difficulties:
• Prostituted women must be escorted to the buyers, therefore giving
less time to fewer buyers, and gaining less revenue for pimps
than if women had been in street prostitution.
• Swedish men who want to buy women for prostitution purposes
express serious fear of being arrested and prosecuted under the
Law and hence demand absolute discretion from the pimps/
traffickers.
• To minimize the possibility of exposure/detection, the pimps/
traffickers are forced to operate apartment brothels in more than
one location and to change locations regularly. Thus the mode of
operation is expensive and requires that the pimp have local contacts.
The necessity of several premises is confirmed in almost all
preliminary investigations that have been carried out in 2002.
According to victim testimonies, pimps and traffickers prefer
to market their women in countries such as Denmark, Germany,
the Netherlands, and Spain, where the operating conditions are
more attractive, where the buyers are not criminalized and where
certain prostitution activities are either tolerated or legalized. In
addition, Detective Inspector KajsaWahlberg mentioned that the
Latvian police have concluded that Latvian traffickers do not sell
women in Sweden because of the negative effects of the Law on
their potential business. In its 2004 report, the NCID concluded
that the law that prohibits the purchase of sexual services ?gcontinues
to function as a barrier against the establishment of traffickers
in Sweden?h (NCID, 2004, p. 35). Clearly, the Law functions as a
deterrent. Traffickers are choosing other destination countries
where their business is more profitable and not hampered by similar
laws (Detective Inspector K. Wahlberg, personal conversations,
April 18, 2002).20
And, to counter Östergrens claim that this law came about as more or less a conspiracy from feminists in government:
The prohibition against the purchase of sexual services has
strong support in Sweden. Several polls conducted in 1999, 2001,
and 2002 show that approximately 80% of the Swedish
population supports the law and the principles behind its development.
Of the small number of individuals who want to repeal
the Law, the majority are men, with only 7% of women interviewed
in support of repeal. The latest poll, conducted in November
2002, shows that 8 of 10 persons interviewed in Sweden continue
to support the Law (Engström & Olsson, 2001).
Consequently, the issue today is more about how the Law is
enforced, than questioning the existence of the Law itself.
Ever heard of an "antiracist bias"? Everyone is biased in a debate - you even quoted Petra Östergren - but that itself doesn't mean they're wrong. Look at the sources for that paper, are they solid or not? Is the NCID biased?