Sarajevo at Night. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Julian Nitzsche. Rape is a casualty of war in most cases, but the systematization of rape in the Bosnian war from created fertile grounds for prostitution and sex trafficking in the postwar state. Their psychological and physical vulnerability during this time was utilized to entrap them.
Bosnia developed a reputation for prostitution, and because it did not have a centralized, regulated government, the issue of prostitution has been exacerbated with time. Development projects in Bosnia, instead of being used to rebuild and bolster the economy, tacitly promoted the institutionalization and normalization of sex work.
Trafficking sex slaves into Bosnia was made possible by the porosity and laxity of border security, with a marked absence of ethical law officials. These officials used their diplomatic immunity to carry out criminal activities and unabashedly demand more trafficked women.
Trafficked victims would be given a plane ticket and some cash, but no plan for new employment prospects. An ineffective, patronizing, immune, gender-blind, bureaucratic order was a big part of the problem. As prostitution is illegal in Bosnia and sex trafficking is not recognized by their laws, institutionalizing the former facilitates the latter. If the women are caught, they are marked as prostitutes β thus the onus is on the women themselves, rather than on the pimps who procured them.
Misogynistic officials refused to see such women as victims of sex trafficking. There is a very clear distinction between prostitution, which is generally understood as sex work by choice, and sex trafficking which is again, mostly assumed to be the provision of sexual services while under conditions of coercion, abuse, and trauma.
