LOCAL campaigners are warning of the dangers of sex trafficking in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth and Portland.

Members of the Dorset branch of the WI are calling for local authorities to prepare for the ‘very real possibility’ that when Weymouth and Portland hosts the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events there could be an increase of prostitution and trafficking.

They have been working with Dorset women’s charity, Soroptimist International to highlight the issue.

Esme Isaacs, WI Dorset spokesman said it was ‘very hard to gather data on the issue’ but warned that it was ‘well-known these things happen at big events like the World Cup, so why would it not happen in Dorset?’ She said: “Nationally, the WI has had a resolution on trafficking, our concerns are really how these people come in and what happens, especially with the Olympic Games coming.

“According to Detective Inspector Guy Shimmons of Dorset Police, trafficking brings in more money world-wide than drugs do.”

DI Shimmons said while trafficking was a key concern at events like the World Cup which attracted a large demographic of young single men as spectators, Dorset Police were ‘not anticipating a rise in trafficking or prostitution’ during the 2012 sailing events in Weymouth and Portland.

Yet a spokesman for the Soroptimist International said it was ‘a very real possibility’.

She said: “I must say immediately and strongly that our concern is not that the sportsmen participating in the Olympics are requiring these services but that wherever large groups of particularly men gather for sports and other events, this is known to attract additional prostitutes into an area.

“By association, many of these women – possibly under 18 – are likely to be forced into sex and prostitution.

“We hear stories of women being raped up to 30 times a day.”

Ros Kayes, South Dorset’s Lib-Dem parliamentary spokesman, who is working with the Weymouth Domestic Violence Forum and Friends groups, said they were also concerned.

She said: “This is a very significant issue which needs careful planning and must not be avoided just because it represents the seedy side of a major event.

“We are going to need to see safe houses being funded in the borough and unfortunately experience in other areas suggests that the issue isn’t likely to disappear immediately the Olympic bandwagon packs up and moves away.

“Trafficked women often stay in the area. We will be lobbying hard to make sure this issue is addressed.”

To find out more about Soroptimist International’s Purple Teardrop Campaign, visit www. purpleteardrop.

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