People who have been forced or coerced into labour or sexual services abroad cannot access victim counselling or shelter in Switzerland – a policy that has long been criticised. A change is now on the horizon. A woman is wandering along an unlit street one night somewhere in Switzerland. A passing driver stops. The crying woman asks him to call the police. When they arrive, she tells her story: pimps had forced her into prostitution and were transporting her to Germany in a van along with some other women when she managed to escape during a break at a rest stop. This story unfolded last February and is just one of many cases of trafficking in Switzerland. The woman, who told police she comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was carrying nothing on her, could not prove her identity, and had not registered with the authorities. The police accepted her statement as credible and launched an investigation. They believe she had been sexually exploited at various...
