Rights group reports forced prostitution flourishing in Bosnia

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Traffickers who force thousands of women and girls into prostitution in Bosnia rarely face justice, and some even serve with the U.N. peacekeeping force, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Tuesday.

International officials in Bosnia who enjoy diplomatic immunity from criminal charges have created an environment in which trafficking and prostitution can thrive, said the 76-page report.

It said the victims are usually young women, including minors, from East European countries who are promised decent jobs in the West -- only to end up in brothels in Bosnia.

The women are "held in debt bondage, forced to provide sexual services to clients, falsely imprisoned, and beaten when they do not comply with demands of brothel owners who have purchased them and deprived them of their passports," Human Rights Watch said.

The traffickers, mostly Bosnians, usually get away with their crimes even if caught. Trafficking laws are largely not enforced and "corruption within the Bosnian police force allowed the trafficking of women and girls to flourish," the report said.

In the past, officers have been accused of facilitating human trafficking, and in some extreme cases allegedly have arranged to procure free sex in exchange for official silence or tip-offs to impending raids

Human Rights Watch said it also found evidence of involvement in trafficking-related offenses by members of the U.N. international police force, or IPTF.