A sex club in the Dutch municipality of Doetinchem will go under increased supervision after an undercover television program exposed concerns of human slavery.
The club, Escape, was subject to investigative journalist Alberto Stegeman’s Undercover in Nederland show, which featured a hidden camera attached to one of its sex workers. The hidden footage revealed degrading conditions and yielded concerns about exploitation and human trafficking. For example, the footage saw sex workers sleeping in a windowless garage and also did not have access to running water. Assault by the customers is also commonplace, as well as wages forcibly extracted by a pimp.
“They don’t believe me. But I can no longer watch these women waste away,” the undercover sex worker has stated on confronting local police about the club. “We will repeat inspections in the coming period. If something comes to light, the permit will be called into question”, Doetinchem mayor Mark Boumans has since said. CDA parliamentarian Anne Kuik has called the situation “a modern form of slavery”.
Escape had been inspected twice in 2019 but no issues were found. Its permit, however, does not include permissions for sex workers to sleep at the venue.
Featured Image: Vulkanhorn [CC BY-SA]
