Slavery awaits some migrants in Germany (News Feature)

By Christoph Sator Jul 14, 2009, 14:16 GMT

   Berlin - Chic folk in Berlin loved the little Ethiopian restaurant, but none knew about the horrifying treatment that turned the cook there into a modern slave.

Out front, diners and restaurant reviewers smacked their lips at the authentic Ethiopian cuisine.

Out back, Lakech Denise's working days began at 7 am and finished when the last guest left, often at 1 am. She was also required to work as a house servant for the restaurant owner.

   The 45-year-old mother of three was paid 500 euros: not per week, nor per month, just once for the 18 months she worked. Until she went to German police to report her boss.

A German human rights group quoted her case Tuesday as it campaigned to end this modern form of slavery, which functions because people like Lakech Denise (not her real name) fear expulsion as illegal immigrants.

A court handed her restaurateur boss a six-month suspended prison sentence for labour trafficking. Lakech Denise obtained part of her missing pay, and was given a temporary permit to remain in Berlin.

   People working in Germany under duress are employed in the catering trade, as house servants, on building sites and farms, but above all in brothels, where pimps and gangs use violence to prevent any revolt.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates 15,000 people enter Germany annually to work on such terms.

Others have estimated that forced prostitution alone employs anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 women, mostly imported from eastern Europe. There was a flurry of attention during the football World Cup in 2006.

But no one knows for sure, as most cases are never uncovered. Federal police statistics show 454 successful inquiries last year into forced prostitution and 92 into other forms of forced labour.

The police note, 'We assume that victims are generally unwilling to report such crimes.'

The campaigners of the German Human Rights Institute are putting out an alert in conjunction with the Berlin foundation that compensates Nazi-era slave-labour victims. The foundation is tasked with ensuring Nazi crimes do not repeat. The campaign is also funded by a federal grant.

   Theoretically, victims can sue an exploiter for damages and claim grants from public funds for crime victims.

But practically nobody does, because they are technically illegal immigrants, whose only reward will be to be sent home to a life of poverty. Most hope instead to somehow escape bondage, stay in Germany and obtain a regular job.

Petra Follmar-Otto of the Human Rights Institute said, 'If a case comes to trial, the German courts perceive them as little more than witnesses. They are given temporary immigration permits for the duration of the case.

'When it is over, they have to leave Germany.'

The rights campaigners are paying lawyers' fees in effort to establishing court precedents for migrants to be rewarded with permanent-residence permits as an incentive to blow the whistle.

Lakech Denise will not benefit, unfortunately. Her temporary permit expires soon and she must return to Ethiopia.