[5] Former Parliamentary Secretary of Ministry of the Interior Evika Siliņa explains that the complexity of issues and differences in opinion make the discussions complicated.
[6] The leader of Resource Centre for Women Marta Iluta Lāce says that it is the exploiters that should be brought to responsibility foremost.
[7][8] The change was implemented due to a resolution by the European Parliament and the UN Convention that forbids registration of sexual workers.
[12][13][14] Buy Bye Beauty is a 2001 documentary film by Swedish director and performance artist Pål Hollender.
Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga called it "political propaganda",[15] Prime Minister Andris Bērziņš suggested that an international criminal case could be started against the film's makers.
Latvian women recruited for brokered marriages in Western Europe, particularly Ireland, are vulnerable to sex trafficking.
[21] Sections 154-1 and 154-2 of its criminal law prohibit all forms of trafficking and prescribe a maximum penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment.
Trafficking crimes could be charged under section 164, which criminalises exploiting individuals' vulnerability or using deceit to involve them in prostitution—a scenario very similar to sex trafficking—but prescribes punishments as lenient as community service or a fine.
Courts concluded a 2011 case involving a police officer charged with facilitating pimping and taking bribes; he was sentenced to four years in prison.
A case from 2014 involving two Riga police officers charged with facilitating pimping remained in pre-trial investigation at the end of the reporting period.