[6] Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten are destination islands for women trafficked for the sex trade from Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti,[3] In 2011, a human trafficking ring was broken up after trafficking women for sex exploitation from Colombia to Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Bonaire.
[1] In 1928, the Government set up a regulated area of prostitution (red-light district) in the oil refining town of Sint Nicolaas.
[8] Unlike the neighbouring island of Curaçao, The government was prevented from opening a state-run brothel by opposition from the Catholic Church and local women's groups.
[1] Regulations started during the 1950s allowed women to work for up to 3 months as "nightclub hostesses" in the bars and clubs of Sint Nicolaas' red-light district.
Women from Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Panama and the Dominican Republic came to the island to work in the clubs and bars.
[15] The arrival of the Dutch, British and American navies to guard the island in the 1940s increased the demand for prostitutes.
[15] The governor appointed a commission that included the police, the public health department and the clergy with a view to solving the prostitution problem.
[1] Open-air "snacks", where drinks and fast food are served are also places prostitutes attract clients.
[13] Curaçao is a transit and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking.
Vulnerable populations include foreign and Curaçaoan women and girls in unregulated prostitution.
[16] Dancers in lap dancing and striptease establishments sometimes offer sexual services as a sideline.
[13] Sint Maarten is a transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to sex trafficking.
Some foreign women in St. Maarten's commercial sex industry are subjected to debt bondage.