The article presents an overview of trafficking of women for their exploitation in prostitution markets from eastern and central Europe into western and southern Europe and beyond. The author's analysis relies on information collected during three years as coordinator of a UN research team on trafficking issues, and in the course of in-depth field research in Italy. The focus of the article is on organised crime groups involved in illegal business. It considers the strategies of these groups within their ‘natural’ context: the sex market. The article describes main trafficking routes and mechanisms, with reference to specific forms of organised crime and their evolution. The structure of the clandestine market of prostitution — both supply and demand sides — is presented briefly, together with a consideration of migration issues. Concrete examples on the complexity of organized crime's ‘contribution’ to the phenomenon of sex trafficking are given and some comparative points are drawn.
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