Prostitution in the Czech Republic is legal, but organized prostitution brothels , prostitution rings, pimping , etc. Ever since the Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution led to the creation of the two independent states Czech Republic and Slovakia , prostitution has been flourishing and has contributed its share to the region's booming tourist economy.
It is widespread in Prague and areas near the Republic's western borders with Germany and Austria. According to the Czech Ministry of the Interior, there are over brothels in the Czech Republic, of which are in Prague. Most of the country's prostitution centers in the Northern Bohemia and Western Bohemia regions and in the capital city. Brothels line the country's roads to Austria and Germany, the source of many customers. Weekend trips to Prague for some tourists also include visits to erotic clubs.
Between and , Prague had the world's first online brothel, Big Sister , where customers could get free sexual intercourse, with the acts being broadcast on the internet. An analysis of hospitalization records reveals that syphilis rates have steadily risen from 1. The Czech Republic is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked from Ukraine , Russia , Belarus , Moldova , Lithuania , Romania , Bulgaria , Slovakia , China , and Vietnam into and through the Czech Republic mainly for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Czech victims and those transiting the country are trafficked to Western Europe and the United States, sometimes via third countries. Internal trafficking occurs from low employment areas to Prague and regions bordering Germany and Austria. Ethnic Roma women are at the highest risk for internal trafficking, and almost always are trafficked by a relative or someone known to them previously. The Government of the Czech Republic fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
In , the Czech Government strengthened its anti-trafficking legislation and turned its pilot victim assistance program into a nationwide government-funded program. While enforcement statistics improved during the reporting period, sentences imposed on traffickers remained low. The Czech police increased its capacity to investigate and convict traffickers over the reporting period, although the overall numbers of cases prosecuted pursuant to anti-trafficking legislation remained low and sentences imposed remained weak.
