The Dutch government is to launch an investigation into the problem of girls in youth care institutions and women's shelters who are falling victim to so-called ‘loverboys’.

Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten and Deputy Health Minister Marlies Vedlhuizen van Zanten say the aim of the investigation is establish the scope of the problem and how these new-style pimps operate.

Loverboys are young men who befriend vulnerable girls, woo them into a sexual relationship, then coerce them into having sex with other men in exchange for financial and other rewards which the loverboys keep for themselves.

Anita de Wit, chair of the StopLoverboysNU organisation, says the problems are greatest in the south-eastern province of Limburg.

''In the south there’s still a taboo on the loverboy phenomenon, but we are receiving reports from a variety of sources that the problem is quite serious down there. Boys, but girls too, infiltrate institutions to intimidate their prey into working as a prostitute.”

A report released on 2 May this year by three youth care facilities in the south of Limburg concluded that recruitment is increasingly taking place via the internet and that loverboys are often members of organised, international gangs.

The authors found that many loverboys have moved from the major cities to southern Limburg because the local girls are regarded as being more naive. Their victims have been put to work as prostitutes in major foreign cities such as Antwerp, Brussels and Cologne. The average age of the victims went up from 15 and 16 years old to around 18. Each year, an estimated 65 girls are believed to fall victim to Loverboys in southern Limburg.

A large number of experts from the police, the Public Prosecutor's Office, youth care authorities, probation and after-care services and regional health authorities were interviewed for the report.

(gsh/tf)

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