40,000 prostitutes may enter South Africa during World Cup

New York, Mar 7 (ANI): Soccer World Cup organizers have warned that close to 40,000 prostitutes may enter South Africa during the event.

The authorities, at a meeting of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, feared local children would also be targeted by drug and prostitution underworld.

The threat is even more serious as World Cup takes place during a four-week national school holiday.

"It's horrific and very concerning. Money talks, and if you're a sex worker then there is going to be money in South Africa in 2010," the New York Daily News quoted Davis Bayever, South Africa's deputy chair of the country's Central Drug Authority, as saying.

He added: "There is no doubt that they will be targeted to become prostitutes. Children from poor rural families will be given a carrot by criminals who tell them they will have a job if they come to the big city."

However, as a preventive measure to stop influx of prostitutes, strict passport checks, screening, and profiling will take place at the borders.

It is believed that 16 percent of the population is living with HIV in South Africa. (ANI)