The extent of trafficking in women in all its forms cannot be expressed precisely in figures, since until now there have been no specific investigations or representative surveys in Switzerland. In contrast to reality, trafficking in women in Switzerland is restricted in the Swiss Federal Penal Code to trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. In Switzerland too, women’s organisations and committed women politicians are doing their utmost to bring about a wider definition of trafficking in human beings.
Most of those women affected by trafficking are in the country without valid documents of stay. Top priority is given to prosecuting those who stay in Switzerland illegally. This makes it particularly difficult for those affected to defend themselves against exploitation. It leaves them de facto without any legal rights. Swiss studies prove that great importance must be attached to ensuring that the legal stay conditions should clearly define what constitutes violent circumstances. 
The women affected by trafficking are often lured into Switzerland by false promises and illegally recruited for household work, marriage and the sex trade, whereby these three branches are often linked together. They are wrongly promised legal, well-paid work, friendships and promises of marriage are feigned or they are even abducted. Instead of experiencing the stay as a rewarding, enriching investment, the women find themselves in Switzerland in an extreme predicament and under great pressure to act under orders from others.

The number of women working regularly and without stay or work permits as prostitutes is estimated at 4,800. A large proportion of them are recruited by real criminal organisations and put into Swiss brothels.
In some cantons, especially those on the border, a growing popularity of ‘pay by the hour’ hotels can be observed.
There are no estimates available for the whole of Switzerland for the number of women working illegally in the entertainment and sex trades. On the other hand, it is estimated that 200,000-280,000 men pick up prostitutes on the streets or visit sex salons on an average of once per month. That is 10-15% of the male population aged 20-65 years.