Non-governmental organisations meeting in Nicosia say that the island has become a site of virtually uncontrolled trafficking of women, particularly those from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics.

It is thought that every year more than 2,000 women pass through Cyprus, and are forced into prostitution on the island or in European and Arab countries.

"Cyprus is a destination country for victims of trafficking, especially for sexual exploitation," said Rita Superman, head of the anti-trafficking unit of the Cyprus police.

She was a guest at the conference on human trafficking, staged by several Cypriot and international NGOs including the Nicosia Anti-trafficking Movement.

Many of the women, thinking they will be working in the tourism or hospitality sector, end up working as prostitutes in Cyprus.

Prostitution is not legal in Cyprus, but it is well known that most of the country's approximately 100 "cabarets" offer sex to their customers.

Growing pressure from NGOs and the international community recently forced the state to axe the "artistes' visas", after issuing around 3,000 in 2007.

The Immigration Department have been accused for years of granting thousands of work permits to women, with the knowledge that they may be forced into the sex industry.

According to the "Angel Coalition," a sex trafficking public awareness group based in Moscow, about 50,000 Russian women are lured into sexual slavery abroad each year by fake job offers.