of poverty or exploitation. Late 20th century – present The geopolitical position of Finland, and its position in the European Union as of 1995, had a significant influence on the sex trade in the 1990s. Access to sex services became increasingly easier across most cities and rural areas in Finland during this time. The established political connection with Western Europe allowed people to move more freely across borders, and hence engage in the sex services market in Finland. Authorities estimated that in the 1990s the number of prostitutes working in Finland was approximately 2000, with 200 of these being of foreign origin. The effects of economic depression, mass unemployment and the resulting economic position of women also contributed to the intensification in the volume and forms of national prostitution. The increased trend of transnational organised crime in pandering and human trafficking operations shifted public concern from the protection of public morality to protection of public order and security. The UN Trafficking Protocol, adopted in Finland in 2000, and the European Union Council Framework Decision on combating trafficking in human beings, adopted in 2002, both obligated cooperating states to criminalise trafficking and increase border control to prevent transnational organised crime. These international obligations acted as the starting point for the restructuring of prostitution legislation in Finland. In 2003, both the purchasing and selling of sexual acts were prohibited under Finnish law where either occurred in a public place. Types of Prostitution Street Prostitution Street prostitution consisted of both foreign and native prostitutes; however, a majority of the bunch are foreign prostitutes. This was made up of the female prostitutes and males referred to as "kerb-crawlers" that sought out the "services" of the female prostitutes. Street prostitution made its way to the center of the capital city of Helsinki where it became very popular with about 50 street prostitutes. Local residents of Helsinki were upset with the allowance of street prostitution in their neighborhoods, so in 1994 a female activist group formed in order to abolish street prostitution as a whole. They started the movement called "Prostitution Off the Streets" where they patrolled the streets at night for any potential street prostitution as well as initiated a petition against street prostitution. This type of prostitution was legal until 1999 when laws prohibited prostitution in public spaces. This new law pushed the business of street prostitution north to the city of Vantaa until