The following case of Marja, a young woman from Lithuania, is one of several stories of rescued women that IOM has helped.
Marja, who was 19 at the time she was trafficked, now works with the nonprofit counseling organization La Strada.
After Lithuania joined the European Union, in May 2004, Marja traveled across Italy. After about two weeks, due to unexpected expenses, she ran out of money. This is when her friend, also originally from Lithuania, offered her a well-paid job in Prague. They traveled to the Czech Republic in another friend's car. Since they were now both EU citizens, crossing the borders was smooth and easy. Late in the evening they reached a town, whose name Marja didn't notice at the time. They were both tired and decided to stay overnight.
In the morning, Marja discovered that the doors to her room were locked and that her papers and mobile phone were missing. A stranger entered her room, a man, who told her in Russian that she owed a lot of money for the transport and accommodation. There was a customer already waiting for her downstairs. When Marja realized that she was expected to work as a prostitute, she pointedly refused. On that day she was, for the first time, brutally beaten and raped numerous times.
In the following weeks, death threats to both her and her family in Lithuania, beatings and food deprivation, for even the slightest misbehavior, became part of Marja's life. She can't say for exactly how long this went on. She started following the orders of the nightclub owner. She even pretended to be happy. As she puts it, all that she felt inside was the desire to survive and to not be hit anymore.

Source: IOM