Electro-techno legend DJ Hell spoke out against prostitution in Ukraine last week, joining women’s rights group FEMEN at a press conference launching their ‘Ukraine Is Not A Brothel’ programme. The Gigolo Records chief spoke at the conference alongside FEMEN leader Anna Hutsol, who said sex industry revenues are doubling in the country every year.

‘The predicted boom of sex tourism in Ukraine has reached threatening levels,’ she told reporters, ‘Devaluation of the hryvnia, tensing of economic turmoil, increase of the number of the poor, and also reduction of air travel prices have stipulated growth of sexual tourism in Ukraine,’ she said. The conference happened just as Time magazine published a detailed report exploring the effects of the credit crunch on the global sex trade, revealing that trade is struggling in many traditional sex tourism destinations including Thailand and Czech Republic. The US magazine said up to half of Czech brothels outside Prague have closed in the last 12 months with many others reducing staffing levels from ten to two. Ukraine, however, is attracting far more sex tourists because of the 40% collapse in its currency, said Time.