Oggi abbiamo scritto ai nostri eurodeputati che fanno parte della Commissione per i diritti delle donne e l'uguaglianza di genere:
Dear MEP,
We are writing to you on behalf of the Italian Coordination of the European Women's Lobby within the scope of the major vote on the initiative report on Prostitution and its cross-border implications which will take place tomorrow in the FEMM committee. In light of this major vote, our organisation wishes to share our perspectives and recommendations on the report.
Our view is that prostitution is a form of male violence against women, disproportionately targeting the most marginalised ones (migrant women, those in poverty, from minorities etc). We hope that the report, in the continuity of the Honeyball resolution adopted by your assembly in 2014 can stress once again a strong position:
- on prostitution as an obstacle to human dignity and an obstacle to equality between women and men,
- on the necessity to decriminalise women in prostitution, provide exit services and tailored support to them
- on the States’ international and EU obligations to discourage the demand which fosters trafficking for sexual exploitation and thus on the importance to criminalise the purchase of sexual acts (in line with CEDAW Article 6, UN Palermo Protocol Article 9, EU “Anti-trafficking Directive” 2011/36/EU)
- on the States’ international and EU obligations to criminalise all forms of pimping (recruiting, procuring, enticing another for the purpose of prostitution + making profit of the prostitution of another person in line with the UN 1949 Convention)
- on the importance for Member States to adopt the Nordic Model approach (or Equality Model) enshrining all of these aspects.
We further draw your attention on the tabling of dangerous amendments that we ask you to reject:
- any provision underlining the language “sex worker” : the UN and EU agreed language on the issue is prostitution. “Sex worker” is a breach of the aforementioned human rights language, it is a non-neutral term that helps masking the violence, the sexist, racist, and class-based oppressions at work in prostitution. Prostitution is neither sex nor work but a violence and an exploitation of all existing inequalities.
- any provision seeking to diminish the responsibilities of pimps and traffickers by adding restrictive means such as “fraud”, “force” or “coercion” into the UN agreed definition of pimping aforementioned or only criminalising “forced prostitution”
- any provision seeking to promote/encourage the demand that fosters trafficking for sexual exploitation by supporting the decriminalisation of the purchase of sexual acts, to remove references to the “Nordic Model”
We ask you to vote in favour of the report.
We remain at your disposal for any further information.
Kind regards,
Rossella Poce
Lef-Italia President
Maria Ludovica Bottarelli Tranquilli-Leali
Lef-Italia Secretary General
