A comprehensive approach to dealing with the issue of prostitution, which the European Parliament will vote on today... includes women’s rights, helping them to leave this work, and combating human trafficking... 42 million women around the world practice prostitution, 75% of whom are between 13 and 25 years old.

Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Led by the Socialists and Democrats, the European Parliament calls for an EU-wide approach to prostitution to reduce demand and help women leave it
Today, Thursday, the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on a report calling for a pan-European approach to dealing with prostitution, putting women’s rights, protection from violence, and gender equality at the heart of this approach. According to a statement issued by the bloc of socialist and democratic parties within the European Parliament. It was distributed in Brussels and we received a copy of it
The report, drafted by Social and Democratic Member of the European Parliament Maria Neutschl, calls for decriminalizing people who engage in prostitution and providing more support services for those who want to leave prostitution. It calls for dramatically reducing the demand side by targeting sex buyers and others who benefit from the prostitution of others.
Prostitution affects the most marginalized people in our societies, as most people who engage in prostitution are women and girls, while most buyers are men. The report acknowledges the presence of a minority who say they engage in prostitution of their own free will. However, most women in prostitution would leave it if there was a realistic alternative.
Maria Neutschl, author of the report and coordinator of social and differential supports at the FEMM Committee, said:
“I strongly believe that today the European Parliament will send a strong signal of support to the most vulnerable among us who are dragged into a system of violence and exploitation. It is time for decisions at EU level to end the disgraceful systems and regulations that only benefit human traffickers, pimps and sex buyers. Prostitution is The extended arm of patriarchy, which is highly sexist and racist, and reflects social and economic inequalities within the EU and around the world. Around 70% of people in prostitution in the EU are of migrant origin and live in particularly vulnerable situations in some Member States, Like Germany, or even more so in Austria.
“Trafficking, organized crime and prostitution do not stop at borders. We must address this at EU level.
“As long as it is socially acceptable that women are for sale, we will not be able to achieve true gender equality. We must invest in prevention, education and exit programmes, as well as in improving social and immigration policies. We will not completely eliminate prostitution. However, to change society To reduce demand and protect the vulnerable, we need to change the laws. Our goal is to find a European solution to the European problem that has been ignored so far, and to end exploitation that means nothing but money for others.
Helene Fritzon, S&D Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President responsible for gender equality, added: “Prostitution is neither sex work, nor a form of employment, as some would like to claim. It is a situation in which a woman can be a victim of violence by a paying stranger.” Exercising his sexual desires on her body cannot be considered a job. It is a source of suffering for women and children.
“The European Parliament report proposes a European approach based on an equality model that criminalizes the purchase of sex, while decriminalizing the person exploited in prostitution. This is crucial, because demand forms the market and therefore the basis for human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. It also calls for greater investment In exit programs and improve the implementation of the model.
“The EU must act to stop the trade in women’s bodies in the single market and strengthen our work to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence.”
The Bloc of Socialism and Democracy said in a statement that according to the Scelles Foundation study, reported by the European Parliament Research Service, prostitution involves about 40-42 million people around the world, 90% of whom depend on pimping and 75% are between the ages of 13-25 years. Dutch prosecutors estimate that about 70% of the country's approximately 30,000 prostitutes were forced into prostitution through violence or lured by a "lover boy" (a pimp posing as a friend).
According to the OSCE and Europol, liberalization of all aspects of prostitution means that human trafficking can flourish and hide behind “legal businesses.”