Outcomes of EU Anti-Trafficking Day 2015: call for Nordic model by EU decision-makers and the EWL
[Brussels, 18 October 2015] To commemorate the EU Anti-Trafficking Day and bring a women’s rights perspective into the EU discussions and policies, the EWL produced three infographics based on its work and demands.
Sex trafficking is gendered and linked to prostitution:
- 98% of victims of sex trafficking are women and girls
- Sex trafficking increases in countries where prostitution is legal
- "Prostitution is the place where sex trafficking happens, it is the reason why sex trafficking happens" (Rachel Moran, sex trade survivor)
Prostitution fuels sex trafficking:
- Sex trafficking is fueled by the demand for prostitution
- The European market of sexual exploitation amounts to 2.6 billion euros
- Article 18(1) of the EU Directive requires member states to take measures to reduce the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation
Sex buyers in the EU: demand is gendered:
- It is part of the sexist culture of our societies
- Between 7% and 40% of men buy sex in Europe
- "She gave up her rights when she accepted my money" (a sex buyer)
The European Commission organized an event for the EU Anti-Trafficking Day, on 20 October 2015 in Brussels. #EUATD2015
Importantly for the EWL and all the women’s organisations we work with, in particular through the Brussels’ Call, several high level decision-makers mentioned the Nordic model as a policy response to sex trafficking and the normalization of violence against women through prostitution. MEPs Anna Hedh, Malin Bjork and Mary Honeyball, as well as the French representative Elisabeth Moiron-Braud, called on the EU and its member states to adopt the Nordic model which supports persons in prostitution (and don’t criminalise them), criminalises all forms of pimping and procuring as well as sex buyers, and proposes exit programmes as well as prevention programmes.
The EWL hopes that this message will be taken into account by the EC in its forthcoming new Strategy on trafficking in human beings.
