Activities of Maria NOICHL related to 2022/2139(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Regulation of prostitution in the EU: its cross-border implications and impact on gender equality and women’s rights (debate)
Regulation of prostitution in the EU: its cross-border implications and impact on gender equality and women’s rights (debate)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the regulation of prostitution in the EU: its cross-border implications and impact on gender equality and women’s rights
Amendments (68)
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas prostitution, its exploitation, and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation are increasingcontinue to increase in Europe; whereas figures globally decreased due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns; whereas human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation was the most common form of human trafficking in the EU in 2020 (55%, Eurostat) and the victims are predominantly women and girls; whereas they are gender- specific phenomena with a global dimension and affect the most marginalised members of our societies, with the vast majority of people in prostitution being women and girls and almost all sexnd buyers being men; overwhelmingly men according to the OSCE;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas prostitution, its exploitation, and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation are increasing; whereas they are gender- specific phenomena with a global dimension and affect the most marginalised members of our societies, with the vast majority of people in prostitution being women and girls and almost all sex buyers being men; whereas prostitution is not only harmful for women on prostitution but also a school of inequality for all women and girls; whereas prositution harms all women and digital world, if unregulated, will make them even more vulnerable;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas prostitution, its exploitation, and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation are increasing; whereas they are gender- specific phenomena with a global dimension and affect the most marginalised members of our societies, with the vast majority of people in prostitution being women and girls and almost all sex buyers being men; whereas these phenomena are therefore both a cause and a consequence of gender inequalities;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
A a. Whereas sexual exploitation through the prostitution of others is a form of sexual exploitation which has already been recognised as an offence in legal acts of the Union, namely Directives 2011/36/EU and 2011/93/EU; whrereas sexual exploitation through the prostitution of others is a gross violation of a person's right to bodily integrity and implies that both a person and their consent to sexual activity can be purchased for a given sum;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the internationally accepted wording used in most legally binding texts is prostitution of women and prostitution; whereas this text intentionally does not use the wording “sex work” not wanting to mask the violence and abuse that people and especially women in prostitution encounter in their large majority; whereas using this wording however does not seek to discriminate people that consider themselves as sex worker;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas different regulatory measures concerning prostitution have different effects on gender equality impacting a society’s understanding of gender issues and inequalities and conveying messages and norms to it;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas gender equality and women’s rights, their self-determination and safety, need to be in the heart of any regulation aimed at discouraging the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons; whereas policies tackling demand have to be especially focused on educational, social or cultural measures, including through bilateral and multilateral cooperation;
Amendment 67 #
C b. whereas prostitution exists within a system in which different actors interact, with pimps and others trying to maximize their profits from prostitution and sex buyers who constitute the demand;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas various studies show that women in prostitution face more violence and exploitation than women on average; whereas sex must be based on consent which should always be given freely and voluntarily and cannot be substituted by the exchange of money;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas, among other things, a lack of high quality and easily accessible and sufficiently financed exit programmes leads to women and people staying in prostitution while they would prefer leaving it;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas there are strong links between prostitution and organised crime such as human trafficking; whereas in particular women and girls in vulnerable situations are trafficked for the purpose of prostitution and prostitution serves at the same time as an incentive for human trafficking;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas numerous factors can cause people to enter prostitution, including poverty, social exclusion and a migration background; , lack of comprehensive integration and migration policies and measures, as well as deficient social and labour policies; whereas these causes need to be urgently and thoroughly addressed in order to tackle the circumstances and restraints leading to a lack of alternatives;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas prostitution has cross- border implications and affects women’s rights and gender equality; whereas the disparity of legislation on prostitution in the EU benefits traffickers and organised crime networks; whereas all Member States have a legal obligation to discourage and end human trafficking and organised crime; whereas regarding sexual explotation, Member States shall ensure that the following intentional conduct is punishable as as a criminal offence: (a) procuring, hiring, or enticing another person for the purposes of prostitution; (b) obtaining any profit from the prostitution of another person;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas prostitution has cross- border implications and affects women’s rights and gender equality; whereas the disparity of legislation on prostitution in the EU benefits traffickers and organised crime networks which can operate in quasi impunity ; whereas all Member States have a legal obligation to discourage and end human trafficking and organised crime and therefore need to address the issue at EU level ;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. Whereas the pornography industry and online commercial exploitation of the explicit representation of non-simulated sexual practices have effects on on trivialising and perpetuating sexual violence against women and girls, the commodification of women’s bodies, the and harmful gender-stereotypes through prostitution;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas Russia’s war against Ukraine increases the risk of trafficking with Ukrainian women and girls who are in a particularly vulnerable situation while fleeing and relocating;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
H b. whereas demand reduction measures need a special focus on online advertisement and contact facilitation thus ensuring efficiency in the prevention of the exploitation of the prostitution of others;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H c (new)
Recital H c (new)
H c. whereas regular training for enforcement authorities is urgently needed in every Member State to ensure people and especially women, including transwomen, in prostitution are not stigmatised or de-facto criminalised and their access to justice does not continue to be compromised by discriminatory stereotypes leading to refraining from reporting cases of abuse and violence due to the fear of institutions and authorities;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H d (new)
Recital H d (new)
H d. whereas leaving prostitution is often a difficult and lengthy process and requires comprehensive socio-economic support and individual counselling taking into account the different pull and push factors in order to provide need-oriented support programs for people wanting to leave prostitution and making these programs a success for all of them;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H e (new)
Recital H e (new)
H e. whereas preventive measures need to follow a holistic approach, reforming society as a whole with a focus on social, labour and migration policies, reducing vulnerabilities and thus the susceptibility to exploitation or choices that have to be taken based on the lack of alternatives;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H f (new)
Recital H f (new)
H f. whereas accurate and comparable data across EU countries are still lacking;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H g (new)
Recital H g (new)
H g. whereas every Member State’s regulation of prostitution must aim at ending human trafficking and organized crime, particularly focussing on the protection of people in vulnerable situations;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H h (new)
Recital H h (new)
H h. whereas a report of the German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation reveals that more than half of the human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation cases in Germany are prosecuted because of third-party reporting; whereas in conclusion the report states that victims of exploitation rarely identify themselves as such or refrain from reporting due to a lack of trust in authorities and the police;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H i (new)
Recital H i (new)
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H j (new)
Recital H j (new)
H j. whereas new digital technologies and tools have increased securing the anonymity of traffickers, pimps and clients and therefore making law enforcement more difficult;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H k (new)
Recital H k (new)
H k. whereas there is a need for specific examples and concrete definitions of force, coercion, exploitation of vulnerability, abuse of power or inequalities in existing prostitution laws and regulations in various EU Member States;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H l (new)
Recital H l (new)
H l. whereas the 1949 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others expresses in its preamble that prostitution and the accompanying evil of the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H m (new)
Recital H m (new)
H m. whereas prosecution bodies in the Netherlands estimate, that of the around 30.000 people in prostitution up to 70% of are considered to be forced into prostitution, by violence or lured into it by a so-called "loverboy";
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H n (new)
Recital H n (new)
H n. whereas OSCE research has shown that the use of prevention measures, aiming at reducing demand, remain low in general, but are highly concentrated in countries where buying sex is illegal or the use of services from trafficking victims is criminalized;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H o (new)
Recital H o (new)
H o. whereas in the case of Germany by the end of 2021 23 700 people officially registered as people in prostitution while estimates vary between 90 000 and 400 000 people in prostitution in this country;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that approaches to regulatinge prostitution vary across the EU and target three key components of this system: prostituted persons, the purchase of sex (i.e. demand), and pimping; stresses that the different laws have different effects on women in prostitution, their rights, women’s rights in general, gender equality, demand, trafficking, society and neighbouring countries;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Regrets the lackHighlights the urgent need to further improve and better coordinate the collection and exchange of reliable, accurate and comparable data across EU countries and improve cross-border cooperation on the issue;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that women in prostitution experience more violence than women on average; refers to a 20193 study by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, according to which 41 % of the women in prostitution surveyed had experienced physical or sexual violence (or both) in the context of prostitution;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the findings of this study with regard to the experiences of women in prostitution with abuse in childhood and adolescence with 43% stating that they have experienced sexual abuse during their childhood and 52% reporting frequent or occasional physical punishment from their parents;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that the deterioration of the social and economic situation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased all forms of abuse and violence against women, including prostitution in violation of their human rights; warns that this will be further aggravated by the current energy and cost-of-living crisis;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. highlights the acute risk of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation Ukrainian women and girls face due to their vulnerable situation fleeing from Russia’s war against Ukraine and relocating in other countries;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. highlights that technology facilitates the demand and the activities of human traffickers and pimps; in this context strongly regrets that the EU Digital Services Act does not particularly address human trafficking;
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Condemns the fact that women in prostitution lack legal security because of their criminalisation, meaning they face the constant threat of police and judicial persecution, are subject to additional vulnerability and stigmatisation that negatively affect their health, including their mental health, consequently experience difficulties in contacting support services and lack access to fundamental rights; deplores the fact that, at the same time, clients, brothel owners and human traffickers often remain unpunished;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Welcomes the fact that an increasing number of countries are taking up and implementing the Nordic/Equality model; supports the feminist background of this model and its goal of achieving gender equality, inducing a paradigm shift and highlights the model’s positive effects on the rights of people in prostitution, the normative effect in society and the fight against human trafficking;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Calls on the Member States to train and educate the police in order to ensure that people in prostitution and the police communicate on a basis of trust and therefore are able to detect exploitation as fast and effective as possible; recalls that migrants, racialized and trans people are overrepresented in prostitution and condemns that they are especially targeted and criminalised by the police; calls for the same comprehensive training for the judiciary;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Condemns the reality of coercion, manipulation, violence and exploitation in prostitution, where a lack of language skills, vulnerabilities and precarious conditions are exploited to make women enter and stay in prostitution;
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. calls for an EU-wide approach based on the Nordic/Equality Model to finally use all promising instruments that have proven efficient to reduce human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation;
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Highlights that the approach of discouraging the demand that fosters trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is therefore of utmost importance in order to combat the exploitation of women and girls, to protect victims and to achieve gender equality and should therefore be developed further in the revision of the EU Anti-Trafficking directive;
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11 b. whereas the demand for “sexual services” is universal and does not make a difference between voluntarily, forced, or trafficked people in prostitution; whereas it is therefore impossible to separate the discussion about prostitution and its potential regulation from the discussion around the fight against human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and the discussion about societal factors leading to a lack of alternatives for people in vulnerable situations to earn their lives and ultimately leading to prostitution;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11 c. Notes that the “knowing use” approach of victims of trafficking has proven to be ineffective in order to reduce sexual exploitation due to the impossibility to prove a buyer’s knowledge; wants to raise awareness about the fact that clients who want to buy a “sexual service” inevitably, due to the high number of persons forced or lured into prostitution, de facto buy exploitation;
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes that the decriminalisation of pimping and of the purchase of sex increases demand, empowers the demand side and normalises sex buying; underlines that the stigmatisation of people, especially women, in prostitution nevertheless persists; refers to studies showing that the normalization of buying women’s bodies goes hand in hand with a greater use of violence against women and a greater sense of entitlement towards women in prostitution and women in general;
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Underlines the importance of discouraging demand in a way that does not harm or create negative repercussions for those in prostitution and provide sufficient safeguards;
Amendment 259 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12 b. Calls for demand reduction measures with a special focus on online advertisement and contact facilitation, ensuring efficient measures to prevent the exploitation of the prostitution of others;
Amendment 262 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12 c. Calls for demand reduction measures with a special focus on online advertisement and contact facilitation, ensuring efficient measures to prevent the exploitation of the prostitution of others;
Amendment 264 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Is concerned that the legalisation of prostitution promotes legal structures behind which traffickers can hide making it difficult for police and law enforcement bodies to combat trafficking in human beings effectively; stresses in this regard the Europol SOCTA 2021 highlighting that exploiters increasingly seek to exploit their victims in the context of supposedly voluntary business agreements and that this type of exploitation is particularly common in jurisdictions where prostitution has been legalised;
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Stresses that human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is increasing due to high demand; points out that this is particularly visible in countries with a liberal regulatory model, whereas countries that follow approaches like the Nordic/Equality model are no longer big markets for human trafficking for that purpose; notes that due to the demand reducing measures in these countries, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation decreases;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Notes that the different approaches to regulation in the EU have different effects and that women in prostitution have different rights and levels of protections in different EU Member States; underlines that, according to the European Women’s Lobby, on average, 70 % of the individuals in prostitution in the EU are migrant women and that trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation mostly affects women and girls coming from the east of the European Union; underlines the case of Germany where the majority is of Romanian, Bulgarian or Hungarian origin reflecting the social and economic differences in the EU and only 1/5 of the registered people in prostitution have the German citizenship; underlines that most of the people, especially women, in prostitution (78%) are between 21 and 44 years old;
Amendment 295 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Calls for measures on EU level in order to effectively tackle the cross-border implications of prostitution;
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Stresses the different effects of different regulatory measures on men, young people and society as a whole; stresses that the normalization of prostitution has a negative impact on young people's perceptions and expectations of sexuality and the relations between women and men and their understanding of gender equality;
Amendment 313 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Amendment 316 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Condemns the negative effects of certain types of pornography, reproducing harmful stereotypes and altering the perceptions about relationships and sexuality and thus hampering gender equality;
Amendment 319 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Underlines the Member States’ legal obligation to protect women’s rights and physical integrity and promote gender equality, and highlights the EU’s role in doing this within the international community and in creating equal protection and equal rights across Member States;
Amendment 333 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Calls on the Member States to take action in the areas of prevention, decriminalisation of people in prostitution,and especially women in prostitution, sufficiently financed, easily accessible, high quality and human rights based exit programmes, demand reduction, punishment of clients, destigmatisation and the elimination of stereotypes; calls on the Member States to reduce demand while protecting women and their rights, to end the criminalisation and stigmatisation of people and especially women in prostitution and to ensure exit strategies and unconditional access to social security systems and reintegration;
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Member States to ensure that it is punishable as a criminal offence to solicit, accept or obtain a sexual act from a person in exchange for remuneration, the promise of remuneration, the provision of a benefit in kind or the promise of such a benefit; calls on Member States to consider how to avoid proliferation of advertisements that encourages the prostitution of young female students by old rich men, also know as "sugar daddysm";
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21 a. Calls on the Member States to ensure that it is punishable as a criminal offence to exploit the prostitution of another person even with the consent of that person;
Amendment 359 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Calls for specific measures to assiston Member States to implement specific measures and to provide sufficient financial support to assist people and especially women in prostitution with their social and professional reintegration; calls for such exit programmes to work gradually, for women to be supported on their personal paths and for people’s potential to be recognised, with and professional training and further education programmes being adapted to take account of this, with a special focus on people with migration background;
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Calls for Member States to support those trafficked for sexual exploitation in the regularisation of their residency status;
Amendment 376 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. Calls on the Commission to put forward awareness-raising campaigns with the aim of discouraging the demand, highlighting the link between the demand for sexual services and the phenomenon of trafficking for sexual exploitation and the high numbers of women being trafficked inside and to the European Union; furthermore calls for awareness- raising for the particular risks people and especially women in prostitution face, including the high prevalence of gender- based violence; calls for these campaigns to further target young people and men while also dismantling stereotypes;
Amendment 383 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24 b. Calls for full access to non- discriminatory and universal health and social services as well as to the justice system for everyone, especially for people and women in prostitution;
Amendment 387 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 c (new)
Paragraph 24 c (new)
24 c. Highlights that people who had to commit criminal acts in the framework of their exploitation should not be charged for these;
Amendment 388 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 d (new)
Paragraph 24 d (new)
24 d. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, to investigate how the demand for prostitution fuels human trafficking and to take into consideration reports by Europol that prove that legalised environments facilitate the exploitation of victims for human traffickers;
Amendment 389 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 e (new)
Paragraph 24 e (new)
24 e. Calls on Europol to step up the cross-border collaboration and exchange of information, in particular with regard to data collection;