Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-13-Speech-1-072"
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"en.20060313.17.1-072"2
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"Madam President, millions of people around the world are delighted at the prospect of the upcoming World Cup football tournament, but how many thousands of women must be sacrificed so that men can not only watch football but also purchase readily available sexual services? If a sufficient volume of sexual services is to be offered, tens of thousands of women, including many with no choice in the matter, will have to supplement the already large number of prostitutes in Germany. This trafficking in human beings is shameful and deeply inhumane. It is indicative of an oppressive view of women and also shows the low regard in which all those men who will be coming to watch football are held.
In order to put an end to the violence against women and children, responsibility for sex slavery and prostitution should be laid at the door not of the victims but of those who assume the right to buy and sell women’s bodies. ‘Forced prostitution’ may be interpreted as implying the existence of its opposite, that is to say some form of what might be called voluntary prostitution. There is, however, no such thing as voluntary prostitution. Women do not choose prostitution; they are forced into it for one reason or another. This may happen through their being victims of organised crime, but poverty and unemployment are other causes. Above all, however, there are clear links between prostitution and the fact that women have, in the past, been exposed to physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
The links between the legalisation of prostitution and the increase in trafficking for the purposes of sex slavery need to be clarified. What, for example, does the fact that prostitution is legal in Germany signify in terms of the increase in the number of victims of sex trafficking in connection with the World Cup? Legislation that permits prostitution must be evaluated and compared, for example, with the Swedish legislation that criminalises the client. The Swedish legislation has shown that, when demand is reduced, the number of victims of trafficking and prostitution decreases too. Responsibility is placed where it belongs: with the clients. It is they who must accept responsibility for their sexuality, without buying women’s bodies.
If we accept that men can assume the right to purchase women’s bodies, we are, as a consequence, forced to accept a situation in which approximately four million women and children are moved around, within and between countries, in order to be exploited sexually.
To condemn sexual exploitation and prostitution does not mean putting the blame on women working as prostitutes. Absolutely not. We want to see all women given the right to their sexuality, and on equal conditions and without being oppressed. Women are not a commodity. They are not for sale."@en1
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