[IPSM] Prostitutuion - From repression to responsabilization

[martin dufresne]

State brothels, legalized procuring and unlimited solicitation of women by
johns - it's all coming our way courtesy of the Grits, the Bloc québécois
and the NDP, who are about to hand in a sub-committee report to the federal
Standing Justice Committee.

The State-sanctioned brothels (call it 'job creation', eh...) will most
probably be zoned in our cities' impoverished areas and staffed with
racialized women by sex traffickers and pimps, now totally immune from
prosecution.

MPs sitting on a special task group have chosen to ignore feedback from the
countries where such across the board legalization has been tried and has
failed to reduce street prostitution and violence against women.

More at http://www.6URL.com/017V

**********************there is another way***********************

Prostitution: From repression to responsabilization

with Gunilla Ekberg

Thursday, October 27, 2005, 7:30 p.m.
at Université du Québec à Montréal
Room DSR-525, Pavillon J.A. De Sève
320 Ste-Catherine East (corner of Sanguinet)

Gunilla Ekberg, Canadian lawyer and feminist, has been working with the
Swedish government since 2001 in the implementation of a national action
plan against prostitution and human trafficking. A renowned international
expert on these issues, Ms. Ekberg has coordinated several multilateral
projects in Europe to oppose sexual trafficking and he has worked for the
United Nations on this issue. She explains that Swedish legislation
sanctions buyers and pimps but not prostituted women, on the basis that they
do not consent to the organized rape and violence that characterize
prostitution. Instead, the Swedish model offers prostituted people support
and access to services and programs that allow them to move beyond
prostitution.

Contrary to Sweden, the Netherlands treats prostitution as a legitimate
business and offer women in prostitution social benefits identical to those
provided to other workers. What effects do these diametrically opposite
policies on the problem of prostitution have on the safety of prostituted
persons and on gender relations in a society such as ours that is committed
to gender equity principles? A new film on these issues "La vitrine
hollandaise", produced by French journalist Hubert Dubois, will be premiered
on this occasion.

At a time where the Canadian government has decided to review Penal Code
dispositions on prostitution, we need to reflect on the social challenges of
legalization or decriminalization, presented as a panacea to the very real
problems of violence, insecurity and stigmatization associated with
prostitution. Above all, we need to build alternatives to the repression of
prostituted people and offer them solutions that respect their human rights
while remaining consistent with the equality principles we are committed to.

For further information, please contact: Michèle Roy (514) 529-5252;
la_cles at yahoo.com

CLES   is the Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle
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Web resources:

MPs at odds over legalizing prostitution, Calgary Herald, October 11, 2005
http://www.6URL.com/017V

[PDF] Statement by Gunilla Ekberg, Special Advisor, Division for Gender ...
www.unece.org/oes/gender/documents/Panelists/GunillaEkberg.pdf

WomenWatch - News: Women's Issues on UN Radio. 16 May 2003.
www.un.org/womenwatch/news/unradio/progs/2003May16.html

Women's Justice Center - Prostitution Links
http://www.justicewomen.com/cj_sr_prostitution_links.html

Captive Daughters -
www.captivedaughters.org/demanddynamics/reducedemand.htm

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