First Italian Senate Investigation into Prostitution
In 2019 the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the Senate launched an investigation into the phenomenon of prostitution in Italy, on the initiative of Senator Alessandra Maiorino. The hearings included testimony from a variety of speakers, from survivors, psychologists and anti-trafficking operators, to representatives of the third sector, including our president Esohe Aghatise, an expert on human trafficking.
During her presentation, Aghatise spoke about the impact of prostitution on women in general and on Nigerian women particularly in the Italian context and debunked the propaganda that Nigerian women “liked” being in prostitution. Esohe explains, “I spoke about their experiences, to the effect that prostitution for them was a violence they had to endure due to lack of opportunities and of alternative, dignified means of subsistence”. You can listen to her original testimony in Italian here.
Prostitution, the “invisible elephant in the room”, as sen. Maiorino described it, is the third largest illegal industry in the world in terms of turnover, after drugs and arms.
We take this opportunity to remind you, as we have already written and shared during our webinars earlier this summer, that in July the Commission approved the final report on the investigation, paving the way for a necessary political and cultural debate on this complex and too often exploited/manipulated issue. We hope such a debate will culminate in the approval of a neo-abolitionist law, with the aim of strengthening the existing, abolitionist, Merlin law.
For those who want to learn more, you can listen to the podcast of an interview with Senator Maiorino (in Italian).
Reference: “Indagine conoscitiva sul fenomeno della prostituzione“, Commissione Affari Costituzionali, Senato della Repubblica, Servizio Studi, PROSTITUZIONE – Elementi di Documentazione, 3 luglio 2019
Pornography and Prostitution: In Conversation with Gail Dines
Pornography and Prostitution: In Conversation with Gail Dines
#DebunkingSexWork
In spring 2021 Associazione Iroko Onlus organized a series of seminars entitled “Debunking sex work: conversations around prostitution”, bringing together various experts, survivors and activists from around the world. Every week two women explored the phenomenon of prostitution from a different perspective: from the links with trafficking and pornography, to language, current laws, and finally the policies needed to implement the abolitionist model.
The first session was hosted by Esohe Aghatise, who welcomed Gail Dines, professor of sociology and studies on women at Wheelock College in Boston and founder and president of Culture Reframed. For many years, Dines has been carrying out research on pornography and the sex industry and has been called “the world’s leading feminist anti-pornography activist” by The Guardian .
Launch of COALESCE Mind the Gap Reports
Within the framework of the United Nations World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the #COALESCE partnership presents the Mind the Gap Reports: a needs analysis for the integration of migrant female victims of #HumanTrafficking for sexual exploitation/abuse in 6 different countries. Read the full reports here in English:
Debunking ‘sex work’ #5 The Role of the Buyer with Rachel Moran and Melissa Farley
Join us once again this Thursday 17th June to hear our own Esohe Aghatise in conversation with Rachel Moran, author of Paid For: My Journey through Prostitution, executive director, feminist campaigner, founder of SPACE International and sex trade survivor, and Melissa Farley, psycologist, author, activist, founder of Prostitution Research & Education.
Their conversation will focus on:
- Responsibility of buyers and demand for prostitution
- Attitudes of buyers as barrier to equality
- Shifting the focus from women onto men: changing mentalities
There will also be time for audience Q&A
See you at 6pm CET/ 12pm EDT on Zoom (where Italian interpretation will be available) or on our Facebook livestream (only in English)
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ADrU6NnUS-6GrlbeHT-D7A
#DebunkingSexWork
Debunking ‘sex work’ #2 Language, Migration and Trafficking
Debunking ‘sex work’ #2 Language, Migration and Trafficking with Anna Zobnina and Marie Merklinger
We hope you all enjoyed the second instalment in our Debunking ‘sex work’ series, which saw Anna Zobnina, Policy Coordinator for the European Network of Migrant Women and member of the Executive committee of European Women’s Lobby, and Marie Merklinger, activist and member of SPACE International, in conversation with Olesia Sagaidak from Radical Girlsss.
If you missed it, you can watch it in full on our Facebook page!
THE GLOBAL SOUTH CALLS OUT CANADA FOR BREACHING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAWS
Join witnesses from the global south, including our own Esohe Aghatise, 15th June 2021 at 5pm CET / 11am EST, who will detail the impact of the Canadian government’s collusion with Mindgeek/Pornhub in violating human rights.
“Women from countries of the Global South live socioeconomic injustice, armed conflicts, humanitarian emergencies. Pornography production, distribution and consumption are an abuse of power and position of vulnerability”
Esohe Aghatise (Nigeria/Italy -ENG) – jurist, women’s rights activist and United Nations Expert on Trafficking as well as Executive Director of Associazione Iroko Onlus, which provides services to victims of sexual violence and trafficking in Italy.
Read the full press release for more details!
Debunking ‘Sex Work’: Conversations about Prostitution May/June 2021
We are so excited to have kicked off our series of online events entitled Debunking ‘Sex Work’: Conversations about Prostitution! Last week saw conversation #1 hosted by our very own Esohe Aghatise, who talked to Gail Dines, PornlandAuthor and Founder and President of Culture Reframed, on the theme of Pornogrpahy and Prostitution. You can watch the recording of the event here.
Check out our event page on Facebook for updates on all of the exciting speakers that will join us from around the world each week.
This series continues every Thursday at 12 noon EDT / 5pm UK / 6pm CET until 1st July, so follow this link to sign up to watch on Zoom (with Italian translation available) or follow the event on Facebook Live!
Debunking ‘sex work’: Pornography and Prostitution
We were thrilled with the response to the first in our series of online events entitled Debunking ‘sex work‘!
On Thursday 20th May our founder and director, Esohe Aghatise, was joined by the brilliant Gail Dines, Pornland Author and Founder and President of Culture Reframed. Their conversation touched on:
- the overlaps between the pornography and prostitution
- how women involved are affected
- the trauma associated with being filmed
- how they affect society as a whole
If you missed it, you can watch the event in full on Facebook.
Introducing the COALESCE Project
We are very pleased to start a new project COALESCE, which began in January 2021, funded by the AMIF Fund and led by the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS), in partnership with Cyprus Refugee Council (Cyprus), CARITAS Cyprus, IROKO Onlus (Italy), Marta Centre (Latvia), European Network of Migrant Women, Immigrant Council Ireland, Solwodi (Germany), Klapeida (Lithuania).
Coalesce is a two-year transnational project involving five European countries: Cyprus, Latvia, Italy, Lithuania, Ireland, and Germany.
Read our press release to find out exactly what the project is all about!