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Global support for Parliamentary efforts in Germany to adopt the Equality Model

The Gloria Steinem Equality Fund to End Sex Trafficking, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), SPACE International and The Sisterhood is Global Institute have written this letter to express the global support for Parliamentary efforts in Germany to adopt the Equality Model. Associazione IROKO has signed the letter and we give our full support to efforts in Germany and around the world to recognise that “prostitution is not work but rather a very harmful and dehumanising system, which fuels the sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls”. 

Liliam Altuntas, survivor of trafficking and prostitution, told IROKO “reading this letter has really made me happy, especially because Germany is a country that’s very close to my heart. Because when I was trafficked, I was sold and brought to Germany. Hearing that there are people who support and make way for this kind of legal change is really important to me. It would represent a real response to the suffering that we have endured, so I’m very happy to join this fight and I’m sure that we will win.”

We encourage our friends and supporters to read and sign the letter.

Click here to watch an interview with Dr. Ingeborg Kraus, conducted by ENoMW‘s Anna Zobnina, in May 2020 just after the publication of a letter signed by various German MPs calling for brothels to remain permanently closed after the coronavirus lockdown.

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Ingeborg Kraus and Sandra Norak Video: The Failure of the German System of Prostitution

In 2020 IROKO partnered with Resistenza Femminista to host a series of webinars on the theme of prostitution and the abolitionist model. During the 5 webinars we had the pleasure to host various experts who gave us invaluable insights into the violence of prostitution and the particulars of the various laws that exists around the world. Among these were Dr. Ingeborg Kraus, activist and psychologist specialising in the trauma of prostitution, and Sandra Norak, a survivor activist. Ingeborg and Sandra created this video for us, which explains the failure of the system they have in Germany, where prostitution has been legal and regulated since 2002. 

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Good News from Germany: Time for a Paradigm Shift on Prostitution?

We are happy to hear that some German politicians are recognising the failures of Germany’s prostitution regime and endorsing the Abolitionist Model as an alternative. Below we have translated an article into English, which quotes two members of the German Union parties. 

The original can be found here.

Effectively combatting human trafficking
Criminalise buyers in prostitution

In response to discussions within the SPD (Social Democratic Party) parliamentary group about making the purchase of sexual services punishable by law while offering the prostitutes themselves impunity – two pillars of the ‘Nordic model’ of prostitution -, deputy chairman, Thorsten Frei, and the rights and consumer policy spokeswoman, Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, both of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, said:

Thorsten Frei: “In reality, for many women prostitution means that they are attracted by false pretenses, exploited and abused for years in the most serious ways. That is why we are committed to adopting the ‘Nordic model’ in Germany as well, because within this model the buyers, but not the prostitutes, are liable to prosecution. Numerous European countries – Sweden, Norway, Iceland, France, Ireland and Northern Ireland – are already using this model. We must ensure that there is no room for degrading services such as sexual flat rates. We want to effectively continue the fight against forced prostitution and trafficking that was started by the previous legislature, without criminalizing the prostitutes themselves. For this, we will approach our coalition partner, from whose ranks this proposal has been made, and hope that they support this project. “

Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker: “Self-determined prostitution is the exception in practice. In many cases, prostitutes are sexually exploited in unimaginable ways. We should also be concerned as a society when the image many men have of women is characterised by sex. A paradigm shift is therefore necessary. Germany must not be the brothel of Europe.”

 

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CAP International 3rd World Congress Mainz 2019

CAP International held their third world congress in April this year in Mainz, Germany, with the title Prostitution: Neither Sex Nor Work. The event was hosted by SOLWODI, a German member organisation, Armut und Gesundheit e.V., and organised with the support and participation of the whole abolitionist movement in Germany.

The Congress was opened by a Survivors’ Day on the 2nd of April, where an extraordinary group of prostitution survivors from Germany and all over the world called on German’s authorities to fully revisit their harmful public policies on prostitution. The international public conference followed, on the 3rd and 4th, with over 300 participants and 40 speakers from 30 countries. Iroko’s Executive Director, Esohe Aghatise, was among them, standing alongside the most important figures in this movement, survivors. The conference addressed the realities of prostitution and sexual exploitation in the world, their severe impact on health, and their consequences on sexual violence and gender inequalities. The event being hosted in Germany was also a key feature, which highlighted the extremely preoccupying situation in a country that has come to be known as the “brothel of Europe”. 

Watch the video below to see some highlights from the event or listen to this podcast by Vancouver Rape Relief’s, recorded at the congress. In this episode, VRR asked women from different abolitionist groups, including Esohe Aghatise, to dispel prostitution myths.