Prostitution - which stance to take?

Recommendation 1815 (2007)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 4 October 2007 (35th Sitting) (see Doc. 11352Doc. 11352, report of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur: Mr Platvoet). Text adopted by the Assembly on 4 October 2007 (35th Sitting).

Thesaurus

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 1579 (2007) entitled “Prostitution – Which stance to take?”.

2. The Assembly believes that all necessary measures must be taken to combat forced prostitution and trafficking in human beings. The Assembly thus recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

2.1 encourage all Council of Europe member states which have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197) as soon as possible and, in the meantime, apply its provisions, in particular those on victim protection, including to victims of trafficking in human beings who have been forced into prostitution;

2.2 ask the European Community to ratify the convention as a matter of priority, in accordance with the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Europe and the European Union;

2.3 make all necessary means available for the convention’s monitoring mechanism (GRETA) to be able to work independently, efficiently and comprehensively once the convention enters into force.

3. The Assembly further recommends that the Committee of Ministers address the issue of child prostitution (prostitution of anyone below the age of 18) in its relevant steering committees and the ongoing Council of Europe programme “Building a Europe for and with children”.

4. Regarding adult voluntary prostitution, the Assembly encourages the Committee of Ministers to recommend that Council of Europe member states formulate an explicit policy on prostitution. In particular, they must avoid double standards and policies which criminalise and penalise prostitutes.