—

having regard to Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and its commitment to promote gender equality in all of the Union’s actions,

—

having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’),

—

having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (‘Istanbul Convention’), in particular to Articles 1 and 4 thereof,

—

having regard to Article 6 of the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which aims to eliminate all forms of trafficking in and exploitation of women in prostitution,

—

having regard to Articles 4 and 5 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

—

having regard to the 1949 United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,

—

having regard to the 2000 Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, which supplements and is annexed to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,

—

having regard to the Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (1),

—

having regard to the Commission communication of 14 April 2021 on the EU strategy on combating trafficking in human beings 2021-2025 (COM(2021)0171),

—

having regard to Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA (2) (the Anti-Trafficking Directive),

—

having regard to the Commission proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (COM(2022)0732),

—

having regard to its resolution of 26 February 2014 on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality (3),

—

having regard to its resolution of 10 February 2021 on the implementation of Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (4),

—

having regard to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’s General Recommendation No 33 (2015) of 3 August 2015 on women’s access to justice,

—

having regard to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’s General Recommendation No 37 (2018) of 13 March 2018 on gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in a changing climate,

—

having regard to the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences of 19 February 2000 on trafficking in women, women’s migration and violence against women,

—

having regard to the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children,

—

having regard to the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health,

—

having regard the UN 2021-2026 global AIDS strategy,

—

having regard to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights publication of 20 May 2002 entitled ‘Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking’,

—

having regard to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) report of 10 June 2021 entitled ‘Discouraging the demand that fosters trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation’,

—

having regard to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’s General Recommendation No 38 (2020) of 20 November 2020 on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration,

—

having regard the Council of Europe report of 12 April 2021 entitled ‘Second General Report on GREVIO’s Activities’,

—

having regard to the Council of Europe report of October 2022 entitled, ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Women's Access to Justice’;

—

having regard to the Council of Europe resolution of 8 April 2014 entitled ‘Prostitution, trafficking and modern slavery in Europe’,

—

having regard to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-268/99 (5),

—

having regard to the ongoing communicated case 63664/19, 64450/19, 24387/20 et al. of the European Court of Human Rights of 12 April 2021,

—

having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

—

having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0240/2023),

A.

whereas the UN and EU agreed upon language is prostitution and people/women in prostitution; whereas prostitution is the purchase of a sexual act, which can be defined as the solicitation, acceptance or obtainment of a sexual act from a person in a situation of prostitution in exchange for remuneration, the promise of remuneration, the provision of a benefit in kind or the promise of such a benefit; whereas this report acknowledges that some people in prostitution refer to themselves as ‘sex workers’ and that this term is used by some international organisations; whereas this is the self-description of some people who are engaged in prostitution and regard it as professional employment, but who only represent a minority of people in prostitution, even though they are well organised and publically visible (6), (7); whereas this report highlights the importance of each person’s right to self-identification in this regard, whereas this report however intentionally and exclusively uses neutral terms, namely people and especially women in prostitution, as we do not want to idealise the reality of prostitution or mask the violence, abuse and exploitation that the large majority of people, especially women and girls, in prostitution endure; whereas we want to pay respect to the large majority of people in prostitution who do not consider it to be a normal job or a career opportunity, who would leave the sex industry if they could and who consider prostitution to be a form of violence; whereas by using the term prostitution and women/people in prostitution, this report does not seek to discriminate against anyone nor to stigmatise or demean them; whereas this wording should not connote criminality or morality;

B.

whereas ensuring the rights of all individuals is essential to respecting bodily integrity and personal autonomy, guaranteeing privacy and ensuring women’s human rights and dignity in wider society; whereas guaranteeing equality and respect for people’s rights, including to make decisions over their own bodies, access healthcare and live free from discrimination, coercion and violence, including sexual violence, must be at the centre of Member State and EU policies;

C.

whereas sex must be based on consent, which can only be given freely and voluntarily, and cannot be replaced by the exchange of money; whereas prostitution reduces intimate acts to an assigned monetary value; whereas sexual exploitation through the prostitution of others is a gross violation of women’s rights and dignity and implies that both a person and their consent to sexual activity can be purchased for a given sum;

D.

whereas sexual and reproductive health is fostered through healthy approaches to sexuality, based on mutual respect;

E.

whereas prostitution exists within a system in which different actors interact, with pimps and others trying to maximise their profits from prostitution and sex buyers who constitute the demand;

F.

whereas in its preamble, the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others expresses that prostitution and the accompanying evil of the trafficking in persons for the purpose of prostitution are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person;

G.

whereas street-based prostitution is an environment that is devoid of humane conditions for women;

H.

whereas various studies (8), (9) show that women in prostitution face more egregious human rights violations, violence and exploitation than women on average, including high levels of gender-based, psychological, physical and sexual violence; whereas women in prostitution report trauma comparable to victims of torture and a high number of women in prostitution report having been raped since entering prostitution (10), (11), (12); whereas in some cases, they also endure institutional abuse and further exploitation; whereas perpetrators may include not only violent buyers and exploitative third parties such as pimps, but also, on occasion, law enforcement authorities (13), (14); whereas crimes against them go under-reported under-investigated and unpunished;

I.

whereas the pornography industry and online commercial exploitation through the explicit representation of non-simulated sexual practices trivialise and perpetuate sexual violence against women and girls, the commodification of women’s bodies and harmful gender stereotypes also impacted by prostitution;

J.

whereas, as people and especially women in prostitution have been traditionally marginalised and de facto criminalised, it is important to follow a human rights-based approach (15), taking into account the fact that, as people in prostitution are in a vulnerable situation, they are often not aware of their rights, since their access to justice has habitually been compromised by discriminatory stereotypes and stigma; whereas a presumption of criminality for people in prostitution and discriminatory treatment mean that people in prostitution are often reticent to report cases of abuse and violence to authorities or to seek access to justice due to the fear of being ignored, receiving no support or being fined, detained or deported (16) or that they will instead become the focus of a criminal investigation themselves (17); whereas regular training for enforcement authorities is therefore urgently needed in every Member State to ensure fair and respectful treatment of people, especially women and LGBTIQ+ people, in prostitution;

K.

whereas access to healthcare services, including sexual and reproductive health is vital for people in prostitution to maintain their health; whereas in some Member States, such as Poland, access to such healthcare provisions has been severely restricted, causing undue stress and anxiety as well as adverse health effects for those who need it; whereas according to some studies (18), there is the potential to reduce HIV infections by 33-46 % in the next decade if people in prostitution were to be decriminalised; whereas the criminalisation of people, in particular women, in prostitution leads to lower condom use, which leads to higher cases of sexually transmitted infections and diseases; whereas equal access to preventative HIV medication, such as PREP and/or PEP drugs, across the EU is lacking; whereas women and LGBTIQ+ people in prostitution who had been exposed to repressive policing are three times more likely to experience sexual or physical violence and twice as likely to have HIV (19);

L.

whereas prostitution is increasingly shifting into the virtual space, regardless of the legislation in force; whereas this relates not only to the recruitment and initiation process, but also to the way in which the sexual act itself takes place; whereas prostitution in the virtual space has the same harmful effects on women in prostitution as in real life, even though, in some cases, the physical distance can help lessen exposure to some forms of violence; whereas new digital technologies and tools have made it easier for exploitative second and third parties like buyers, traffickers and pimps to secure their anonymity, making law enforcement more difficult; whereas regulatory measures need to focus particularly on online advertisement and contact facilitation to ensure efficiency in preventing exploitation through the prostitution of others, as also highlighted in the Commission’s proposal for a revision of the Anti-Trafficking Directive, which makes explicit reference to the need to better counter human trafficking facilitated by information and communication technologies, including the internet and social media;

M.

whereas numerous factors cause people to enter and stay in prostitution, in particular poverty stemming from social injustices and exclusion, inequalities, limited employment or entrepreneurial opportunities, drug addiction, structural violence and intersectional discrimination, a lack of safe and legal migration opportunities and comprehensive integration policies, deficient educational, social and labour policies, other social and economic preconditions and limited livelihood options, all of which play a part in aggravating women’s situations and lowering their social status, leading to a lack of alternatives to entering prostitution;

N.

whereas it is the women and children in situations of poverty and affected by structural and intersectional discrimination who are most vulnerable to sexual exploitation through prostitution and slavery, as well as to grooming, the ‘loverboy method’ and entrapment by criminal (pimping) networks; whereas among other things, drug addiction is often used as a means to lure and entrap victims into prostitution; whereas the implementation of all current policies and laws has not yet sufficiently addressed these root causes nor the stigma and discrimination faced by people, especially women, in prostitution;

O.

whereas protected groups, such as children, young people, persons living with mental and physical disabilities and persons belonging to minorities, are subject to cumulative exploitation in the form of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape;

P.

whereas precariousness is a persistent feature of the EU labour market, which favours the accumulation of profit by big economic groups and primarily affects women, who suffer from wage discrimination, are more likely to be in part-time work and therefore earn lower wages, have less access to social protection and have fewer opportunities for economic independence;

Q.

whereas prejudices and stereotypes block women from pursuing and realising their ambitions, which holds them back and forces them into poverty-stricken lives through no wrongdoing of their own;

R.

whereas these causes need to be urgently and thoroughly addressed in order to tackle the circumstances and impediments that create a lack of alternatives to prostitution; whereas such measures need to follow a holistic approach, aiming to achieve a gender-equal society by focusing on education, social, labour and migration policies in order to reduce vulnerabilities and thus susceptibility to exploitation or to choices that are taken based on the lack of alternatives; whereas the EU also needs to support neighbouring and non-EU countries to enable those countries to increase funding for social support and access to services for potential victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation, including through educational, psychological and social support from specialists, and to introduce specialised services dedicated to the full social and economic inclusion of women and girls in vulnerable situations to protect them from the risk of sexual exploitation;

S.

whereas ‘sugar daddyism’ is alarming and particularly prevalent in places such as universities, but also through social networks and online; whereas it consists of advertisements encouraging the prostitution of students, in particular young women, and the sexual exploitation of minors by wealthier and influential men; whereas authorities have had to act to minimise the widespread nature of this practice; whereas adolescents should receive thorough information and education concerning the methods employed by criminals to initiate interactions to ensure that they are better informed, more alert and more vigilant about this tactic, as well as about ‘loverboy’ tactics, online contact initiation and subsequent entrapment;

T.

whereas Dutch prosecution bodies estimate that, of the around 30 000 people in prostitution in the Netherlands, up to 70 % are considered as having been forced into prostitution by violence or lured into it by a ‘loverboy’;

U.

whereas the majority of women would like to leave prostitution (20); whereas the lack of high-quality, easily accessible and sufficiently financed exit programmes under a holistic approach hinders those who want to leave prostitution from doing so (21); whereas efforts should be made to promote the adoption and implementation of exit programmes consisting of comprehensive care and support to help people in prostitution overcome difficulties and to facilitate access to safe and stable employment;

V.

whereas leaving prostitution is often a difficult and lengthy process that requires comprehensive socio-economic support, including sufficient budgets and individual counselling taking into account the different pull and push factors, in order to provide needs-oriented support programmes and make such programmes a success for people who want to leave prostitution; whereas social relations within a community and between individuals are important to promoting pathways out; whereas the Member States should promote prevention programmes, pathways out, exit and inclusion programmes and broad, in-depth educational programmes about human trafficking, sexual exploitation, prostitution and consent, both in schools and in wider society, especially in the country or countries of origin of the person in prostitution; whereas these programmes should include safe accommodation, secure care, adequate medical attention, psychological help (trauma therapy), education/training opportunities, support for integration into the wider economy and specialised help for women with addictions and women with children; whereas the EU has established several funding programmes to support this important work and the Member States should make use of these programmes which are at their disposal;

W.

whereas Ursula von der Leyen has previously stated that prostitution is not a profession like any other and that exiting it should always be the goal;

X.

whereas there is a strong link between prostitution and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation; whereas human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through threat, force, fraud, deception, abduction, abuse of power, a position of vulnerability or other forms of coercion, with the aim of exploiting them for profit; whereas human trafficking is an issue in many domains and fields (22), but, as highlighted in the Commission report on progress in the fight against trafficking in human beings (23), trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation remains by far the most prevalent form of trafficking in human beings in the EU, given that 51 % of victims of human trafficking in the EU are trafficked for sexual exploitation (24); whereas according to the OSCE, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation generates nearly USD 100 billion per year alone (25), consisting mainly of money paid by men for sex with trafficked women; whereas Article 2 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive states that the consent of a victim of trafficking in human beings to the exploitation, whether intended or actual, is irrelevant when it is obtained through the giving or receiving of payments or benefits; whereas victims of human trafficking can be of all sexes, genders, ages and backgrounds, but whereas human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation disproportionally affects women, girls and marginalised groups in the EU Member States and worldwide; whereas traffickers often use violence, fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education or job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims and profit from a very-developed and well-financed criminal network;

Y.

whereas victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation within the EU are largely from other EU Member States, although many victims also come from South-East Asia and Latin America; whereas there are strong links between prostitution and pornography, as well as organised crime activities such as child trafficking, the sexual exploitation of minors and child sexual abuse (26), (27); whereas a holistic approach is needed to protect women and girls from human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and to put an end to impunity for perpetrators;

Z.

whereas a report from the German Federal Criminal Police Office reveals that more than half of the cases of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Germany are prosecuted because of third-party reporting; whereas in conclusion, the report states that victims of exploitation rarely identify themselves as such and often refrain from reporting owing to a lack of trust in authorities and the police;

AA.

whereas the Turkish-occupied territories of Cyprus are used by human traffickers to exploit vulnerable women with the promise of student visas and student registration, only to then coerce them into prostitution upon their arrival and subject them to inhumane living conditions; whereas the Turkish-occupied territories of Cyprus serve as an area of impunity for human traffickers working in prostitution;

AB.

whereas events such as international conflicts and economic hardship have a strong reinforcing impact on human trafficking trends (28); whereas women and minors who are unaccompanied or travelling with strangers are particularly vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation and abuse;

AC.

whereas prostitution, its exploitation (29) and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation (30) continue to increase in some regions in Europe; whereas according to a UN Office on Drugs and Crime report (31), figures decreased globally due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns; whereas human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation was the most predominant form of human trafficking in the EU in 2021 (32) and is a serious form of violence that affects mostly women and girls; whereas prostitution, its exploitation and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation are gender-specific, have a global dimension and affect the most marginalised members of our societies; whereas the vast majority of people in prostitution are women and girls and sex buyers are overwhelmingly men (33); whereas in this context, prostitution is not only harmful for women in prostitution, but also further increases inequalities between women and men; whereas prostitution, its exploitation and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation are therefore both a cause and a consequence of gender inequalities and are a growing global problem with a cross-border dimension that requires the authorities in the Member States to collaborate in order to address it; whereas policy-making has to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable members of our society; whereas all Member States have a legal obligation to discourage and end human trafficking and organised crime;

AD.

whereas the main intention of all legislative measures concerning prostitution in the Member States is to protect women and girls from exploitation; whereas various legal systems and different policy approaches are implemented across the EU Member States, with different models and sub-models; whereas there is asymmetry among national prostitution legislation within the EU; whereas different or lacking regulatory measures concerning prostitution have different effects, which impact a society’s understanding of gender equality and women’s rights and dignity and convey messages and norms, including on violence against women; whereas the implementation of current policies and laws do not sufficiently address the root causes or the stigma, discrimination or violence faced by people in prostitution; whereas there is a need to realistically evaluate the impact of all models to see which fundamental rights-based measures and strategies protect women’s rights and promote gender equality best; whereas, therefore, the premise of an overly simplified ideological battle and binary approach that polarises the debate into two camps should be rejected, as this risks overlooking the advantages and disadvantages of certain measures and strategies;

AE.

whereas prostitution has cross-border implications and affects women’s rights and gender equality; whereas owing to a lack of cooperation by the Member States, actions that aim to prevent violence and exploitation for people in prostitution have failed so far; whereas the systems in border regions should be better coordinated in order to avoid hot spots; whereas the disparity in legislation on prostitution in the EU benefits traffickers and organised-crime networks;

AF.

whereas the Nordic/Equality model, which entails the decriminalisation of the person in prostitution while criminalising the buyer, is not a fix-all solution to reduce demand, sex trafficking, violence or exploitation; whereas however, evidence from Sweden and other countries shows that street prostitution declined by half when the Nordic/Equality model was implemented (34); whereas the demand for people in prostitution in Sweden fell from 13,6 % to 7,9 % between 1995 and 2008 as a result of the implementation of the Nordic/Equality model (35); whereas evidence (36) from France also shows that the Nordic/Equality model leads to positive results as more than 800 people in prostitution in the country have benefited from an exit programme since 2016, with 87,5 % of the persons supported by French grassroots organisations finding a stable job by the end of the exit programme; whereas the number of criminal investigations regarding pimping and trafficking has increased by 54 % since 2016; whereas nearly EUR 2,35 million confiscated from pimps have been reinvested in the protection and rehabilitation of victims of prostitution and sex trafficking; whereas however, insufficient budgeting for exit programmes is a persistent problem and whereas therefore financing that allows for a life without prostitution must be increased;

AG.

whereas according to Europol (37), there are Member States where prostitution is legal, making it much easier for traffickers to use the legal environment to exploit their victims; whereas human traffickers often use legal businesses to cover up their exploitative activities; whereas legalised prostitution therefore serves as an incentive for human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation (38); whereas Europol reports establish that, where prostitution is legal, trafficking in human beings and violence perpetrated against its victims and other people in prostitution increases tenfold, as perpetrators can hide behind legal structures; whereas organised crime and corruption, human trafficking, very violent crime and corruption grow when all facets of prostitution are legalised; whereas the demand for ‘sexual services’ is large and widespread and buyers cannot and/or do not attempt to see the coercion that pushes people into prostitution; whereas this demand cannot be met without women and girls that are victims of trafficking or those who would exit prostitution if they could; whereas it is therefore impossible to decouple the discussion about prostitution and its different types of regulation within the Member States from the discussion around the fight against human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and the discussion about societal factors that lead to a lack of alternative ways for people in vulnerable situations to earn their livelihoods, which ultimately leads to prostitution;

AH.

whereas in Germany, by the end of 2021, 23 700 people had officially registered as people in prostitution, while estimates put the real number at between 90 000 and 400 000 people in prostitution in the country;

AI.

whereas the 2022 opinion of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights entitled ‘Opinion on Acts of Germany on Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings’ shows that the country’s current legislation does not seem to include sufficient safeguards for persons in vulnerable situations engaged in prostitution or for those outside the system of registration, thus potentially undermining efforts to prevent trafficking; whereas one of the key demands resulting from this legal opinion is to introduce tools and measures that aim to reduce demand;

AJ.

whereas every Member State’s regulation of prostitution must also aim to end human trafficking and organised crime, with a particular focus on protecting people, especially women, in vulnerable situations; whereas prostitution has an overwhelming impact not only on women and their rights, but also on the whole of society and on gender equality and thus requires specific measures to combat its causes; whereas there is a need for a common approach to and understanding of force, coercion, the exploitation of vulnerability, abuse of power and inequalities in existing prostitution laws and regulations in various EU Member States; whereas this fight can only be effective at protecting women and girls from exploitation when an approach that both protects victims and tackles the demand for prostitution is applied and when measures such as those criminalising persons who exploit is enforced; whereas research by the OSCE (39) has shown that the use of prevention measures aimed at reducing demand remains low in general, but is highly concentrated in countries where buying sex is illegal or where using services provided by trafficking victims is criminalised; whereas Ireland and New Zealand have similar populations, but the amount of people in prostitution in Ireland is five to eight times lower, due to the introduction of the Nordic/Equality model in the country (40), (41);

AK.

whereas the Member States should ensure that procuring, hiring or enticing another person for the purposes of prostitution, as well as obtaining any profit from the prostitution of another person, are punishable as criminal offences; whereas the Member States should ensure that, when an offence is committed with the intention of earning profit or gain or when an offence actually results in profit or gain stemming from the prostitution of another person (i.e. profiting from human trafficking), this profit is considered to be an aggravating circumstance;