VICTOIRE EN REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE
Le parlement Tchèque envisageait depuis plusieurs mois de DERATIFIER la
Convention de 1949 afin de pouvoir légaliser l'organisation de la prostitution.
Cela aurait été un précédent dangereux pour les traités internationaux des
Droits Humains.
Non seulement la Convention ne sera par DERATIFIEE, mais en plus le
parlement a nettement refusé la légalisation de la prostitution. Pour ce pays
qui depuis des années subit de fortes pressions de la part de l'Industrie du
sexe et des Pays Européens comme l'Allemagne ou les Pays Bas qui ont tout mis
en oeuvre pour que les nouveaux pays de l'Union, aille dans leur sens, il
s'agit d'une première défaite symbolique significative. Et pour nos
organisations, et toutes celles et tous ceux qui se mobilisent depuis des
années contre la légalisation de la prostitution, une réelle victoire.
Vous trouverez ci-joint en anglais le rapport sur cet événement de Janice
Raymond, Co-directrice de la Coalition Internationale Contre la Traite des
Femmes.
Malka Marcovich
CZECH
REPUBLIC REJECTS 1ST STEP TOWARDS LEGALIZATION
The Czech government pro-prostitution bill appears to be dead on arrival! On
March 29, 2005, the Czech Chamber of Deputies rejected the government’s
proposal to rescind its ratification of the 1949 Convention for the
Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution
of Others. Withdrawing from this convention would have been a first
step towards a vote to accept a government bill legalizing/regulating the
prostitution industry.
Only 89 votes were
needed to set aside the Czech Republic’s ratification of the 1949 Convention,
but they got 103! Unless the Czech Republic withdraws from this treaty, which
prohibits the registering of persons in prostitution and other administrative controls
that decriminalize the sex industry, as well as the procuring of persons for
prostitution, and the keeping or management of brothels, the pro-prostitution
bill cannot go forward.
As part of a joint project on preventing trafficking through addressing
legalization trends in Europe and elsewhere, Janice Raymond of the Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) and Colette de Troy of the European Women’s
Lobby (EWL) spoke at a seminar on “Promoting Preventative Measures to Combat Trafficking
and Sexual Exploitation” in Prague on March 24, 2005. The seminar, which
was part of the joint project funded by the U.S. and Sweden, and sponsored by
the Czech Women’s Lobby, the Institute for Gender Studies, the Catholic Women’s
Union, the Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Soroptimist International,
was organized especially to highlight the seriousness of potential Czech
withdrawal from the 1949 Convention and the consequences of legalizing and
regulating prostitution and the sex industry. Representatives of Parliament,
the Ministry of the Interior, the governmental Council for Equal Opportunities
for Women and Men, the police, and NGOs attended the seminar. Thanks to
all of these groups who organized this seminar within record time. MPs said
that they had a greater understanding of the consequences of withdrawing from
the 1949 Convention and the legalization bill after the seminar.
This is a major victory for all who have worked hard to promote real women’s
rights! Indeed, many factors surely influenced the votes of the Czech
parliamentarians, but it certainly feels good to have had a central role to
play in this, with such quick results!
Janice Raymond
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)
jraymond@wost.umass.edu
