INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Parliamentarians Show Prostitution the Red Card
Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Mar 8 (IPS) - The European Union marked International Women's Day Wednesday by launching a campaign against sexual exploitation of women during big sporting events.

European parliamentarians are calling on the European Commission, the European Union (EU) executive, to exert pressure on European governments to tighten border controls and step up efforts to identify women and children being moved illegally through EU countries to Germany during this summer's football World Cup.

Launching the 'Red card to forced prostitution' campaign Wednesday, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) signed a petition calling on European Commission president José Manuel Barroso to enforce tighter measures to halt sexual exploitation during the month-long contest Jun. 9 to Jul. 9.

MEPs say big sports events and fairs provoke a sharp increase in the demand for sexual services, leading to an increase in forced prostitution.

They say every year around 100,000 women become victims of human trafficking in Europe, and fear that several thousand girls and women will be sexually exploited during the competition.

The European lawmakers say most of the women engaged in the business are victims of organised crime, lured by false promises of legal work abroad, and then forced to sell their bodies.

Many are expected to be trafficked from the poorest nations in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

Speaking at a conference organised by the European Parliament's committee on women's rights and gender equality, British Labour MEP Mary Honeyball described human trafficking and forced prostitution as "modern day forms of slavery" and said the EU had a "pressing moral duty" to protect women and children during the World Cup.

"We have a duty to shout loud, expose the disgrace of trafficking, and put the authorities under such pressure that they cannot turn a blind eye to it. Between 600,000 and 800,000 women and children are trafficked through international borders each year," she said.

Julian Scola, spokesperson for the Parliament's Socialist party, which organised the petition, says the trafficking of women should be preventable.

"It is widely believed that for the world cup trafficking will occur on a massive scale. It is a serious crime putting thousands of women at risk from ruthless pimps and traffickers. It ought to be preventable," he told IPS Wednesday.

Scola said European Police forces could cooperate to prevent trafficking. "During the World Cup local authorities in Germany could make sure prostitutes are not subject to violence and have proper access to health services," he said.

Franco Frattini, EU commissioner for justice, freedom and security said he plans to propose special visa requirements for citizens of some non-EU countries for the duration of the tournament in an effort to combat illegal and forced prostitution.

"I will stress the importance of the need for vigilant controls, both by border police as well as consular (visa issuing) authorities with a view to ensuring that people potentially 'compromising public order', one of the grounds for refusal of entry into the Schengen area, are indeed refused such entry," he said in a statement Wednesday.

"Following the EU action plan on combating and preventing trafficking in human beings, I am also considering launching an EU Anti Trafficking Day to increase public awareness in this area. Furthermore I am committed to increasing and targeting the funds allocated to support combating measures such as those established via the Daphne programme," he added.

The Daphne programme established in 1997 provides non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with funding for Europe-wide initiatives and programmes to combat violence against children, young people and women.

The European Women's Lobby (EWL), a non-governmental organisation bringing together over 4,000 women's organisations across Europe, is urging football fans to join the campaign by resisting the use of prostitutes.

"Prostitution is not a game, it is in fact the oldest crime in history and a violation of women's human rights. During the World Cup every man must ask himself why he, or why other men, believe that they have the right to exploit the body of a woman, another human being, in this way," EWL secretary general Mary McPhail told IPS.

"Each man's individual decision to buy access to a woman in prostitution fuels the demand for women in prostitution and the ruthless criminal gangs involved in trafficking ensure the ongoing supply," she said.

The EWL is also urging German authorities to take action before it is too late.

The organisation says that despite the mobilisation of German women's organisations, in particular the German Women's Council and its request for the German national team and the German Football Federation to publicly denounce trafficking and sexual exploitation, authorities have not yet taken any measure to prevent the abuse of women on a large scale during the World Cup.

"The football community has so far completely ignored the issue. With three months to go before this big event, EWL is asking the actors involved to take a public stand against the sexual exploitation of women in prostitution," EWL president Kirsti Kolthoff told IPS.

Calls to ban prostitution outright during the World Cup have so far been rejected by politicians and also by some women's groups. Prostitution is legal in Germany, and mobile huts are expected be placed outside several of the stadiums during the tournament to meet the increase in demand.

MEPs will still go ahead with presenting their petition, which has already been signed by over 10,000 people from across the world to Barroso.

The European Parliament, the EU's only democratically elected institution, has been active for many years in campaigns to prevent trafficking of human beings and violence against women. (END/2006)