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 1^ST 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