Informal meeting of justice ministers on prostitution criticized by Portuguese NGO

The Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights (PpDM), coordination in Portugal of the European Women’s Lobby (LEM), “deeply regrets” the decision of the Belgian Presidency to discuss prostitution during tomorrow’s informal meeting of Ministers of Justice “ without prior consultation with survivors of the prostitution system and women’s NGOs that work with survivors”.

“We urge the Ministers of Justice, and most particularly the Portuguese Minister, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, to meet with the survivors and not to trivialize this form of violence that mainly affects women and girls”, says the non- government, in a statement.

At issue is a discussion on the “decriminalization of sex work” planned on the Belgian Presidency’s agenda for the informal meeting that will take place tomorrow, between Ministers and Ministers of Justice.

“By promoting the ‘sex work’ narrative, the approach adopted by the Belgian Presidency disregards the European Parliament resolution adopted in September 2023, which recognizes that ‘the language agreed by the UN and the EU is prostitution and the people/women in prostitution ‘ and that “sex must be based on consent, which can only be given freely and voluntarily, and cannot be replaced by the exchange of money”

The description of the event, says PpDM, also recognizes that the law recently adopted in Belgium “was the result of consultations organized ‘in close collaboration with sex worker organizations’, ignoring all survivors of prostitution who do not want to label prostitution as work: a word that softens all the inherent violence, sexism, classism and racism that are found in the purchase of sexual acts.”

The European Women’s Lobby “urges all Ministers and Ministers of Justice present at tomorrow’s meeting to listen to survivors, to support them and to implement well-funded support and exit programs, following the legislation adopted by several countries in Europe , such as France, Sweden and Ireland, and which the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights has been defending in Portugal since 2021”.

The NGO argues that the Equality Model “is the best legal model to adopt when it comes to protecting women and girls in prostitution who suffer from multiple forms of vulnerability and social exclusion, as it decriminalizes them” while “giving them offers health, social, educational and economic support.”

“This model not only gives survivors of prostitution tools to reclaim their power, agency and autonomy, it also places the burden of stigmatization and shame on so-called ‘sex buyers’ who believe that freely given consent can be bought, he concludes.