PACE: Controversial resolution on prostitution referred back to committee!

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On October 3, 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted in favour of referring back to the Committee the controversial motion for a resolution on prostitution, entitled ‘Protecting the human rights and improving the lives of sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation’. The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) is delighted with this milestone victory to which it contributed.

The debate and vote on the report and motion for a resolution ‘ Protecting the human rights and improving the lives of sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation ’, scheduled for the afternoon of 3 October 2024 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), did not take place in the end. In a brief speech and in the absence of rapporteur Fourat Ben Chikha, the Chair of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination Mariia Mezentseva-Fedorenko ‘ [asked] the Assembly to refer the report back to the committee [...] so that it can continue its discussions, work and deliberations ’. As the committee chairwoman admits, the reason for referring the report back to committee is that there is ‘ not enough political support “ for the texts, which are the subject of ” extremely divided opinions ’ that have emerged in particular over the past few days. With ‘ no intention of dividing the Assembly “ and a desire to be ”constructive “ and ” bring people together ’, the Committee was forced at the last minute to resign itself to the objections to the report and resolution that should have been put to the vote. And with good reason, since these texts proved to be extremely dangerous.

A stage victory on a dangerous text

Attempting to justify the Committee's work on these texts, Ms Mezentseva-Fedorenko stated that the Committee had endeavoured to fulfil its mission of combating discrimination, in this case ‘the discrimination faced by people who sell sex, which is often ignored, underestimated or even hidden ’. The Chair was also careful to praise the quality of the rapporteurs' work and the variety of stakeholders consulted, in particular civil society, and to assure that “ the Committee's approach was based on human rights, in particular the standards of the Council of Europe ”.

The reality is quite different, however, since these texts were partisan and ideological, presenting the abolitionist vision of prostitution as harmful, while promoting the normalisation of prostitution as ‘sex work’. Indeed, it is well known that only the opinions of major NGOs, committees and international officials in favour of the total decriminalisation of prostitution were reported. Basically, the texts contrasted ‘forced prostitution’ and ‘sex work’ in order to gain acceptance for the latter. They thus proved to be completely disconnected from the reality of prostitution, which it has been established is largely exploited by traffickers, the cases in which it is fully chosen or freely consented to being very rare. Moreover, these texts were in total contradiction with international law, which unambiguously affirms the incompatibility of prostitution with human dignity and condemns trafficking in human beings and procuring: as they did not go in the desired direction, important international instruments were omitted. The vision promoted by the report and the resolution was also opposed to that adopted by the European Parliament in its resolution of 14 September 2023 in favour of the abolition of prostitution. It also contradicted the positions taken within the Council of Europe itself: on the one hand that of the Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed ten years ago in its Resolution 1983 (2014) ‘Prostitution, trafficking and modern slavery in Europe’, and on the other hand with the judgment of 25 July 2024 handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of M.A and others v. France (no. 63664/19). Behind the laudable objective of defending the rights of people in prostitution, the report and resolution in fact concealed the legalisation of their exploitation and the regulation of the violence of prostitution. Their referral to committee is therefore a first victory: the battle is not yet won, but the danger has been averted for the time being.

The fruit of major mobilisation

The adoption of these texts by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination on 13 September 2024 quickly gave rise to a mobilisation to denounce the danger they represented and demand that they be rejected by PACE. This movement made it possible to highlight the strong divergence of views within the Assembly which justified the referral back to committee: the resolution thus gave rise to the tabling of more than fifty amendments co-signed by MEPs from different political backgrounds, but all of which were in favour of a firm reorientation of the document. ECLJ took action by writing to PACE members, proposing amendments and initiating a petition signed by more than 17,000 European citizens. Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, has also been alerted and has issued a press release to the PACE in which she states that ‘ this resolution, if adopted, would constitute a serious regression for the rights of women and girls in the member countries of the Council of Europe ’. She is also the author of the report ‘Prostitution and violence against women and girls’, published last May, which recommends that states adopt an abolitionist legal framework for prostitution and pornography. Curiously, the latter was not cited at any point in the texts in question, unlike the report by one of her UN colleagues in favour of decriminalisation. Other letters expressing concern and disapproval also reached the PACE, including one from fourteen coalitions representing 2,000 feminist NGOs or led by survivors and grassroots organisations, as well as from members or former members of the European Parliament involved in the adoption of the resolution of 14 September 2023.

This mobilisation has therefore borne fruit, and it is fortunate that the Assembly of the Council of Europe has made the wise choice to prioritise quality and impartiality over ideology. It is essential that the Commission, which could be granted a further six months to complete its work, uses this time to modify the general thrust of the report and the motion for a resolution and to remove all factual untruths and legal approximations. The ECLJ will not fail to follow the evolution of these texts: the protection of the dignity of people trapped in prostitution is at stake, as is the credibility of the PACE.