Civil Society Groups Ask the UN to End Demand for Prostitution

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NEW YORK, July 11 (C-Fam) At a recent UN meeting on human trafficking, civil society groups asked UN member states to recognize prostitution and pornography as key drivers of trafficking. The groups challenged the UN narrative that prostitution can be a dignified profession, referring to it as an inherently exploitative system that hurts women. UN agencies stayed silent on the need to end the demand for prostitution.

In preparation for a high-level meeting on human trafficking scheduled for November, the President of the UN General Assembly held an informal stakeholder hearing engaging member states with civil society and other stakeholders working directly on the issue of trafficking in persons.

Civil society groups that engage with sex trafficking victims were unequivocal in their criticism of prostitution, urging countries to end demand for “sex buying.”  Their insights and testimonies challenged the idea that integrating prostitution into mainstream society would help women, a perspective promoted by several UN mechanisms, including UNAIDS, the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. To cast it in a more positive light, several UN agencies prefer to use the term “sex work” instead of “prostitution.”

A spokesperson from Sanctuary Families who offered legal representation to thousands of trafficking survivors and their families said her clients experienced extensive harm at the hands of their “sex buyers” including “rape, torture, burns, broken bones, strangulation, femicide.”

“The resulting physical and emotional impacts, such as traumatic brain injury, chronic reproductive maladies, and trauma, are profound and often life-long,” the representative said.

The Jerusalem Institute for Justice condemned the “new rhetoric that labels prostitution as a form of empowerment for women,” saying “[t]his is absurd. A woman’s body is not a product and is not a workplace. “

The NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons said a key way to bankrupt the business of trafficking is to end the demand for sex trafficking and that, as of now, “there is little risk for buyers.” A representative from the Nigerian delegation asked for more “collaborative efforts” to address the demand side of sexual exploitation.

Stefano Gennarini, speaking on behalf of C-Fam, the publisher of Friday Fax, urged member states to recognize that sex trafficking does not “exist in a vacuum” but is “part of a toxic ecosystem of moral corruption and depravity that is perpetuated by laws and policies that turn a blind eye to the victims of sex buying.”

“Laws and policies that in any way legitimize or tolerate prostitution and pornography are a danger to societies, and women and children especially. This is why it is shocking when UN agencies promote legal prostitution, undermine the family, and depict sexuality as a mere recreational activity, including for children. […] How far have they strayed from their mandate!” Gennarini said.

Several NGOs also raised the alarm over increased cases of sexualization of children online and the need for an increase in protective mechanisms for children. Hope Pyx Global said “disturbingly, there has been a shock rise in self-generated sexual images of children aged 7 to 10” and flagged “increasing concerns over AI-generated child sexual abuse material.”

On November 24th and 25th, the UN will host the fourth high-level meeting on the appraisal of the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. At the opening of the session, UN member states will adopt a Political Declaration on Trafficking Persons. Negotiations are underway and being led by Cyprus and Tajikistan.

 

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