Abpfiff - Deutscher Frauenrat

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“Inundated“ from the East Or: The chilling prospect of 40,000 prostitutes
Picked out of a hat and subsequently continually referred to by the media, the
figure of “ 0,000 prostitutes” and later “ 0,000 forced prostitutes” who would be
brought to Germany on the occasion of the World Cup was not only completely
unsubstantiated but also a persistent problem for the campaign. Although many
experts repeatedly pointed out that this number has no basis in fact, it remained
popular until the very end, and was even exaggerated by some media.
The chilling prospect of 0,000 prostitutes led among other things to the
phenomenon of especially foreign media, institutions and groups seizing on the
prostitution legislation passed in Germany in 2002 and the existence of (large-scale)
brothels and red-light districts as an opportunity to harp on the “sex industry”, to
stigmatise prostitutes and to blame “liberal” regulations for the problem of forced
prostitution.
From the very beginning, the Deutscher Frauenrat (National Council of German
Women’s Organizations) distanced itself from exaggerated, incorrect figures, and
repeatedly emphasised that by their very nature, human trafficking and forced
prostitution will have a large number of unreported cases and thus that the extent
of the problem can be described at most by estimates, and certainly not by specific
figures. Figures are also irrelevant, because if only a single woman were brought to
Germany for the purpose of sexual exploitation, that would be a serious violation of
human rights. One victim would be one too many.
To legalise or not to legalise? Prostitution
The Law on Regulating the Legal Status of Prostitutes (Gesetz zur Regelung der Rechtsverhältnisse
von Prostituierten), or the Prostitution Law for short, went into effect in Germany in 2002. As the
title of the law indicates, it regulates the legal claims between prostitutes and their clients as well
as the provision of sex services within a labour framework including taxation and social benefits.
The aim of the law is to counter existing legal discrimination against prostitutes, and to facilitate
social benefits such as old-age pensions.
The Deutscher Frauenrat had already resolved in 199 to work to ensure legal protection and
social benefits for prostitutes, so the majority of its member organisations therefore welcomed the
legislation.
The initiators and network partners made every effort to ensure that the campaign issue, namely
combating human trafficking for sexual exploitation, would not become caught up in a debate
over legalising prostitution. But this could hardly be prevented. After all, there are political groups
in Germany, including women’s organisations and initiatives, that reject or are critical of the
Prostitution Law. Pressure from abroad is especially high, both from women’s and human rights’
organisations that do not recognise any difference between voluntary and coerced prostitution
and decry every form of commercial sex as coercion and violence, as well as from politicians of
every stripe and colour who would like to prohibit prostitution for religious or gender-policy
reasons. These positions were all loudly voiced.
On the other flank, prostitutes’ groups in Germany entered the debate and complained that
a discussion of forced prostitution automatically casts aspersions on legal prostitution and is
therefore counterproductive to the aims of the Prostitution Law.
One certainty is that the campaign focused attention not only on human trafficking for the purpose
of sexual exploitation. It also introduced a new dynamic into the discussion, namely whether and
under what conditions prostitution can be legalised to benefit prostitutes instead of clients and
pimps. This debate needs to be pursued as soon as results from the assessment of the Prostitution
Law are finally presented. These results are a necessary precondition for serious discussion.