Abpfiff - Deutscher Frauenrat

3
The international response
A selection
The campaign also attracted international
attention and prominent supporters.
The UN: On International Women’s Day in 2006
(March 8), the Vice President of the Deutscher
Frauenrat (National Council of German Women’s
Organizations), Brigitte Triems, described the “Final
Whistle” campaign to the NGO meeting at the
UN Conference on Women’s Rights in New York.
The European Parliament: On 8 March 2006, the
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
of the European Parliament held an event on “Forced
prostitution in the framework of world sport events”.
Brunhilde Raiser, President of the Deutscher Frauenrat,
held a speech there and presented the “Final Whistle”
campaign. On 14 March 2006 the European Parliament
passed a resolution on human trafficking and
forced prostitution which mentioned the campaign
prominently and expressed full support for it.
Austria/Switzerland: Austria planned to address
the topic in the course of its EU Presidency starting
in July of 2006. There is also talk of organising a
similar campaign for the UEFA European Football
Cup which will take place in Austria and Switzerland
in 2008. Henny Engels, the Managing Director of the
Deutscher Frauenrat, was invited to Vienna in mid-
March of 2006 in order to speak with women from
Austria’s Social Democratic Party and the Austrian
Frauenring about the issue and the campaign.
Argentina: The Argentine Embassy in Germany sent
a letter to the Deutscher Frauenrat in late March
of 2006, which denounced forced prostitution
and expressed support for the campaign in
the name of the Republic of Argentina.
Egypt: The First Lady of Egypt, Suzanne Mubarak,
declared her solidarity with the campaign in
a letter of May 2006. She herself had already
initiated the international campaign “End Human
Trafficking NOW” in January of 2006 and proposed
an action plan against forced prostitution.
USA: Given the increasing levels of illegal
immigration into this country, combating human
trafficking (especially for the purpose of labour
exploitation) has been a major political topic for
a number of years now. After the “Final Whistle”
campaign was publicised, representatives of the
US Embassy in Berlin sought discussions with
the Deutscher Frauenrat on several occasions.
There is a strong mainstream evangelical movement
in the USA that would like to prohibit prostitution in
general. In May of 2006, Republican Congressman
Christopher H. Smith initiated discussion in
Congress with a statement entitled “Germany’s
World Cup Brothels: Women and Children at Grave
Risk of Exploitation”. This document condemned
e.g. planned measures by the police against forced
prostitution during the World Cup as “somewhat
absurd” in light of the “infrastructure of legalized
prostitution” in Germany. Smith also appealed to
Chancellor Merkel to reverse the Prostitution Law.
Sweden: Sharp criticism of the “German model” also
came from official Swedish quarters. Since 1999, it has
been illegal to buy sex services in that country. The
Equal Opportunities Minister, the equal opportunities
commissioners and women’s organisations are all
convinced of the efficacy of this legislation and
are promoting it throughout the EU. In February of
2006, for example, the Swedish Justice Minister at
the time, Thomas Bodström, advised his German