Abpfiff - Deutscher Frauenrat

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counterpart to prohibit the purchase of sex services
in Germany as well, stating that “this would be a
good way to combat human trafficking”. In May of
2006, the Swedish government’s Equal Opportunities
Commissioner at the time, Claas Borgström, even
called for the Swedish national players to boycott the
World Cup in Germany, an appeal that played well in
his country’s media. In mid-June of 2006, Jens Orback,
the Swedish Equal Opportunities Minister at the time,
paid the Deutscher Frauenrat (National Council of
German Women’s Organizations) an informal short
visit. After entering the country as a tourist with
two of his children to attend the Sweden-Paraguay
match in Berlin, he asked for the chance to become
personally acquainted with the Deutscher Frauenrat
and the campaign. A lively discussion quickly arose
about the advantages, disadvantages and aims of
the respective legal “models” for prostitution.
Initial assessment
The 2006 Football World Cup in Germany will be
remembered by Germans, foreign guests, participants
and spectators from around the world as one
enormous, peaceful summer party. Most of the wellfounded
fears preceding the event did not in fact
materialise. And that is a good thing. According to
data from the police and the Interior Ministry, even
forced prostitution did not increase during the
games. Human trafficking, however, is an undercover
crime, i.e. it requires sufficient targeted detective
work to come to light. Opinions differ as to whether
the police had sufficient resources available during
the World Cup in order to do this work. However,
women’s counselling centres and emergency
hotlines in the country did not register higher
demands for their services during the games either.
It is thus all the more aggravating to hear accusations
of alarmist sensationalism directed at the campaign
organisers following the World Cup. After all, the
campaign organisers did not invent the horrendous
figures for (forced) prostitutes who would supposedly
flood the country during the World Cup. On the
contrary. The fact remains, however, that forced
prostitution is a crime with a wide distribution both
in Germany and other European countries, and that
there had been little outcry against it. That has now
European Trade Union Confederation: In a letter to
the German Federation of Trade Unions dated 18 May
2006, it announced its full support for the campaign.
It also called for instituting measures on the EU level
to combat these violations of human rights and to
establish appropriate protection for the victims.
European Women’s Lobby: The campaign was
not only welcomed but also supported by the
European Women’s Lobby (EWL), even though
the majority of organisations in the EWL hold
different positions on prostitution than the
Deutscher Frauenrat. For in contrast to many
other groups, the member organisations of
the European Women’s Lobby understood the
concerns and goals of the “Final Whistle” campaign,
namely to combat forced prostitution.
changed due to a wide array of actions surrounding
the World Cup, and not least of all due to the “Final
Whistle – Stop Forced Prostitution” campaign. After
all, the issue of human trafficking for the purpose of
sexual exploitation had never before been subjected
to that level of public debate. As such, the campaign
more than met one of its most important goals,
namely to raise public awareness of the problem.
In the meantime, the CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic
Party and its Bavarian sister party) have proposed
a law that will penalise clients who knowingly or
negligently have sex with forced prostitutes. In
connection with this, improvements in residency
status are planned for those who appear as witnesses
in proceedings against human traffickers.
The 2006 General Assembly of the Deutscher
Frauenrat called for policy makers to evaluate whether
such a law is in fact an effective way to combat human
trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
In addition, this General Assembly of the
Deutscher Frauenrat broadly confirmed the urgent
policy recommendations of the “Final Whistle”
campaign with a resolution entitled “Combating
human trafficking for the purpose of sexual
exploitation – before and after the World Cup!”