Shadow Report on the Istanbul Convention

Shadow report on the ISTANBUL CONVENTION
submitted to GREVIO

The Alliance Nordic Model submitted its shadow report on the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the so-called Istanbul Convention, to GREVIO, the Council of Europe’s monitoring instrument, on July 9th, 2021. In it, the alliance shows the connection between violence against women and prostitution.


The Alliance Nordic Model Like NGOs in other countries before it, puts its finger in the wound of the prostitution system and explains in its shadow report the violence against women in prostitution in a well-founded manner, but also shows the connection between the prostitution system and violence against women in general.


Violence in prostitution was not dealt with by other German NGOs, was briefly mentioned in the context of forced prostitution and was primarily rated as too complex and therefore left out of the reporting. The voluntary, independent alliance has now managed to put this complexity on paper without any financial support with the expertise of its alliance partners.


When it comes to successfully preventing and combating violence against women, it is essential to look at the prostitution system. The Alliance Nordic Model fundamentally contradicts the assumption that prostitution is to be regarded as a profession and contradicts the trivializing term "sex work". The repetition of sexual acts several times a day, mostly on young women, without physical desire is sexual violence. Free men take advantage of the financial and social misery of women.


It not only showed the connections between violence against prostituted women and Germany's prostitution policy, but also how the prostitution system promotes and continues violence and unequal treatment of all women. The extensive legalization as a “profession” has qualitatively and quantitatively increased violence. Germany has become a target country for human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and must finally face up to its responsibility.


The Alliance Nordic Model has shown on individual articles of the Istanbul Convention that the importance of this convention for the life of prostituted women in Germany has not been recognized so far. It made concrete suggestions on how to change that.


A change in prostitution policy appears


unavoidable for the Nordic Model Alliance.




https://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/germany





Also our alliance partner End Demand Switzerland submitted a shadow report to GREVIO:


https://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/switzerland






Article 22 contained ambiguous passages. The alliance partners KARO eV, SOLWODI Germany and TERRE DES FEMMES eV published the article in cooperation with the Alliance Nordic Model revised and updated.


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