[Nicosia, 18 November 2012] The Cyprus Women’s Lobby (CWL) and the European Parliament Office in Cyprus will on 28 November host a conference entitled “Violence against Women and Prostitution”.
The aim of the conference, to take place in the EU House in Nicosia, is to initiate a public dialogue on the issue of women in prostitution in Cyprus. Many academics, activists and policy makers view prostitution as a form of violence against women and believe the system should be abolished. Others view prostitution as a profession and a result of women’s free choice, and therefore argue that prostitution should be legal and regulated with the intent to protect the rights of “sex workers”.
Prostitution is addressed in many different ways across countries and legal systems: In some states prostitution is legal and regulated while in others prostitution is criminalised through legislation either criminalising the users of prostitution services or the users as well as the providers of such services. In other states, while prostitution itself is not criminalised, living off the profits of prostitution is a criminal offence. The conference aims to explore and examine different state policies and their impact on women in prostitution, users of prostitution services, and society at large from a women’s rights and gender equality perspective.
The conference is part of EWL’s campaign ’Together for a Europe free from prostitution’.
Simultaneous translation will be provided in English/ Greek.
Please see the draft conference programme.
RSVP- Josie Christodoulou at Josie[a]medinstgenderstudies.org or + 357 22351274 (ext.115) by 26.11.2012.
