[Nicosia, 18 November 2012] The Cyprus Women’s Lobby (CWL) and the European Parliament Office in Cyprus are organizing a conference entitled “Violence against Women and Prostitution”, on 28 November 2012 in the EU House in Nicosia, Cyprus.
The aim of the conference 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, therefore they 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 criminalized through legislation either criminalizing the users of prostitution services or the users as well as the providers of such services. In other states, while prostitution itself is not criminalized, 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‘.
The conference will provide simultaneous translation English/ Greek.
Please see the draft conference programme.
RSVP- Josie Christodoulou at Josie@medinstgenderstudies.org or + 357 22351274 (ext.115) by 26.11.2012.
