An equal Europe is one where everyone, regardless of their sex, identity or background has access to the same opportunities and choices in life.
We can tackle social and gender inequalities to make sure nobody is forced, by coercion or by circumstance,
to be sexually exploited. For the EWL; it is a priority to act now to ensure a fairer, safer and more equal future for all.
Prostitution
The EWL is a member of the Brussels’ Call, a partnership coalition working towards a Europe free from sexual exploitation. We are advocating for a Europe where justice, equality, non-discrimination and freedom from oppression are the norm; where all sexual relations are consensual and those who coerce, exploit and commit violence are held to account for their actions.
Brussels’ Call works with leaders in European Institutions and Member State Governments to implement legal and policy reforms that support women and girls. We are currently working towards the implementation of the Equality Model in all EU Member States, for a Europe free from sexual exploitation. Learn more about Brussels’ Call here.
Surrogacy
Surrogacy is the social practice that consists of recruiting a woman to gestate and give birth to one or more children, whether they are conceived with her own oocytes or not, in exchange for payment, and through a contract to give the baby away, thus renouncing her parental rights, to one or more people.
Surrogacy entails the objectification of women, the commercialisation of the new-born, the trafficking of human beings, and the violation of human dignity of the woman exploited as ‘surrogate mother’ and the child, thus undermining women’s and child’s rights.
Together with other women’s rights organisations, the EWL advocates for the EU to systematically take surrogacy into account in their legislative work, as a reproductive violence inflicted on women, as human trafficking, and a violation of children’s rights. Read more about our position here.
