Leo van Doesburg

  In the end of last year, a far-reaching resolution was adopted in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the “Gender Aspects and Human Rights Implications of Pornography”. The resolution was accompanied by a report . The conclusion is clear: pornography and its industry are harmful. In the resolution, the Parliamentary Assembly condemns pornography and calls upon its members to protect human rights and gender equality, to ban public porn advertisement and block porn websites in the workplace and public institutions among others. The accompanying report extensively highlights the connection between pornography and violence against women and human trafficking; and stresses the negative effects on men, women, and particularly young people. Although some critique and concern remain, this resolution and report should put the issue of pornography back on the agenda and start a debate among politicians and policymakers to rethink and reconsider the vision on porn...

Last week we marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Globally, 1 in 3 women experiences abuse or violence in her lifetime, and that is true for Europe as well. Looking at the statistics, the situation is worrying. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, figures indicate a sharp rise in domestic violence and in sexual abuse and exploitation. In Romania, Aurora Martin from the National Agency for Equal Opportunities between women and men, invited me as a keynote speaker in two important virtual events. One event was a workshop on “Gender Equality: Opportunities and Challenges”, part of a larger anniversary event of the Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University. The second event was focused on “Women’s Safety in Public and Private Spaces”, organized by the Romanian Institute for Human Rights and the National Agency for Equal Opportunities between women and men. Below you will find my contribution to the two events, as well as a list of recommendations to facil...

In the framework of the European Anti-Trafficking Day, I was invited as a speaker to a large online conference on "Combating Human Trafficking - a Continued Struggle, adapted to the new context generated by the COVID-19 Pandemic". This conference was organized by the Parliamentary Group for the Fight Against Human Trafficking in the Romanian Parliament. See here my presentation: Some of the other speakers were : Angel TÎLVĂR , coordinator of the Parliamentary Group for the Fight against human trafficking, Valiant RICHEY, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Bogdan DESPESCU , Secretary of State, Police Chief-Quaestor of Police, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Cornel FERUȚĂ , Secretary of State for Global Affairs and Diplomatic Strategies Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cristina-Ionela IURIŞNIŢI , Chair of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, Olivier ONIDI , EU Anti-trafficking Coordinator, Gabriela SCUTEA , Pr...

Biased Amnesty International Report revealed Today, we celebrate the 11th EU Anti-Trafficking day .  Human trafficking is a prevalent practice globally, with instances of exploitation and human rights violations being reported in many nations each year . There are an estimated 21 million people in forced or coerced human trafficking worldwide according to the International Labour Organization Estimate on Forced Labour , which was published in 2012.  Moreover, according to the International Organization on Migration, 70% of trafficked victims are led to prostitution. One would expect, that this correlation between trafficking and prostitution, would lead national governments and non-government organizations to join efforts in putting barriers to prostitution. On the contrary, Germany and the Netherlands decriminalized prostitution and Amnesty International published a controversial report that supports the view that the decriminalization of prostitution can ...

Trafficking in human beings constitutes a grave violation of individual rights, freedom and dignity as well as being a serious form of crime. The implications of this phenomenon are beyond what individual countries can address on their own. [1] It is this compelling reality that first led to the development of EU policy on combating trafficking in human beings. Read here the background information (By Anca de Jong Bulica for the ECPM)