“A comparative survey of the legal status of prostitutes in the 46 member states of the Council of Europe” is the subject of the parliamentary session that is going to be held tomorrow in Strasbourg, with the special participation of experts. “Legal in some countries, illegal in the majority of the others reads the note , prostitution divides Europe”. Minodora Cliveti, president of the Equal Opportunities Commission at the Parliament of the Council of Europe, finds unacceptable discrimination against women, stating that “prostitutes mostly women are usually more liable to sentences that their clients, in those countries in which prostitution is treated as a crime, a situation that must be checked. To put an end to this situation, the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) state in a petition that “the differing attitudes to prostitution have a negative impact on the fight against forced prostitution, the one that is the first and the only form which is unanimously condemned in Europe”. The session will also address public health care, the prevention of HIV and drug abuse.
