The Minister Presidents of the ‘Länder’ and the leaders of the national political parties have received an open letter asking to put an end to prostitution in Germany.

The country has some of the most permissive laws in relation to the consumption of sex, and many organisations have denounced the poor conditions in which prostituted women live.

The letter has been sent by a broad alliance of organisations such as Terre de Femmes, The Left for a World without Prostitution, and Christian organisations Kainos, Mission Freedom, New Start and Sowoldi.

In the context of Covid-19 crisis and the risk for prostituted women to be infected, authorities should resist the pressure of the “prostitution lobby” which calls to re-open the burdels.

But the State should not punish vulnerable women who live in “poverty and barely survive”, but offer them “paid lodging”, the letter says. These organisations demand the implementation in Germany of the “Nordic model”, which punishes the buyer of sex, and offers prostituted women financial help, education and psychological support when needed, to leave the world of sexual exploitation.

Time to propose changes in the law

The German Evangelical Alliance has expressed its support for the initiative. Its political representative Uwe Heimowski said that “young men must learn and understand that women are not a product”.

Heimowski welcomed the recent positions of some fractions of the big parties in favour of illegalising prostitution, and called to “make propositions to change the law soon”.

Statistics in Germany show a dark reality of prostitution in which many are victims of three severe crimes: deprivation of freedom, rape and forced prostitution.

The Christian platform European Freedom Network, which unites dozens of anti-trafficking organisations in Europe, chose Berlin for its 2017 conference. They called Germany to change the law to make sure no sexual exploitation is happening inside its borders.