We express our cordial thanks to Maria Calshamre, MEP, Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee of the EU Parliament who kindly provided us Study on National Legislation on Prostitution and the Trafficking in Women and Children awarded by the European Parliament.

This Final Report presents the results of the study "National legislation on prostitution and the trafficking in women and children”, awarded by the European Parliament and carried out by TRANSCRIME, Joint Research Center on Transnational Crime of the Università degli Studi di Trento and the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy). The goal of the study presented in this Report was to highlight the impact that prostitution related policies have on the number of women and children trafficked and on the manners of their exploitation, i.e. to underline the correlation between the legislation typologies/models on prostitution in force in the European Union Member States and the differences found in the number of women and children who have been trafficked and in the ways of their exploitation.

Trafficking in women and children in the EU Member States and elsewhere is an overwhelming problem. As estimates suggest, a significant number of victims suffer deprivation of their basic human rights and their lives are often at risk. In the European Union, the national policies on prostitution differ greatly from one Member State to the next. It is likely that specific approaches to prostitution have a certain influence on: a) the quantitative dimension of the trafficking in women and children (i.e. the number of victims); b) the qualitative dimension of the trafficking in women and children (i.e. the way in which the trafficking and the exploitation processes are performed; for instance, the degree of violence prevalent in the overall market).

The Report in English: EP_study_legislation_on_prostitution_EN.pdf (1011 Kb)