The report on the UK’s burden of guilt for prostitution has the purpose of raising awareness around the impact of the sale of sexual services on those involved and to develop proposals for government action with a focus on tackling demand for the sex trade.

The objective of this briefing paper is to provide background information drawn from the international literature on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality in relation to the report of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee. The study concentrates on the debate on whether prostitution could be voluntary or has rather to be regarded in any case as a violation of women’s human rights. It also presents an overview of the policies on prostitution in the Member States as well as four case studies: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.

This article critiques the liberal “prostitution-can-be-fixed-or-improved” perspective of liberals and defends an abolitionist approach that views prostitution as slavery or slavery-like practices.