SOLWODI (Solidarity with Women in Distress) – 22 Years of Fighting Trafficking of Women and Forced Prostitution

Abstract

The first part my presentation will deal with the consequences of legalizing prostitution in Germany in 2002. Since then brothels and other places of prostitution (caravans, motels, wellness centre, escort services, rented apartments etc.) are shooting up like mushrooms. Prostitution is a system with enormous financial gains. It supplies the German sex market with women from all over the world, since the EU expansion thousands of poor, unsuspecting women from Eastern Europe are lured into degrading jobs, where they are forced to fulfil the seemingly insatiable sexual appetites of German men. It is estimated that prostitutes are being frequented by up to one million men each day.

Legalizing Prostitution was meant to do away with double moral standards by accepting it as a social reality and part of the service industry. It was hoped to strengthen the status of those who – for various reasons - opt for this way of income generation. But five years later less than 10% of prostitutes have officially registered their trade.

Instead this law inhibits the detection of victims of trafficking and forced prostitution by police who find it much more difficult to differentiate between legal and criminal prostitution.

The second part of my presentation will address the different aspects of SOLWODI’s work. SOLWODI (Solidarity With Women In Distress) is the largest NGO in Germany fighting against trafficking of women and forced prostitution with 36 employees, 6 safe houses for victims and 13 counseling centers. SOLWODI was founded in 1985 at Mombasa/Kenya by a German White Sister as a consequence of sex tourism. From there SOLWODI spread to Germany. In the year 2000 SOLGIDI (Solidarity With Girls In Distress) was started in Kenya for the daughters of prostitutes in order to prevent them from being sexually exploited like their mothers.

Sr. Dagmar Plum, Medical Mission Sister, Theology, Philosophy and Romance Philology
Organization: SOLWODI (Solidarity with Women in Distress)
Location: Koblenz, Germany
Title of Presentation: SOLWODI (Solidarity with Women in Distress) – 22 Years of Fighting Trafficking of Women and Forced Prostitution