The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

having regard to Articles 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania; Articles 4 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others; Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; Strategic Objective D.3 of the Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration; the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings; Articles 2 and 13 of the Treaty on European Union; Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA of 19 July 2002 on combating trafficking in human beings; European Parliament resolution of 2014 on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality; reports of the Lithuanian and foreign experts on 19 June 2014 at the international Stop Traffick! Conference 'Deconstructing the Demand for Sexual Services: Prevention of Exploitation through Prostitution and Sex Trafficking';

having examined the proposals of non-governmental organizations working in the field of combating  trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation for prostitution and the use of violence against a person, and the conclusions of the round-table discussion 'Ways to Reduce Demand for Sexual Services', held on 19-20 June 2014;

having regard to the fact that the use of prostitution services is related to sexual objectification of a person, commodification of the person’s body as well as his stigmatisation and traumatisation;

being aware that the states, which support the purchase of sexual services, prostitution and trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation or organization of criminal activities, encounter the violation of human rights and the increase in crime and social exclusion;

taking into consideration the experience of applying the Nordic model and criminalizing the purchase of sexual services in France;

taking into account the fact that more and more young people, among whom alarmingly many are minors, as well as persons with mental disability, dependent on narcotic and psychotropic substances and alcohol are forced into prostitution and that their mortality rate is higher than that of an average population;

evaluating the fact that the media create a negative portrait of women selling sex, maintaining stereotyped gendered thinking, sexist attitude towards the role of women in society, which contributes greatly to sustaining violence against women and forming a varied approach to prostitution,

proposes to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania:

1) to submit to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania for ratification the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others;

2) to submit amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania criminalizing the purchase of services of prostitution, pornography or other forms of sexual exploitation;

3) to submit amendments to Article 182¹ of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the abolishment of administrative liability for engagement in prostitution;

4) to create an interdepartmental working group to prepare a program for re-socialization, rehabilitation and reintegration of sex workers.

SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS                                                        LORETA GRAUŽINIENĖ