The 19th century witnessed the abolition of legal slavery. The 20th century granted people worldwide the right to vote. Could the 21st century be the one that consigns prostitution to the dustbin of history? This is the hope of the global prostitution abolitionist movement, which convened for its Fourth World Congress in Montreal this June…. Read more »
A Swedish delegation recently traveled to the United States, visiting New York and Philadelphia to present Sweden’s approach to combating prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation. The goal of the visit was to foster a knowledge exchange between the two countries, addressing areas such as legislation, legal frameworks, prevention strategies, and support systems for vulnerable groups—especially… Read more »
On March 29-30, Sweden, as the EU’s presiding country, gathers European ministers, delegates, and experts in Stockholm for a two-day conference on human trafficking. We, women’s organizations from various countries, welcome the Swedish government’s pledge to intensify the work of preventing and combating prostitution and human trafficking within and beyond Sweden’s borders. Human trafficking is… Read more »
At the end of January, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its latest global report on human trafficking for 2022, covering cases from 2020. This 7th edition of the report highlights a world in flux, where the pandemic has significantly impacted both traffickers’ methods and the ability to identify victims… Read more »
The campaign website for Happy Ending is now live. A glance at the website gives those seeking to purchase sexual exploitation something to reflect on, as it reclaims the original meaning of the term. RealStars’ goal is to engage a wide audience in working toward a zero-tolerance vision, where no one is subjected to sexual… Read more »
A few weeks ago, I, Malin Roux Johansson, traveled to Malmö City Hall with Vanessa Corneliusson, the chairperson of RealStars Sweden. As many of you know, I founded RealStars over a decade ago and have dedicated myself to combating trafficking ever since. We were thrilled to learn that RealStars had been selected as a finalist… Read more »
As an intern at RealStars I, Frida, have primarily focused on understanding and adapting the European Commission’s report “Study on the Economic, Social and Human Costs of Trafficking in Human Beings within the EU” to a Swedish context during my eight-week internship period. RealStars believes that highlighting the key costs of human suffering, especially with… Read more »
Debit-card companies can make it more difficult for the sex trade or facilitate it. Visa and Mastercard have taken a stand against the “digital brothels”, most visibly for the porn website Pornhub, a website were rape on children, revenge porn and rough abuse on women has been normalized. Now, more payment services and social media… Read more »
In July, after eighteen months of preparations, a sex purchase act has now been introduced in Israel. The legislation is described as a landmark with the hope of changing the lives of thousands of women and vulnerable groups in the country. Knesset accepted the proposal for a law that penalized purchases of sexual acts in… Read more »
Realstars regularly visits Brussel and other countries to talk about fair-sex and promote the Swedish sex-buying law. In September, we visited Chicago and took the opportunity to go to an important conference the 15:th International Human Trafficking & Social Justice Conference at The Toledo university. Under the latest couple of years, Illinois is the only… Read more »
