ProsPoL
Comparing European Prostitution Policies: Understanding Scales and Cultures of Governance

Period
April 8, 2013 to April 7, 2017
Duration
48 months
Abstract

ProsPol will compare and disseminate knowledge about the multiple contexts, features and effects of prostitution policies at the European, national and local levels. Due to the combined pressures of globalisation and changing patterns of migration, trafficking and the commercialisation of sex, prostitution has received unprecedented levels of attention in the last three decades. This has led to a heightened demand for effective models of regulation, for legal harmonization and sharing practice across jurisdictions. Nevertheless, much is contested in this field, with countries adopting varying approaches in light of their own particular political, social and legal cultures. At present there are no efficient strategies to address these complex issues and their comprehensive analysis remain fragmented, with little communication amongst researchers from different countries and between researchers and policy makers. This Action will fulfill the pressing need to exchange knowledge and develop comparative approaches on prostitution policies, their effects and the complex contexts influencing them. It will provide an innovative platform of exchange to enhance understanding of how concepts, policies and practices transfer across national cultures and local contexts, and the implications this has for knowledge exchange and coordination in the field.

Outcomes

6 Workgroup meetings per year;
2 national dissemination meetings per year (in conjunction with the Workgroup meetings );
2 fieldtrip meetings per year;
2 dissemination conferences;
Academic and policy-specific publications;
Use of the website as a resource and a means to further foster exchange;
1 summer school for public officials, administrators, police officials and media representatives;
4 Short Term Scientific Missions per year.

Partners

Facolta di Scienze della Formazione Università degli Studi di Udine, Italia (Coord.)

The action is composed by 20 european countries.

Madalena Duarte integrates the action as researcher and as representative on the Management Commmittee, in Portugal.

Researchers
Keywords
prostitution, policy design and transfer, gender and sexuality, migration and trafficking, informal economy
Funding Entity
European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research