Fenerateeng.Pdf

FENARETE PROJECT

Fenarete Project | www.fenarete.org E.mail: [email protected] | [email protected] | [email protected]

General Coordination Daniela Mannu et Pia Covre Editor Pia Covre With collaboration Licia Brussa English translation Erik Schneider Art direction Punktone, Gorizia / Italie Front corver illustration Antonio Querin | Punktone Layout designer Lucia Mainetti

© 2004 by Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute Al Rights Reserved Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf is liable for any use made of the following information FENARETE PROJECT

INTRODUCTION

Ten years of operating ‘on the street’ with persons who work as prostitutes has made the Committee for the Civil Rights of Prostitutes a groundbreaking experience which is always on the ‘cutting edge’ in exploring new ways for improving the lives of sex workers. From self-help groups to the European TAMPEP project, the pilot projects in the area of HIV prevention and health care have become models for a network of services and projects in other countries. More recently, these experiences led to a specific project for the protection and emancipation of migrant women who are trafficked and exploited. A decisive factor for the successful implementation of many of the projects undertaken during this period has been the direct contribution of active or former sex workers. An initial, pragmatic use of volunteers has developed into a more structured inclusion of this figure in multi-disciplinary operational teams in the area of prostitution. However, because no certification exists for the figure of the Peer Educator (PE), this role in operational settings has not received the professional recognition that operators who work in extremely complex situations deserve. In addition, except for some training for activities where it was necessary to provide information on the issues being dealt with by volunteers, there were no adequate vocational training courses for PEs in the area of prostitution. This situation led to the idea of properly recognising the work of these precious ‘operators’ whose active interventions are an authentic added value, as has been demonstrated by many experiences, and not only in Europe. For example, the SHIP programme, which began in 1992 (supported by UNAIDS) and targeted the transmission of HIV/AIDS between prostitutes and their clients in Sonagachy, the main red light district in Calcutta, India, has assumed a legen- dary status in the field and, in terms of numbers, remains the most important organised use of PEs to date. With these aims in mind, we presented a proposal for a pilot project that would compensate for the lack of vocational training courses to the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme (General Education and Culture Directorate of the European Commission, 2000-2006). Our proposal for a two-year course in 2001-2003 aimed at enhancing the skills and professional role of persons with an experience of prostitution, and promoting their training and employment, was accepted. Our indispensable partner for what was necessarily a transnational project, was the TAMPEP/Transnational AIDS/STD Prevention among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe/Project network. This project utilises prostitutes as PEs in all phases of

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its own operations and actively promotes a political, legal and social framework based on the human and civil rights of prostitutes, policies against human trafficking and the respect of the personal autonomy and integrity of women. Working together with different countries in order to prepare a standard training course for defining this specific role required respecting each country’s special characteristics with respect to prostitution. The fact that no there is uniform legislation for prostitution and immigration throughout Europe means that our target has very different living and working conditions depending on which country they live in, and therefore require different training strategies. The most striking example of this can be found in the anti-trafficking laws in Italy which, in terms of their positive aspects, have resulted in a general increase in projects and services dedicated to the social/employment integration of persons who wish to abandon a situation of exploitation. These services are also an important source for jobs for those women who, having abandoned prostitution, wish to make the skills they have acquired in their personal experience available to services and colleagues. In fact, the Italian trainees were foreign women with a personal history of migration which had greatly affected their lives, while the German trainees were in part native-born and came from situations which were more favourable to them. However, the experience was extremely important for both groups of women. This manual underline the methodological structure of the training, for whom would like to go deep in detailed the documentation is available in the web site www.fenarete.org. As a final note, the project was named Fenarete after the mother of the Athenian philosopher Socrates, who, tra- dition has it, was a midwife and assisted women in giving birth. This name, which was chosen by the trainers, ultimately proved a valid metaphor for their maieutic role in creating processes of self-awareness and self-knowledge for their trainees, for their encouragement and for the care and caring with which they trained their groups.

by Maria Pia Covre

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Cap. 1 | Methodology: working hypothesis

Our analysis of the situation in Italy enabled us to prepare the Fenarete project based on the following factors: the extent to which prostitution was diffused the ways in which prostitution was practised existing services and projects aimed at prostitution and their work-styles the various professional profiles involved in the services and projects aimed at prostitution

With respect to this final point, we noted two significant elements : the majority of services and projects for prostitution did not have PEs on their staff the services and projects which did employ former prostitutes on their staff, generally used them as language-cultural mediators, or as ‘raw operators’ . The data showed that the professional figure of the PE was not only not used in prostitution-related interventions, but that its specific characteristics were not even known. Based on these observations, we asked ourselves if the professional PE could have a useful role in services and projects aimed at prostitution.

1.1 The professional role of PEs in the area of prostitution

Profile of the PE in the area of prostitution The first question to ask is: what is a Peer Educator? A PE is a person who belongs to the target group and thus, with respect to prostitution-related interventions, is someone who currently works as a prostitute or who has worked as a prostitute in the past. This special characteristic means that the PE is both close to and yet detached from the target group. Close to because she belongs or belonged to this group in the past; detached because as a peer she must be able to assume a role which is distinct from that of the target group. The PE is not ‘only’ a sex worker, but a sex worker or former sex worker who is trained in order to provide support to her colleagues or former colleagues. For this reason, the peer, in order to properly fulfil her professional role, must differentiate herself from the target, that is, the peer must be aware of the fact that now that she has assumed another, different professional role, she is no longer identical to her ‘users’. The PE must be a ‘leader’, that is, she must be a person who can become a significant point of reference both within the project and/or service in which she works, and with respect to her colleagues or former working colleagues. Being a leader is not something which is based entirely upon a person’s character or natural qualities, but must be reinforced by specific, consciously applied

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interpersonal skills. This is especially true of the ability to relate to the target in a professional and not in an instinctual manner, as well as the ability to work within a team and with groups of users, understanding the dynamics involved and managing them within the limits prescribed by the PE’s role. The PE also has a didactic role which is based on her personal experience, only this experience has been reworked, reinforced and enhanced by additional facts and information, and is therefore updated and ‘upgraded’. Being an ‘educator’ means that the PE’s goal is to set in motion an evolutionary process, for example, increasing the user’s level of information. As a sex worker, the potential peer has acquired abilities and information through their personal experience. However, in order to become a professional PE, that experience and information must become a conscious body of knowledge that is applied after being enhanced through the acquisition of technical information. The PE has a great responsibility which requires a knowledge of specific issues as well as respect for oneself and one’s experiences. The first aspect to stress is that the peer must feel motivated to assume this role. For peers who still work as prostitutes, this means being able to deal with a dual role, while for those who have left prostitution, it means being able to adjust their self-image with respect to an identical context (i.e. ‘before I was on the street as a prostitute and I related with clients, now I’m on the street as a peer and I relate with prostitutes’). Peers must also be aware of their own history and experiences as prostitutes in order not to confuse themselves with their users, that is, they must maintain a proper distance between themselves and the target in order to relate in an open and unbiased way. This is the only way for the peer to work respecting someone who is different from them, and avoid setting into motion substitution mechanisms.

1.1.1 Role and functions of PE in the area of prostitution

The professional role of the PE is situated within projects and activities, and therefore within work-groups, with which the peer shares goals and working methods. In the Italian context, the peer can be included in mobile units, drop- in centres, shelters for trafficked women and in special services working out of health-care facilities. Because she is an integral part of the work-group, she should not be considered merely as someone who performs tasks, but should also be given decision-making powers within the work-group regarding the project’s/service’s strategies and activities. This form of involvement produces benefits, due to the fact that the peer is more knowledgeable than her colleagues about the area of intervention (prostitution), given that she once was (or still is) part of it. The peer’s professional role is thus clearly defined and distinct from that of her co-workers with whom she collaborates. This role is based on: her personal experience as a prostitute which has been reworked

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the possession of specific technical information the possession of interpersonal skills which cut across cultures, roles, etc. In her activities, the peer seeks to raise the awareness of sex workers regarding social/health care prevention and harm reduction, and is characterised by an attitude of understanding and support with respect to persons who work as prostitutes. Because the peer is able to transmit precise and up-to-date information, can manage one-on-one consultations, promote and participate in workshops and maintain open and positive relations with the target as well as professional relations with public health care and social services operators, she should be considered as a professional who operates in the prevention and harm reduction sector of the social/health care area.

1.2 Basic training methods for PE

1.2.1 Analysis of professional abilities

As we have shown above, the PE is involved in a series of activities which are complex in terms of both methods and contents. Due to her many different functions, the PE must possess the following kinds of technical knowledge: Medical/health care sex organs and reproductive system, contraception, pregnancy and abortion, safe sex, STIs, organisation of the system of health care services and how to access those services Legal/social immigration and prostitution laws, the organisation of the system of social services, how to access social services, types of labour contracts, the employment services system, the possibility of vocational training/re-skilling Inter-cultural the value and management of time and money in different ethnic groups, the meaning of work and money in prostitution and in other professions, rivalries and antagonisms among different ethnic groups, what working as a prostitute means in different cultural settings. In terms of work-styles, the PE must be familiar with the following methods used by projects and services in the area of prostitution: Harm reduction Prevention methods and techniques Techniques for doing workshops Ways and means for assisting trafficked women. In terms of managing her professional activities, the PE must have the following interpersonal skills:

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The ability to manage help-relationships and one-on-one consultations With respect to working in and as a team, she most be familiar with group phases and dynamics.

1.2.2 Methods: a working hypothesis

The PE is unique because she does a job for which she is especially qualified due to her own experience. The first step is thus verifying how these women view and feel about their own experience: i.e. does it represent an element of strength, or of weakness? Is it considered a part of their own lives from which to gain knowledge about themselves, others, reality in general, or is it something they would rather deny, conceal or forget? Our working hypothesis is thus to define the PE’s role, activities and position based on the trainees’ experiences of migration and prostitution, thereby delinea- ting the professional profile towards which we wish to move, while at the same time permitting the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the personal experiences of the trainees to emerge. The cornerstone of this method is prostitutes and migrant women recognising that their own experiences are significant. For this to happen, a space must be created where each trainee can begin to rework her own experience by telling a part of her own story and listening to the stories of others. This process involves: making both the positive and negative aspects of their experience emerge; recognising painful feelings; knowing that they have ‘been there’ and that this now is a part of their own life experience; identifying the resources which were used in order to get through negative experiences and recognising one’s own strong points. All these elements make it possible to : avoid activating mechanisms of denial distinguish the past from the present, and thus their past situation from their current one distinguish between who they are and who they are not view their experience in a more detached manner, in order to re-interpret it and obtain information about themselves and external reality identify their own strong and weak points. Knowledge and personal strong-points are the foundations upon which to begin building up the information, techniques and tools which the professional PE must have.

1.2.3 The reworking of one’s personal experience is based on Kohlrieser’s life-cycle theory.

Each individual’s existence is continuously traversed by processes of attachment, bonds, separation and mourning; in the definition of the life-cycle these processes are interrelated with one another. Human existence is thus traversed

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by multiple life-cycles, such that we all experience periods in which we draw closer to someone or something and form a bond, and periods in which we separate from someone or something and work out the resulting loss through mourning. The four phases of the life-cycle are closely interrelated and interdepen- dent upon one another, for if these phases do not follow one another sequentially, the cycle is interrupted and it becomes impossible to form new ties. A potential PE is a person who has stopped working as a prostitute, or continues to work as a prostitute and intends to fulfil a dual role. In either case, the potential peer wishes to try a new professional experience, thereby creating a new self-image, and in order to do this they must detach themselves from their previous professional self-image. Remembering what happened, feeling the emotions connected with, or which characterised these events and reliving (in the sense of re-evoking, consciously trying to recall) certain episodes of one’s personal history makes it possible to detach oneself from them. This is the necessary step for establishing a proper distance from one’s experience as a prostitute and, consequently, distinguishing between one’s Self and Others (the context is the same, i.e. prostitution, but the individuals are different because they have had different lives, experiences, problems, resources). The recognition of the uniqueness of our Self and our own personal experiences is a fundamental step towards the professionalism of the peer, for it makes it possible to avoid the risk of generalising one’s experience, that is, the risk of considering future users as identical to oneself and therefore superimposing one’s own experience onto theirs and offering standardised strategies and pre-packaged solutions. Detaching oneself means knowing how to distinguish between past, present and future. It means making a clear distinction between past and present, drawing a line of demarcation. This line permits the person to avoid denying the past, because it separates, differentiates, and because it can become the boundary, the dividing line from which to look at one’s past. This dividing line can become a tangible form of protection, something which clearly defines the difference between past and present, making it possible to observe the past with greater serenity and a certain detachment. This in turn makes it possible to re-examine one’s personal experiences in order to identify points of strength and weakness, and therefore learn from those experiences. The method being proposed starts a process of distancing which makes it possible to distinguish between past and present, while maintaining both as aspects of one’s life. This makes it possible to avoid setting in motion processes for denying one’s experience which would be counterproductive and inappropriate with respect to the peer’s professional profile. As regards attachment and the forming of bonds (also parts of the life-cycle) this process involves three aspects: persons, a secure base and goals. The culmina- tion of this process is reinforcing self-esteem, which involves the following steps: 1) in terms of persons, this step involves the ability to love/be loved,

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belong and feel oneself worthy/deserving of life; 2) in terms of a secure base, this step involves the license to explore and a playful attitude; 3) in terms of goals, this step involves a sense of competence, the ability to be successful and act, the ability to take action. If the process of attachment/forming of bonds is correlated with our working hypothesis for the training of PEs, we can identify a number of overlapping areas:

Person Sicure Base Goals Life Peer Life Peer Life Peer cycle training cycle training cycle training Ability to Significant License to License to Feeling of Recognising love/be experience explore explore competence the posses- loved one’s expe- sion of rience specific abilities Belonging within the Playful License to Ability to Abilities training attitude listen and succeed which can group share be applied in project work Feeling Playful License to Being able worthy/ attitude experiment to act/ deserving of (project acting life work)

1.2.4 The “group” as resource

Given that the training process takes place in a group, we asked ourselves how we could use this group dimension as a resource. According to Berne, the group satisfies the basic human needs: the need for stimulus, recognition and structure. The group is also situated midway between the individual and society. In fact, it is an aggregate of persons who, as group members, form a microcosm that has its own identity and is separate and external to society, while at the same time still being part of that society. It therefore functions as an interface and constitutes a fundamental formative experience for every human being. Transactional Analysis, at both the theoretical and therapeutic level, focussed its attention on the ‘group’ as a privileged situation for encouraging processes of change.

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According to Spaltro, the small group constitutes a tripartite model, composed of the individual, the group, and the ‘collective’. This characteristic ‘makes it possible to move beyond the dualistic oppositions of individual/society and subject/object and, in the complexity, uncertainty and anody of the real world permits a process of identification through the distinction which every group makes between itself and everyone else, between who is inside and who is outside’. These theories provide support for the idea of viewing the group dimension as a resource for the peer training process, especially in terms of reworking one’s own experience of prostitution and, as a consequence, for self-definition. The group can be a resource and accompany this process in its initial stages by distinguishing between the inside and outside of the group itself and, in later stages, by differentiating among the persons who make up the group. In fact, initially the group is seen by its members as a protected place to become attached to, a place for self-recognition and solidarity. The members of the group share a strong sense of participation and draw a clear line between inside and outside, between who forms a part of that group and who does not. Subsequently, the group is perceived as a place for making distinctions among its members, both in terms of what makes each member unique, as well as what each member has in common with the others. The process thus evolves from an initial cohesion and solidarity towards an increasing differentiation among the members of the group. The very fact of working in a group therefore offers a resource in terms of developing an experience of closeness and participation, which then moves towards a differentiation based on the recognition of specific personal characteristics. In our working hypothesis, therefore, we decided to programme the training course taking into account two aspects. The first aspect is based on the group as a resource: provide a sense of belonging (the basic assumption is that of dependency on the group), represent a safe base for exploring, mutual comparison among members and experimentation (the basic assumption is that of attack and escape vis- à-vis the group) encourage/guide the definition of the PE role, the recognition of personal abilities and the possibility of succeeding (the basic assumption is that of group cohesion). The second aspect is based on the group’s phases, i.e. programming the training course based on the characteristics of each phase and sequencing the training modules accordingly. The module for reworking the experiences of prostitution and migration is thus placed at the start of the course, when the basic assumption is that of dependency. In fact, according to Transactional Analysis, during the dependency phase the Culture of the group is parental and the transactions are those of the group-Child towards the leader, who is seen as the protective

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Parent who lays down the rules. The members of the group summon up and express primarily their emotional elements and relate to the group leader as someone who embraces, contains and protects. A strong attachment to the group is thus developed during the dependency phase, making it an authentic and significant experience. This phase stresses the similarities among the members, thereby developing a strong sense of belonging. In the next phase, that of attack and escape, the group’s efforts are directed towards inclusion and a differentiation among individual members and the transactional process is directed primarily from the Parent of the trainees towards the group or leader (seen as negative, untrustworthy and inadequate), such that the group-Culture is that of the Child. In other words, the members of the group no longer want feel as if they are part of an undifferentiated whole and seek to stress and delineate their own diversity. However, this phase of the process develops in an unrealistic manner, with the members expressing themselves in terms of values (ideological or intellectualised) or on the basis of emotional impulses. Because the leader contains and contrasts these attitudes, he or she can be viewed negatively. These two phases are functional to eliciting and reworking personal experiences, enabling the individual to view these experiences in both cognitive and emotional terms, and the group to view them in terms of simila- rity and diversity. In the next and most differentiated phase, where the basic assumption is that of cohesion, the group’s approach is one of involvement and the transactions are that of the Adult contaminated by the Parent and the Child. In this phase, there is a real differentiation among the members of the group, who recognise one another’s individuality and form bonds based upon that recognition. The leader has a proactive role with respect to content and dynamics and acts as guarantor for the new bonds which have been formed. This phase is the most suitable for learning, and therefore tools and information are provided during the correspon- ding modules. The fourth phase is that of belonging and the basic assumption is that of a balance being struck between the initial group and the work-group. In this phase, the members test themselves by experimenting with project work and making decisions regarding the activities being undertaken.

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Cap. 2 | Analysis of the enviroment in partner countries

The following chapter describes the specific characteristics of the six countries where the Fenarete project was carried out. It includes the legal framework and the data regarding prostitution and immigration for each country. The Fenarete pilot project was organised based on the structural aspects set forth in this chapter.

2.1. The enviroment of prostitution in partner countries

1.2.1 Italy

At the start of the project, Italy was estimated to have approx. 50,000 sex workers, both male and female. Half of this total, or 25,000 persons, generally worked on the street, both in urban areas, and on major roads and highways. The recent, systematic repression of illegal immigration and the fight against related criminal activity has reduced the visibility of prostitution over the last two years. The most recent data indicates a total of approx. 19,000 prostitutes working on the street, 90% of whom are migrant women. According to the Parsec Association, the numbers vary in Northern Italy between 7,700 and 10,130 persons, in Northern-Central Italy between 5,587 and 6,989 and in the South between 1,470 and 2,170. Prostitution in Italy is primarily practised in houses, but there has also been a rapid increase in the ‘undercover’ activities of foreign women, who work in this way in order to avoid being arrested. There has been a notable increase in public and private locations that, under the pretext of offering personal services, in reality offer sexual services. This phenomenon is widespread throughout Italy (including Sicily and Sardegna) but is especially prevalent in the more prospe- rous North, which accounts for about 50% of these establishments. These women, a veritable human mass who are ‘invisible’ for the State and deprived of any rights, come from Africa, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, South America but also China. The constant and rapid evolution of this phenomenon make it impossible to compile a breakdown by nationality which is not immediately rendered obsolete. In the early ‘90’s, foreign prostitutes were primarily Nigerian, Colombian and Albanian, with mostly Brazilian transsexuals. Today, only the Nigerians remain numerically significant, with the Albanians being replaced by women from Serbia, Bosnia, the Ukraine, Moldavia, Rumania and Bulgaria. The same is true of South Americans, who now come from Peru, Ecuador and Uruguay, and with transsexuals likewise originating from many different countries. Since 2000, the Chinese organisations have also begun offering women from their

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community on the sex market in urban apartments, so that the same women who were once offered only within their community, are now being offered to Italian consumers. However, this is not the only example of a market managed within a specific group. Within the North African male community (especially Moroccan) there are houses and escorts to satisfy the sexual needs of immigrant workers who, for the most part, live in Italy without families. Male prostitution -formerly a minor phenomenon which was practised primarily by drug addicts and gravitated around the gay community in a private form, is now on the increase and has become much more visible. The new recruits are young foreigners excluded from the employment market by immigration laws, who offer their services openly to both male and female clients (though female clients are still rare).

2.1.2 France

It is very difficult to obtain solid quantitative data regarding prostitution in France as the registration as a sex worker by the police is no longer legal and no real observatory for prostitution exists. The only quantitative information we have is the data of the OCRTEH (Central Office for Repression of Human Trafficking) which states that in 1999, 5,000 sex workers were monitored on the streets, but estimates the total number of sex workers to be between 12,000- 15,000, 7,000 of whom work in Paris. To this figure can be added about 3,000 professionals working in bars or massage parlours. As regards qualitative data, the face of prostitution has changed in recent years, with foreign sex workers now accounting for almost half the total number. The majority of these workers come from Eastern Europe (Albania, Rumania, Moldavia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic), but there are also many workers from West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra-Leone), South America (Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador) and North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) Some additional communities are present only in urban areas: for example, the Asian community (Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean) is particularly numerous in Paris. A large proportion of these persons are involved in trafficking networks and are not voluntary sex workers. Here again, the presence of trafficked persons depends largely on the city in which they work (near a border or situated on a strategic migration route). Another important aspect is the growing proportion of men involved in prostitution (35% in some cities). These men work as male prostitutes, as transvestites or are undergoing a transgender process.

2.1.3 Germany

Today, approximately 400,000 people work in prostitution in Germany, 60% of whom are migrants. Within this group, the biggest sub-group is formed by women from central and eastern Europe. According to TAMPEP’s questionnaires which are distributed regularly throughout Germany, the percentage of migrant sex workers in Germany has been increasing steadily in recent years. 1999: 50%

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/ 2001: 55% / 2003: 60%. This trend is continuing. The biggest group of migrant sex workers in Germany is made up of women from central and eastern Europe (50%), followed by women from Asia (approx. 22%), Latin America (approx. 16%) and Africa (approx. 12%). However, central and eastern European women are not the majority in all German cities. In fact, women from central and Eastern Europe mainly work in northern Germany, Latin American women in central Germany, Asian women throughout the country, and African women in the western part of the country. The 2003 TAMPEP study also showed that migrant sex workers in Germany come from over thirty different countries. The main countries of origin are Poland, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Ghana and Nigeria. The mobility of migrant sex workers is highest within Germany. 80% of all changes of workplace were among major German cities, or their environs: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt/Main. Although police checks are becoming increasingly frequent in Germany and the legal status of these women is uncertain, migrant sex workers prefer to remain in-country rather than run the risk of emigrating to other countries. In addition, because the German sex industry is highly organised, it permits (migrant) prostitutes to fulfil market requirements. German nationals work in all areas of prostitution: on the street, in brothels, in apartments, in clubs and bars, as escorts, etc. Migrants, on the other hand, usually work in brothels and apartments, and sometimes in bars and clubs. Working on the street is a high-risk activity because of the extensive police sur- veillance; in addition, street-work is often regarded by German nationals as their exclusive territory. Regular police checks mean that many migrants live and work in an even more clandestine manner than they would otherwise. Many have moved to the peripheries of the major cities, or can only be reached via mobile phone or on the internet. This development is spreading across the entire country, and makes primary prevention work on HIV, AIDS and STIs more difficult, as well as making it harder to support women who become victims of violence. With the new Infectious Diseases Protection Act (Infektionsschutzgesetz), which went into effect on January 1, 2001, persons working as prostitutes are no longer required to undergo mandatory medical check-ups (the mandatory medical certificate was formerly known as the Bockschein). All of the various advisory centres run by HIV/AIDS/ STIs health service providers are now required to provide their services anonymously. The new Infectious Diseases Protection Act has had two major positive results: The absence of mandatory check-ups increases the women’s self-confidence and encourages them to care for themselves and make their own health- care decisions. The available services, which are anonymous, voluntary and mostly free of charge, give migrant sex workers access to health care services, even if these are only for STIs. However, the Act has been unable to deal with the following problems:

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As most migrant sex workers in Germany do not have health insurance, the health service providers are this group’s only opportunity to receive medical care. This means that these women use these services more often than those with health insurance. However, the health service providers have neither the capacity to meet this increase in demand, nor do they have the experience to deal with the migrants’ special needs. Health care for migrant sex workers in the areas of general health care and psychological counselling is still unavailable. Psychological counselling is particularly important for migrants because of the difficulties they encounter during the process of migration, and helps them maintain or restore feelings of self-worth and a sense of control over their own lives.

2.1.4 The Netherlands

Before the implementation of the regulation and legalisation of prostitution in the Netherlands, it was estimated that there were 20,000-25,000 persons working in prostitution in the Netherlands annually. Of these, 90% were women, 5% men and 5% transgender, with 45% working in sex clubs, 20% in ‘window’ brothels, 15% in escort services, 5% on the street, 5% at home and 10% in other forms of prostitution such as hotels, bars and discotheques (Van der Helm and Van Mens, 1999). In 2000 (Visser e.a, 2,000) it was estimated that 6,000 sex workers were active daily in the major areas: window brothels, sex clubs and street prostitution. As regards the structure of the sex business, according to some estimates (Smallebroek and Smit, 2001) there were approx. 550 sex clubs and 630 buil- dings with window brothels, while according to other sources (Visser, 2000) there were 600-700 sex clubs, 2,040 window brothels, 260 escort services and 240 street prostitutes working on a daily basis (Visser, 2000). These estimates were based on data provided by local authorities and service providers. However, from observations and mapping carried out in the field, the total number of sex workers seems to be much higher. Just in those cities where TAMPEP does outreach work, there were at least 2,700 window brothels and 300 women working the streets nightly. Official sources estimate that two thirds of these women were migrants, while TAMPEP estimated that in the four cities where it conducted intensive outreach activities among ‘window’ prostitutes, the percentage of migrant sex workers was 90-95 % of total. Of these, the majority worked ‘illegally’, i.e. without a residence permit that also allows a person to work in the Netherlands. The majority of migrant sex workers were from Latin America (with the Dominican Republic and Colombia accounting for 60% of total), followed by women from Europe (30%) and from West Africa and Southeast Asia (10%). Following the changes in prostitution and immigration policies, the composition of this group also changed: the majority of migrant women now come from European countries associated

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with the EU and the overall number of sex workers has decreased, with a decrease in migrants as well. This decrease can be explained by the requirement for legal immigration status in order to work in legal prostitution. Due to the new controls and license regulations, the total volume of prostitution has decreased over the last 2 years (see below). The impossibility for migrants to work in prostitution without residence and work permits also contributed to this decrease. However, as a result of these measures, street prostitution is on the rise. Currently, the major street prostitution zones, such as in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, have been closed. Despite these changes, the percentage of migrant sex workers appears to be the same as before the new law. The composition of sex workers also remains unchanged: the majority are women, most of whom are migrants from a wide range of countries (with Bulgaria and Rumania leading the European countries). Over the last few years, the number of women participating in the protection programme for victims of trafficking (B9 procedure) has increased. According to the Bureau of National Reporting on Human Trafficking, one sixth of the persons benefiting from the B9 procedure (short stay permit) are from Bulgaria, followed by other European nationalities and West Africa.

2.1.5 Lithuania

It is difficult to define the dimensions and dynamics of trafficking and prostitution, due to its largely clandestine nature, and only indirect estimates are possible. Our data shows that there may be about 1,000 sex workers in Vilnius aged 14- 45. Young women between 18-30 predominate, but different agencies offer different age groups. According to experts, there has also been an increase in the number of local minors entering into prostitution. The education of both trafficking victims and prostitutes is below the national average. Our data shows that most Lithuanian prostitutes, especially street prostitutes, which is the lowest category of prostitution, have not completed high school. According to a telephone survey among escort/call-girl agencies which was carried out for the IOM (International Organization Of Migrationes) (Tureikite, Sipaviciene, 2001), the majority of prostitutes are single women, although married and divorced women also engage in prostitution. In fact, prostitution is sometimes explained (or justi- fied) by the need to support children. The situation of women trafficked to foreign countries is different. The data provided by the Support Centre for the Families of Missing Persons shows that the majority of women trafficked to foreign countries are single (84%, or about 43 women). About 73% of these women come from so-called “good” families, without economic difficulties. The data also indicates that the majority of women who engage in prostitution or who were trafficked to foreign countries come from urban areas. In fact, data provided by the Support Centre for the Families of Missing Persons indicate that urban

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women constituted the highest percentage of trafficked women (as much as 80%, or 35 women). However, recent reports and specialised studies indicate that the situation is changing and young women from rural areas are increasingly becoming victims of trafficking. The majority of the prostitution business is well organised and controlled by agencies. The profit from this business was estimated at 12 million USD in 1997. Law enforcement experts attempted to evaluate the extent of this phenomenon based on agency advertisements. They found that, on average, there were 30-40 advertisements daily, with 6-8 sex workers per agency. However, the agencies collaborate among themselves and prostitutes may be loaned or sold at any time depending on the demand. Our data shows that there are more than 30 agencies and about 100 managers. According to the Ministry of the Interior, in Vilnius alone there are 15- 20 well-established firms with an annual turnover of more than 1.5 million USD. Approximately half of the sex-workers in Vilnius work in agencies. Sex work is subject to seasonal fluctuations in response to demand, and during the summer the demand increases and shifts from major cities to resort areas. There is no reliable data on male prostitution, though it is common knowledge that in Vilnius there is a group of men who provide sexual services for other men. Prostitution in Lithuania has a negative social image, due to its relation to crime, STIs and drug use, and the discrimination and exploitation of women. It is difficult to gain the trust of this group due to the marginalisation of sex workers. According to the IOM report (Tureikite, Sipaviciene, 2001), the main reasons for migration and prostitution are economic. Our survey of street sex workers in Vilnius shows that prostitution is the only or main source of income for 93.4% of the women interviewed, and for their families as well. To date, assistance for sex workers including migrants and trafficked women has been very limited and available only in Vilnius, a situation which is clear inadequate. Most street sex workers do not have social insurance or housing and there are no medical services. Prostitution is illegal in Lithuania, creating additional difficulties. The Lithuanian AIDS Centre provides free testing on STIs, HIV, hepatitis type C/B. Treatment is also free of charge. Consultations with a gynaecologist, dermato-venerologist, psychologist or social worker are also available. Tests are performed in the laboratory of the AIDS Centre.

2.1.6. Poland

The surface area of Poland is 312,685 km2. It borders on Russia, Lithuania and the Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south and Germany to the west and has a population of 40 million. The unemployment rate is about 15%, the majority of which are women. Despite the harsh economic situation, there is considerable immigration from the former Soviet Republics into Poland. It is also the transit country to EU countries.

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The Warsaw Police estimate that there are approx. 7,500 prostitutes of both sexes, the majority of which are Poles. Prostitution is practised in the following ways: Hotels, roadside bars Agencies (call-girls) Agencies, location chosen by the client Independent call-girls (though often girls work through an agency) Street prostitutes Highways outside of major cities, especially near borders ‘lorry girls’ are working (Tir girt). Clients are being increasingly attracted through the internet. This form is popu- lar among younger prostitutes, who are sometimes minors. In addition to Polish women, the agencies offer a growing number of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarus, Romanian and Moldavian women, and foreigners now con- stitute 50% of agency prostitutes. As for ‘lorry girls’, only 3% are Poles, with the majority being from Bulgaria, followed by the Ukraine and Belarus. There are various categories of sex workers: Clandestine prostitutes (assistants and hostesses who are employed to attract business clients) Luxury prostitutes (those that have a regular and limited number of clients and work on their own) Agency prostitutes (mainly providing services in agencies or massage parlours) Street prostitutes, young and often supervised by a ‘sponsor’ Street prostitutes, older and mainly working on their own (without a pimp); due to their age they are earning less money then their younger colleagues Male prostitution has a similar typology to female prostitution though lac- king the figure of the ‘lorry girl’(Tir girt). Transvestites and transsexuals do not form a significant group. Most women prostitutes are Polish citizens. Six years ago a significant group of male prostitutes, mostly boys and young men, arrived from the former Soviet Republics, but this group now seems to have diminished considerably.

2.2 Immigration and prostitution: the legal framework in partner countries

2.2.1 Italy

The Merlin Act of 1958 shut down the State-run brothels and freed women from mandatory registration and medical check-ups. However, the law is abolitionist in its approach and imposes numerous restrictions on persons who wish to work as prostitutes, including prohibiting prostitutes from organising themselves in houses and providing mutual support for one another. This forces prostitutes to

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work in legally marginal conditions, whether at home or on the street. However, the Immigration Act, especially if applied in a restrictive manner, has a much greater effect on migrant prostitutes who entered illegally than the Merlin Act. At the time of writing, the Parliament had before it a bill proposed by the Berlusconi Government which was oriented towards prohibiting street prostitution and permitting it only in houses or apartments (though with the consent of other residents if in a condominium). This bill is the latest manifestation of an increasingly repressive climate which in recent years has seen local politicians of all parties, citizens and law enforcement calling for a ‘crackdown’ on the ‘scandalous’ presence of migrant women on the street. Traffic laws, prohibitions and fines of all kinds (at times bordering on the ridiculous) have also been directed against clients, but it seems that the resistance (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the desire) of clients is irrepressible. The issue of human trafficking was dealt with in Italy by Italian Law 40 of 1998, also known as the Turco-Napoletano Immigration Act, and by the related Legislative Decree n. 286/1998 which provides for lengthy sentences for who- mever introduces foreign nationals into the country for the purpose of inducing them into prostitution or exploiting their prostitution (Article 18 ex 16). In addition to its repressive aspects, the law also provides for the social protection of the victims of this form of exploitation and the implementation of Art. 18 has contributed to the diffusion of projects for aiding minors and women who are victims of trafficking throughout Italy. Even though the immigration law has become more severe due to the legislative changes introduced in 2002 by Italian Law n. 189/02 which provides for the repatriation and prosecution of illegal immigrants, Art. 18 was left intact. Finally, in August 2003, the new law (n. 228 of August 8, 2003) against human trafficking went into effect. This law provides a more precise definition of the criminal profile involved and extends the concept of subjugation to include purposes other than sexual exploitation. It also reinforces punishment for criminals and reaffirms support for victims, significantly modifying previous laws on the sexual abuse of minors, pornography, prostitution, conspiracy and racketeering, and other laws as well.The safeguards introduced by Italian Law 40/98 with respect to the health of immigrants and the protection afforded by Art. 18 have made numerous interventions in the area of prostitution possible. In 2002, financing was provided for 70 support projects for women wishing to abandon prostitution, involving more than 200 entities and approx. 1,200 operators. As of 2003, approx. 5,000 women and minors had been placed under protection. The persons under protection have the right to a stay permit for a period of 6 months, which is renewable for another 6 months, at the end of which period it can be converted into a work permit. There are two ways to qualify for the provisions of Art. 18: 1) denouncing one’s exploiters to the police or 2) to escape from serious threats of violence. However, the latter is litt- le used and generally the victim is expected to denounce the criminal group which exploits them. The protection programme guarantees the victim the possibility of economic assistance and inclusion in training and employment pro-

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grammes, while assistance is provided if they wish to be repatriated. At the national level, the administrative and political management of the social protection programmes are under the Department of Equal Opportunity, which is attached to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Each year the Department holds public bids for the financing which has been provided and allocates funds to public and private entities that provide protection and assistance to victims of trafficking. The department has also activated a toll-free number to respond to the requests for help against trafficking. It would be interesting to evaluate Art. 18’s application based on the relevant data, but no valid monitoring system has yet been established, despite the fact that the conditions for such a system already exist.

2.2.2. France

France was considered an abolitionist country with respect to prostitution, even though the law against prostitution was ignored by law enforcement and only its exploitation was considered a crime. Sex workers could also be arrested for creating public scandal or soliciting. In March 2003, a new law was passed that makes passive soliciting (simply standing on the street for the purposes of offering a sexual act in exchange for payment or other forms of material compensation) punishable by law. This action is now considered a crime and is judged in a criminal and not a police court. Sex workers risk a two-month prison sentence and a 3750 - fine, while persons without a legal residence permit can be expelled and those with a temporary residence permit can have their permit withdrawn and also be expelled. Victims of trafficking who testify against their traffickers may receive protection and may also benefit from a residence permit and be hosted in a women’s shelter. This law has changed the situation of sex workers in France considerably, with many persons now afraid to work on the streets and forced to exercise their profession clandestinely. Those who can afford it now work in flats or hotels. This form of repression also creates greater risks for sex workers, who are more likely to be victims of violence, and who no longer have the same access to health care and prevention services and tools. The law’s application varies from city to city, with mayors and prefects showing varying degrees of severity or tolerance. In Marseilles, for example, the mayor is quite tolerant, even though some persons have been arrested or even expelled. But in Lyon, Nice or Bordeaux, the law was applied more strictly and many people were prosecuted. Prosecutors also differ in their interpretation of the law and its application may vary from case to case.

2.2.3 Germany

The German Act on Improving the Legal and Social Situation of Prostitutes (ProstG), which went into effect on January 1, 2002, constitutes an important

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step in improving the legal and social conditions of sex workers in Germany. However, the Act does not meet all the expectations and demands made upon it, especially for migrant sex workers, who currently make up 60% of all women working in prostitution in Germany. The Act does not improve the situation of migrant sex workers who are not in possession of BOTH a residence permit and a work permit or, more specifically, has no effect on the real circumstances of their lives and work. Their situation continues to be determined and limited primarily by the immigration law. These women can still be deported for practising prostitution. Women who do not come from a EU country still have no way of obtaining a visa to work in Germany as a sex worker. The full provisions of the Act only apply to German sex workers and to migrants whose residence status is secure. The Act introduces the following changes: The contract between a sex worker and her customer is legally binding - the legislator no longer regards the services provided by a sex worker as contrary to public policy. § 138 Section 1 of the German Civil Code (BGB) thus no longer applies to prostitution. The law now states that those working in prostitution of their own free will are legally protected. Any contract made between a prostitute and a customer has legal consequences, and the woman may now sue for payment for the services she has provided. Sex workers can now conclude contracts with their employers. Sex workers from Germany or the EU and migrant sex workers with an unlimited residence permit can now choose whether they wish to be self-employed or whether they would prefer working for a third party, e.g. in a brothel, a sauna club or an apartment. The new law makes it possible to sign contracts for work including sexual acts. Employers can ‘only’ stipulate the time and place for providing services, and may impose no other conditions or constraints. Prostitutes under contract may thus turn down certain customers and may also decide autonomously as to the type of services they wish to provide. Both self-employed sex workers and those employed by third parties can now register for social security and health insurance without having to conceal their occupation, as was previously the case. Thus, prostitutes can profit from the state social security system in the same way as other women workers. Legal consequences: Providing good working conditions is no longer a criminal offence. - The changes in the Penal Code also have legal implications for prostitution. §180a and § 181a, Section 2 of the Penal Code have been amended so that employers can now provide good working conditions without being liable to prosecution. However, the new Act has the following limitations: Prostitution is only permitted as a means of earning money. It is still illegal to advertise prostitution. The ‘prohibited zone’ regulation that prohibits prostitution in certain areas of some cities is still in force.

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The situation of migrant sex workers is not specifically mentioned in the Act, and no special regulations have been established for migrant sex workers. The Act refers to prostitutes in general without differentiating between sex workers with German nationality and foreign sex workers. In theory, a person from a non-EU country could obtain a limited residence permit to work as a self-employed prostitute once it had been established that there was a demand for this activity in general, and for her services in particular. In this case, the woman could receive a residence permit. The same would, in theory, be true of sex workers employed by a third party. But it is difficult to imagine that the Arbeitsamt (the local employment office) and the Immigration Office would co-operate with the Economic Ministries - who have wide discretion - to allow these residence permits to be issued for sex workers from non-EU countries, unless additional changes were made to the existing labour laws and legislation on immigration. Migrants with a secure residence status, i.e. an unlimited residence permit, have, in some cases, responded more positively to the new Prostitution Act than their German colleagues. This is because these migrants see the Act as a recognition of their work and as an opportunity for integration with German society. However, migrants holding residence permits limited to a certain period, and thus with a very limited work permit, will usually lose the latter if they are caught working as prostitutes without a labour contract, as they are not allowed to become self-employed. If they wish to become self-employed, they must register with the tax authorities and pay their own taxes; however, they need the approval of the immigration office in order to do this. Migrant sex workers without residence permits live in constant fear of being dis- covered, as this generally leads to their being deported.

2.2.4. The Netherlands

The Dutch model of prostitution, especially as regards migrant sex workers, is as follows: There has been considerable debate in recent years concerning legal changes in the area of prostitution. On October 1, 2000, the Dutch ban on brothels, which had been in place since 1911, was lifted. The exploitation of voluntary prostitution is no longer considered a crime, while any form of forced prostitution, pim- ping and trafficking remains punishable by law. The main purpose of this change in legislation was to enable the government to exercise better control. The law abolishes the general ban on brothels and legalises the commercial organisation of voluntary prostitution by adults, as long as the sex workers involved have not been trafficked. In other words: running a prostitution business and exercising prostitution is now considered a legal economic activity by the state.

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Legalisation = regulation The practical implication of the legalisation of the sex industry means that the Association of Dutch Municipalities has prepared a model for regulating prostitution businesses. Most municipalities use this model; however, the system of licences depends on specific local policies and therefore may vary from one municipality to another with regard to the implementation and time-frame (some local authorities are still reluctant to use the model or have decided to apply other forms of control).The municipal authorities must establish the conditions under which prostitution is permitted within their territory of jurisdiction. Only those establishments which meet these conditions may obtain special licences which permit them to continue (or to start) their business. These conditions include: nature and size of brothels (a brothel may not disrupt a neighbourhood’s residential climate and quality of life) hygienic and safety regulations (minimum dimensions of the working area, compliance with guidelines established by public health authorities, fire escapes, etc.) position and status of sex workers (safeguarding their physical and mental integrity, no underage sex workers, no sex workers without a valid residence permit). Other (national and regional) institutions such as the tax office, and social insurance and labour agencies are also involved in applying the various aspects of laws governing the legal sex industry. Other laws and policies also influence the industry: e.g., anti-trafficking policies and the regulations regarding aliens and their status in the sex industry. As regards the situation of migrant sex workers: the labour/immigration law prohibits persons from outside the EU to apply for a work permit in prostitution. Persons coming from EU and access countries (new EU members) can apply for work and residence permits as self-employed sex workers. Those applying for this specific permit must satisfy the same conditions as someone intending to start their own business. However, currently only very few persons have received this kind of permit. The trend seems to be that new EU citizens will not auto- matically receive a residence permit with the right to work after the expansion of the EU. The Dutch legalisation has had enormous consequences for undocumented migrant sex workers, who have been working in the European sex trade for many years. The ban on ‘illegal’ sex workers (i.e. persons without a residence and work permit) is especially controversial because the authorities have not taken into account the fact that, since the 1980’s, migrant sex workers have constituted the majority of sex workers in the Netherlands. The exclusion of migrant sex workers contradicts some of the main goals of the new law, which is intended to decriminalise prostitution, improve the conditions of sex workers and

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contribute to their profession becoming accepted as a normal occupation. Illegal sex workers will remain unprotected and will therefore be further marginalised and forced to live and work in inhumane conditions. Another goal of the law is to combat human trafficking. Many illegal sex workers have been trafficked into the country and should therefore be protected by the authorities through the special protection measures for the victims of trafficking. Despite the fact that this programme provides witnesses with special benefits and rights (such as three months reflection time, the possibility of receiving a temporary residence permit, the right to housing, and financial and legal aid), it does not offer women a sufficient incentive to denounce their pimps because the witness status does not offer any possibility for entering a social integration process (for example, access to the labour market) and does not respond to the complex reality and needs of these women. The radical changes in prostitution (legal, systemic, places for regulated prostitution, etc), the fact that prostitution has begun to be recognised as a form of economic activity and the direct involvement of public authorities in the regulation of prostitution have led to major discrepancies in the social acceptance of different forms of prostitution and to the exclusion of those forms and populations (migrants) that do not fit into the regulated paradigm. Another central point is that migrants are, in any case, excluded from legal prostitution. New policies and tools and therefore needed, and there needs to be a greater advocacy which is based on the needs and views of the persons directly involved. Under Dutch law, the trafficking of women is defined as: actively encouraging a woman - with false promises of work and earnings - to migrate to another country (regardless of whether another ‘legitimate’ job was promised her or whether she was willing to work in prostitution from the outset); when a sex worker’s identity papers or earnings are taken away from her; when a woman is forced into prostitution or into providing sexual services; when a sex worker is blackmailed, threatened, humiliated, beaten, raped or sequestered. In these cases, it has no legal bearing whether the woman previously worked as a sex worker, or whether she was willing to work as a sex worker after being misinformed about work conditions and earnings. Trafficking is defined by Article 250a of the Penal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht). This Article will be modified significantly over the next 2 years (the Justice Minister has submitted the proposed amendments) in accordance with the definition of human trafficking contained in the UN Protocol. The new definition will cover all forms of human trafficking that reduce persons to a slave- like condition, and will therefore not be limited to trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. The protection measures for persons who testify against their traffickers will be the same as for women who are forced into prostitution.

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In the Netherlands, the female victims of trafficking have special rights and are entitled to special support services. If, based on her statement or other evidence, a woman is believed to be the victim of trafficking, she is entitled to special protection and the police must inform her of her special rights (an obligation which the police do not always observe).

2.2.5. Lithuania

Prostitution is illegal in Lithuania. At present it is treated as an administrative, and not a criminal offence and is punished with a fine (Article 182 (1) of the Administrative Code). Procurement is a criminal offence punishable by 3-5 years imprisonment (Article 239, part 3 of the Lithuanian Penal Code). Forcing minors, or persons who are materially or otherwise dependent into prostitution, or by means of blackmail/deceit/use of psychological or physical coercion is punishable by 3-7 years of imprisonment. In recent years, less than 20 cases of procurement have been prosecuted annually, while the number of administrative cases for prostitution varies greatly. For prostitution to be considered an administrative offence the offender must be over 16 years of age and of sound mind. Because many young girls under the age of 16 are involved in prostitution, they are not punishable by law. The direct ban of prostitution imposed by the Administrative Code is counterproductive for two reasons: 1) it prompts women to look for work abroad, and when they return or are repatriated they are more adept at concealing their work as prostitutes thanks to their experience in other countries, and are also often infected with a STI and 2) it deprives women of any social rights or protection against the violence of their protectors and clients, which is commonplace in this profession. Trafficking is also illegal in Lithuania. In July, 1998 the Penal Code was amended to include trafficking, which was defined as the selling of a person or any other alienation or acquisition of a person for the purpose of abusing them sexually, forcing them to engage in prostitution or accepting material or personal gain in exchange for sexual services, or for human trafficking from/to Lithuania for the purpose of prostitution (Article 131, part 3). Under Lithuanian law, trafficking is punishable by 4-8 years of imprisonment. If the trafficking involves a minor, conspiracy, continuing or repeated offences (recidivism), it is punishable by 6-12 years of imprisonment. The new Lithuanian Penal Code, which was adopted in September, 2000 and went into effect in 2001, includes trafficking for other purposes than sexual exploitation or forcing someone into prostitution and provides for punishments that range from a minimum of three months to 8 years. However, based on the International Organisation of Migration report ‘Trafficking in women in Lithuania: magnitu- de, mechanisms and actors’ (Tureikite, Sipaviciene, 2001), traffickers are rarely

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punished in Lithuania because the victims are generally from abroad and their interrogation and the necessary co-operation with foreign legal institutions makes for extremely lengthy legal procedures. In Lithuania, liaison officers play an important role in international law enforcement co-operation and the exchange of information (Lithuania has appointed liaison officers to Belgium and Belarus and intends to appoint others). Lithuania also carries out joint operations with the Latvian Police. In Lithuania there exists a unified computerised data system for missing persons but no specific database that gathers and stores information related to trafficking. Lithuanian authorities have recently begun to ack- nowledge the seriousness of trafficking (although victims are still often blamed). Currently, there exist very few provisions for the protection of witnesses and victims. The Lithuanian police prepare crime prevention programmes (focussed on teenage crime prevention) and the Centre for Crime Prevention (a public non- profit organisation) is also involved in developing crime prevention programmes together with legal, social, economic and other reforms. The new Programme for the Prevention and Control of Prostitution (2001-2005) has the goal of preparing a programme to combat the trafficking of women, which reportedly will provide for legal, administrative and preventive measures as well as social reintegra- tion programmes (the Programme will be funded by the Lithuanian government and by specialised foreign assistance organisations).

2.2.6. Poland

Persons who work as prostitutes are not punishable in Poland, due to Poland’s adherence to a series of international agreements. Poland is also a signatory of the ‘Convention for combating human trafficking and the exploitation of prostitution’ (1949), an agreement which obligates Poland to abolish all forms of punishment for persons who work as prostitutes. Even the act of prostitution is only punishable in relation to other crimes. The relevant articles of the Polish Penal Code are: Article 204, paragraph 1 - Whoever induces other persons to prostitute themselves, or facilitates prostitution for financial gain, may be punished by up to 3 years of imprisonment. paragraph 2 - Whoever benefits materially from the prostitution of other persons may be punished as per paragraph 1. paragraph 3 - If the offences described in paragraphs 1 and 2 involve victims who are minors, then the offender may be punished by up to 10 years of imprisonment. paragraph 4 - Whoever lures or abducts other persons abroad for the purpose of prostitution, may be punished as per paragraph 3. Article 253, paragraph 1 - Human trafficking, even if voluntary, shall be punished by not less than 3 years of imprisonment.

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Polish immigration law The Aliens Act of June 27 1997, defines an alien as any person that does not have Polish citizenship. In order to enter Poland legally, one must have either: a valid passport, or a valid visa if the person comes from the country with which Poland does not have a no-visa entry agreement; sufficient funds to cover the costs of entering and staying in Poland. An alien can be expelled if: they possess no formal permission for entering or staying in Poland, or do not have sufficient means for remaining in Poland; for other reasons not specified by the Aliens Act (paragraph 3). For example, under certain circumstances prostitution could be considered a ‘danger to public health’ or a ‘threat to public order’.

2.3. Conclusions

The following section shows how the conditions for prostitution, immigration policies and the related legal framework differ from country to country in Europe. The situations described indicate how projects and services for prostitutes must be organised based on the specific conditions existing in each country, in order to guarantee that the goals and methods identified are adequate and appropriate for each given situation. For example, the laws in force in the Netherlands and Germany are specific to those countries and nowhere else; this means that the type of information to be given to prostitutes must be very particular and that services and projects must be conceived and organised with these specific situations in mind, and are not applicable to the rest of Europe. Even access to social and health care services is regulated differently in each country, based not only on the specific legislation, but also on the laws regarding immigration. Another element is the composition of prostitution in the different countries participating in the project: the high percentage of migrant sex workers in the Netherlands, the low percentage of foreign prostitutes in Poland and Lithuania and the prevalence of a native-born prostitutes in Germany, the mix of male and female prostitution in France and the numerous projects based on Art. 18 in Italy for the victims of trafficking, means that the composition of peer groups in each Fenarete partner country will be different. The vocational training of PEs must therefore take into account this diversity among the different countries, in order to train professional figures with the skills and technical information necessary for working in projects and services aimed at the specific conditions of sex workers in each country. For this reason, the Fenarete pilot project was based on an interconnected system of training programmes that were specifically designed for each country, in order to adapt a specific method (the training of PEs) to different situations and identify which aspects were common to all and which were instead unique to each specific situation, in terms of this training process.

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Cap. 3 | Trial project and guidelines for the vocational training of peer educators in the area of prostitution

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the trial project of the PE training courses. As described in the previous chapter, the working method was drawn up in Italy based on the analysis and evaluation of the characteristics of prostitution in that country. However, the originality of the Fenarete project consists in its ‘contextualised experimentation’, that is, in its adapting the single training courses to the real conditions of prostitution existing in each partner country. The present chapter will thus describe the training programme as it was carried out in Italy, and which provided the basic programme that was then adapted by the partner countries for their own national training programmes. The different national training programmes are then presented schematically in order to highlight which elements the programmes had in common, and which instead were specific to each country, based on what emerged during the trial project in each partner country. The analysis of the results shows that the trial achieved its goal of establishing guidelines for vocational training courses for PEs in the area of prostitution. In fact, what emerges are a series of basic elements which were not modified by national situations and other elements which were necessarily linked to the specific context in which the training course was carried out.

3.1 Trial project

The originality of the vocational training course which was experimented can be found in its basic premise: ‘Through the recognition and reworking of the experiences of sex workers and migrant women it is possible to create the professional profile of the PE. By facilitating and encouraging the emergence of points of strength and weakness related to the experiences of the individual trainees it becomes possible to initiate the acquisition of the specific professional skills and abilities of a PE in the area of prostitution.’ The vocational PE training programme was thus structured in order to: rework the personal experience of prostitution acquire specific technical information develop interpersonal skills apply the skills and abilities acquired in a protect setting (project work).

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3.2 Training course structure in Italy

Topic Duration N° of trainers

First module 1 trainer Reworking prostitution experience 8 days 1 co-trainer Role and functions of the PE

Second module 11 teachers Information te be use in PE work 8 days 1 co-trainer

Third module 1 trainer Capacity to menage interpersonal 4 days 1 assistant

1 trainer Preparation of project work 1 day 1 co-trainer 1 tutor

from Project work 6 to 8 1 tutor days

Support during project work 1 trainer 1 day 1 tutor

1 trainer Verification of project work 1 day 1 co-trainer 1 tutor

Fourth module 1 trainer Group/organising work-group 3 days 1 co-trainer

Starting up a organization 10 days

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3.3 Goals and strategies

First module: Reworking the prostitution experience - Role and functions of the PE The goal of the first module was to analyse certain aspects of the experiences of migration and prostitution, in order to indicate their value as a resource for the PE and thereby delineate the PE’s professional role and specific functions. Strategies for initiating this process: Presentation of each course trainee by means of the drawn profile which provides information on current ideas, feelings and desires. Elicit expectations by asking each trainee why they are participating in the course Strategies for reworking personal experience: Begin the process of recognising the experience of prostitution as a significant experience that forms part of the trainee’s personal history by drawing the life-line and through guided narration. Elicit and stress the skills and abilities developed during prostitution and thus the resources the trainee currently possesses. Focus the discussion on the migratory choice: the decision to migrate facing reality after this choice the first day working as a prostitute Raise the level of awareness with respect to the responsibilities of the persons involved and the strategies of deception All of the trainees in Italy declared that they did not voluntarily choose to work as prostitutes, but that they were either forced or induced into doing so; based on this fact, it seemed necessary to focus on the experience of deception and the characteristics of both the person who was deceived and their deceiver(s), based upon each trainee’s personal experience. Define “who I am today” adjusting the drawn profile through a guided discussion based on the elements which have previously emerged Define a sex worker’s possible needs by discussing the personal needs felt during the period of prostitution and using the needs-pie. This helps clarify the fact that a PE cannot satisfy every need and is therefore useful for identifying the kinds of needs that can be dealt with. This also makes it possible to distinguish among the various professional figures involved (operator, co-ordinator, psychologist, mediator, doctor, PE). The purpose of this activity is to draw a profile of the professional PE together with the trainees Strategies for concluding the first module: Agree upon and sign the training contract which was drawn up by compa- ring the professional peer profile with the individual profile. The purpose of this comparison is to point out the elements which are already present as personal resources, those which need to be perfected and those which still need to be acquired.

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Second module: Information used in PE work The purpose of the second module is to provide the information necessary for performing the professional functions of a PE. Strategies: The choice of issues to deal with is based on an analysis of the PE’s possible activities, and the second module is therefore clearly related to the national context. In Italy, the issues which emerged were: Harm reduction with respect to safe sex, work safety, prevention of sexually transmitted infections, prevention of unwanted pregnancies and contraception Accompaniment to health care and social services Aiding persons who are trafficked The discussion of these issues involved the following themes: Health care: sex organs and reproductive system, STDs, contraception, pregnancy and abortion, safe sex, the organisation of workshops on health care issues, the health care services system in Italy, the Harm Reduction strategy Social: methods and practices for providing assistance, immigration laws, meaning of work and money in the profession of prostitution and in other professions, types of labour contracts, employment offices, vocational reskilling Third module: Interpersonal skills The purpose of the third module was understanding the specific nature of a help- relationship and providing cognitive elements for carrying out a consultation. Strategies: Discuss different types of relationships in order to define the special characteristics of a help-relationship between operator-user. The intention is to clarify the difference between managing a help-relationship within a friendly relationship and a professional operator-user relationship. This aspect is stressed in order to educate the PE as to the risks involved in managing a help-relationship in a friendly rather than a professional manner Introduce the basic elements in a consultation: listening to contents and emotions, defining the problem, providing information, the contract and decision-making. The presentation of each element should be highly interactive because the characteristics of each trainee which might facilitate or hinder the application of a given element need to be identified Together with each trainee, draw up a personal map of those elements which require special attention with respect to correctly managing a help- relationship in the role of a PE Fourth module: the group and organising the work-group

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The purposes of the fourth module are: identifying the special elements of a work-group: goals and tasks defining roles, tasks, functions within the work-group defining the training elements required for the real transformation of a group into a work-group concluding the training course Strategies: Working with the group in order to identify the elements that would distinguish it as a work-group. Use exercises in sub-groups in order to compare the elements which characterise a group (based on the experience of the current training group) with the elements previously identified as being specific to a work-group. Lead a group discussion on the transformation into a future work-group, providing not only didactic elements with respect to the theory of groups and the special characteristics of organisations, but also laying the ground- work for a collective discussion on starting-up a business Help identify any future training needs Conclude the course, using the expectations which emerged during the first module to help in making evaluations Although they form an integral part of the training programme structure, the planning, implementation and verification of project work and the training for starting up a business will be dealt with separately.

3.4 Techniques used

The ‘techniques’ used in the PE training group were adopted based on their sui- tability with respect to the personal characteristics of the trainees, the issues being discussed and the training goals. A mix of ‘verbal’ ‘written’ and ‘graphic’ activities was used. An exclusive relian- ce on verbal activities was avoided because: some of the trainees might have been at a disadvantage due to the different levels of expression and comprehension of the Italian language for narrating highly-charged personal experiences (module: reworking the prostitution experience) it was necessary, at the start, to permit the expression - free of grammatical constraints - of personal emotions (for this reason, the ‘graphic’ technique proved to be the most appropriate) the products of the ‘written’ and ‘graphic’ activities were common tools that ‘visually’ showed the similarities and differences among the trainees. Because they could be kept throughout the entire training period they also could be used to construct the group’s identity and, consequently, indicated

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the extent to which each trainee belonged to the group. 3.4.1 Example of ‘verbal activities’:

Discussions: structured and guided discussion techniques were used in order to avoid discriminating against trainees who had greater difficulty speaking or who were less sure of themselves. Another reason for the guided discussion was that it limited the risk of the manifestation of prejudices that could create feelings of ‘oppression’ within the group. This aspect was stressed because oppression, prejudice and social stereotypes are complex issues and ‘marginalised’ persons do not always form alliances among themselves. Telling one’s story: telling one’s story and listening to the stories of others is in itself a process for empowerment. For many trainees it was the first time that they had had the opportunity to tell their story and listen to others tell their stories in this way. Telling and listening formed part of the group ‘contract’ and was beneficial for everyone. Role-playing, simulations: the value and importance of role-playing is widely confirmed in the literature on group-work. Each trainee assumed and interpreted specific roles, especially in the modules (the help-relationship between operator-user) where the activities were designed for the purpose of experimenting with future professional situations. Role-playing was used in these situations as a way of learning and reinforcing the whole group. Role-playing and simulations were also important in providing the basis for discussions about the changes in behaviours or attitudes that had taken place within the group, with the aim of transferring them into situations outside of the group. Decision-making: Decision-making is a very structured form of discussion in which group members developed their ability to make decisions in a rationale, coherent fashion. Learning decision-making methods was experienced as a form of empowerment by the trainees who were accustomed to making decisions in a more ‘instinctual’ way. These techniques were used in the ‘organising group-work’ module, especially when the group was asked to consider decisions regarding their future.

3.4.2 Example of ‘written activities’

The spoken word is quick, fleeting, spontaneous, can be misunderstood and is difficult to recall with precision if it is not related to a visual image. In accordance with the aims of certain training modules (reworking the prostitution experience; role of the PE) and because of the need to be more precise in gathering and documenting certain thoughts and feelings, we considered it appropriate to adopt a number of techniques that focussed on the written word. Despite differences in the habitual use of writing and the command of Italian, it proved

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useful to mix these techniques with ‘verbal’ and ‘graphic’ techniques. Group agreement: the rules and agreements for coexistence, essential for creating a basis of trust and consensus for remaining within the group, were written on large sheets of paper and posted on the wall. The agreements could thus easily be referred to because they were in written form. The final product was also viewed as an important and distinctive sign of the group itself. ‘One word’: the narration of facts, events and personal stories was followed by the task of finding the ‘one word’ that could sum up the thoughts, feelings and personal characteristics involved, and then writing that word on an object (in this case, origami and Styrofoam cubes). In this instance, the written word helped identify - after the narration - the significant personal elements to to reflect upon, and was also useful in terms of the symbo- lic action of changing and/or destroying the object when the word referred to feelings, thoughts, actions and behaviours in the past which had changed or no longer existed. Letters: writing letters is a technique which most people readily accept because it is a common, everyday activity. This technique was especially effective and was used towards the end of the training period. It was a way for helping trainees evaluate the progress they had made with the help of the group and was useful for consolidating agreement on the group’s next steps.

3.4.3 Example of ‘graphic’ techniques

The graphic techniques also included elements of written activities. Words were written on the blackboard by different people, in different colours and with lines and signs connecting various elements, so that the effect was more that of a visual image than a text. The use of the blackboard was also effective because everyone could see it and had access to it. Because it was not easy to absorb everything being said (due to the different levels of expression and comprehension of the Italian language), the blackboard also provided a useful support for listening to and communicating with the group. Drawing: drawings can help someone express thoughts and feelings they would not reveal in other mediums, and a vast literature exists in this regard. During the training, a number of activities were based on drawing; this proved to be a fundamental technique, and was also supported by the other two techniques. Reaching an awareness about oneself and one’s prostitution experience, which forms the necessary basis for the profession of PE, is neither immediate nor painless. The passage from graphic expression (drawing) to telling one’s own story, and finally the ‘one word’ written on an object proved to be a very effective method for this type of vocational

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training. In addition to approving these techniques, the trainees also con- curred as to the time and pace allowed each person in order to express themselves and thus acquire awareness about their own past experience. Drawing was used at various times during the training: the profile: the profile of ‘who I am today’, which was drawn at the start of the group presentation, can be considered the basis for all of the activities that followed. In fact, each trainee used the profile to symbolically depict their current identity, also including past feelings, events and experiences which, until that time, had been considered ‘uncomfortable’ or difficult to place. the lifeline: the lifeline was drawn at the same time as the profile. The graphic image of one’s existence, from birth until the present, highlights the continuity of life and of one’s identity, which is formed over the years based on different events and experiences. The lifeline also graphically presents the years or periods connected with those events which one would prefer to forget, and this helps the individual to ‘see’ the past as integrated with the present. the ‘needs-pie’: this technique was used specifically to help trainees perceive the variety and complexity of each person’s needs and, with respect to the profession, to make them aware of the ‘power’ of PEs, in terms of what this professional profile can realistically achieve. However, ‘power’ also means maintaining a proper balance between a sense of omnipotence or, conversely, of impotence when dealing with a target of users with multiple problems.

3.5 Setting

The group setting is fundamental because: it is a basic element in each person’s life, and provides a context for development experiences and the ongoing construction of a personal social identity it can be used to reproduce or simulate society and social relations (providing a direct confrontation with the themes of power, equality/diversity, solidarity and help, both given and received). The group setting makes it possible for each trainee to experience different kinds of relationships: trainee/trainer and trainer/group; trainee/other trainees and trainees/group; other trainees/trainer and trainer/individual trainees; trainees with one another. it makes it possible to compare different abilities, which can facilitate learning it makes it possible to experience a sense of belonging and exclusion. The group provides an effective training setting for the PE vocational training course. In performing her work, the professional PE must deal with women who

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work as prostitutes, listen to their stories, know how to perceive their needs and provide adequate support while at the same time respecting each user’s perso- nality and characteristics. The professional PE must be aware of her own experience in prostitution, and yet must be sufficiently detached from it to be able to ‘see’ the user as someone who is ‘other’ and different from herself. Working with a group composed of women who all share the experience of prostitution is an extremely appropriate training tool in terms of : experimenting and developing the capacity for nearness/distance (controlling space in terms of the proper distance to maintain in relationships) and acting immediately/ procrastinating (controlling time and rhythms in terms of negotiating solutions to problems) helping trainees define themselves by assimilating their similarities/differences to/from other group members. Another element to consider is the specific site for the course: The ‘class-room’ should be as private as possible, in order to facilitate the presentation of personal stories and other techniques (e.g. putting the ‘contract’ on the walls), and it should be comfortable. The classroom should also be in the same building where the trainees are staying, so that normal group dynamics can be accelerated and intensified by living together in close quarters in the medium/long- term. This also provides trainers with important elements for verifying and managing the overall progress of the group, and which are not limited to the learning activities and dynamics of the classroom. Regardless of whether the course is held in a residential structure or not, care should be taken to guarantee that the classroom is comfortable. This aspect underscores the importance attributed to the training course and the persons who have chosen to participate, and makes it possible to create a relaxed situation that will stimulate a sense of well-being.

3.6 The trial project in partner countries.

The training programme that was conceived and carried out in Italy was subsequently presented to the directors of the Fenarete project in partner countries during a meeting that had been arranged for the specific purpose of discussing the programme’s structure, identifying incongruent elements in the individual countries and arranging for the transfer of know-how to the trainers in each of the countries involved. A training course was then held for the trainers from each country in order to establish the operational guidelines for the national programmes. A series of bilateral meetings was then held with the training teams in order to start up the individual national training courses. The trainers were able to communicate with one another during the period of the training courses by means of a complex remote-training platform, that included chat-rooms, a mailing list and documentation. The following table compares the basic Italian training pro-

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gramme with the individual training programmes in the partner countries: YES indicated in black: elements of the basic Italian training programme which were kept in the partner’s national programme NO indicated in blue: elements of the Italian programme which were excluded from a national programme

The Italy France Germany Poland Lithuania Netherlands Re working YES YES YES YES YES prostitution But only But not But not But not experience indirectly treated treated treated

Migration Migration Migration Migration experience experience experience experience Experience Experience Experience Experience Definition of deception of deception of deception of deception Role/functions of PE YES YES YES YES YES

YES YES YES YES YES Specific to Specific to Specific to Specific to national national national national programme: programme: programme: programme: Information for PE Drug & German tax Alcohol/dru Prostitution work alcohol use system g use policies: legal regula- Writing a German tion and project pro- prostitution practices; posal law Self employ- Approachin Importance ment in pro- g funding of appea- stitution: sources rance duties and rights; Project eva- Rhetoric luation How to use Working personal conditions in skills prostitution; Union practice in prostitution

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Interperso YES YES YES YES YES nal skills

Group/ NO NO NO NO YES organising work- Specific to group national programme:

From reworking personal experience to setting up a self-help organisation

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Test in blue: indicates elements specific to a given national programme. The following charts provide a more detailed description of the issues dealt with France

Focusing This module was carried out in a residential setting. prostitution Exercises: experience. Group rules Self-portrait Define The life line role/functions What I keep and what I throw away today of PE First definitions of PE, personal and professional projects First definitions of ethics in PE work Focusing This issue was not treated directly/formally as training migration topic, but emerged during discussions of personal expe- experience riences and listening skills work.

Focusing This issue was also not dealt with directly but emerged deception during the discussion of personal experiences. Most experience migrants came to western Europe with certain expectations and promises only to discover that they had to “buy” their freedom and were forced into prostitution. This deception was much less surprising to persons of African origin than to those of Eastern European origin. However, generalisations can not be made based on a very few, personal experiences. Health care 5 days at ACCES offices contents HIV / AIDS Drug & alcohol use, reducing risks, drugs and sex work Hepatitis, esp. hepatitis C Anatomy, male/female sex organs and reproductive system Contraception, pregnancy and abortion Social/legal Basic rights and how to access those rights in France. contents Social status / social rights Writing a project proposal; evaluating the needs of the target; approaching funding sources; knowing which funding sources finance which type of project; project evaluation Legal framework for prostitution / immigration The public health care system in France

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Focusing This module was carried out over 4 days in the ACCES help relations- offices and was directed by the counsellor hips History, hypothesis and theory of person-centred, non directive counselling Counselling Listening and reflecting seriously on what a person basics elements says; empathy and empathetic listening Observing and evaluating a one-on-one interview or encounter, analysing the evolution of one-on-one work, identifying priorities The Hall of Mirrors, congruency with the person dis- covered during training, positive feedback Links between counselling and peer education Group/organi- The French training programme omitted this module, and sing work- will include this theme in the training for starting up a group business.

Germany Focusing A sustainable process for developing group cohesion is prostitution necessary for group learning to occur. The first module was experience. aimed at bringing the different trainees into contact with one other and creating a stable group situation Define Psychodrama exercises were valuable in achieving this role/functions objective. of PE Play-like actions and objects and symbols such as post- cards, animal figures, buttons, shells, balls, ropes, etc. were used to bring the trainees into contact with one other and to encourage them to exchange information Individual learning occurs through an awareness, acceptance and development of one’s own capabilities and deficits; the trainees were thus asked to define their own realistic learning goals. The trainees used their own experiences of counselling to identify good and bad counselling behaviour. They identified their own existing individual capabilities and skills (bio-work/life lines) and defined those they wanted to develop for their role as PEs. Introduction to perception psychology theory (Schulz von Thun communication model). Exercises for training perception (perception of self and others), respectful feedback, setting and accepting boundaries The theory was applied to past experiences, making it tangible.

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These experiences influenced the way the members of the group behaved towards one another, and provided trainees with initial cognitive elements for counselling situations. Focusing The group was composed by seven German sex workers migration and two migrant sex workers living in Germany for many experience years. Five were active and four former sex workers.

Focusing This issue was omitted; the trainers preferred to work on experience the skills and capabilities of a sex worker in order to build up professional attitudes. Health care health contents hygiene HIV/AIDS and STDs prevention Social/legal German tax system contents German prostitution law German immigration law Social / private insurance The importance of appearance Rhetoric: basic to all communication. Managing personal skills, voice, presence, presentation, discussion Focusing help Due to very limited scope of training, we focussed on relationships counselling techniques, e.g. ‘hypotheses were formed’ in which ‘empathy’ was frequently mentioned. This seemed advisable because due to their professional identity and proximity to the issue, this group of women might tend to over-identify. Counselling A conscious decision was made not to provide information on basics all the characteristics of non-directive counselling, due to elements limits of time and training contents. Trainees were introduced to the model of non-directive counselling by: theory-based introduction describing the main characteristics of this form of counselling, and the fundamental attitude of the counsellor on which it is based circular role-playing in groups of three, in which imagi- nary counselling situations were enacted in order to tan- gibly illustrate its main characteristics in practice sequen- ces: perceiving emotions, forming hypotheses, active listening, focusing The trainees created their own flyer, ‘My Ich-AG’ (‘Me plc’1, and a collage (‘My image of myself as a counsellor’), thus preparing for their new role as counselling PEs.

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Group/organi- The French training programme omitted this module, and sing work- will include this theme in the training for starting up a group business.

Poland Focusing The purpose was to show how life experiences can be prostitution applied to work as PE. The training was similar to inter- experience. personal training and included: Contract with list of obligatory rules during training. Define Drawing a description of myself ( simple drawing of role/functions the body and description of this drawing with emo- of PE tions, thoughts, desires, expectations... at this moment) Drawing the lifeline Common life experiences: 1. decision to start working as a prostitute 2. working as prostitute 3. relationship with partner What is peer education and description of PE Needs of sex workers, ways of providing support, solving problems. The women made their own lists, based on personal views Focusing migra- The group was composed of Polish women. tion experience Focusing This experience did not apply to our group. deception If it did apply to some women, they did not openly say so. experience It was thus necessary to choose a common experience everyone could identify with and it was decided to discuss the issue of how one became a sex worker. This issue introduced the next part of our training. Health care Sex organs and reproductive system, pregnancy, con- contents traception, abortion Safer sex STDs The Polish health care system Social/legal All workshops and lectures were led by specialists: doctors, contents lawyers, psychologists, a sexologist, an expert on the Polish health care system, an expert on the Polish social welfare system, experts on issues related to violence Prostitution market Basics of Polish law, prostitution in Polish law, criminal procedures, crimes connected with prostitution, minors and prostitution

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Rules for safe work in prostitution Labour laws, unemployment, types of insurance in Poland, how to access social welfare benefits and services Negotiation Focusing We focussed on the following elements: help relations- Pro-active listening hips Acceptance and respect for individuality Maintaining one’s private space Couselling One-on-one talks with trainees to reduce stress between basics training sessions by allowing trainees to express their fru- elements strations etc.. Additional feedback from trainee allowed us to focus on personal issues that were openly expressed.

Group/organi- The training programme in Poland did not develop this sing group module, and will include this theme in the training for work starting up a business.

Lithuania Focusing In discussing the reasons for choosing sex work, the prostitution women spoke about their experiences openly and in great experience. detail. Define In reflecting on self esteem, it was difficult to find or role/functions recognise positive aspects, esp. for street workers of PE Defining the PE’s role by transferring skills and abilities from the experience of sex work. Focusing The group was composed entirely of Lithuanian women migration experience Focusing No one in our group had had this experience. deception experience Health care Sexuality and health care: contents Female sex organs and reproductive system Male sex organs family planning methods safer sex negotiation human sexuality condom use HIV/AIDS, prevention issues: basic knowledge of HIV/AIDS

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HIV/AIDS/STDs - transmission, symptoms prevention of HIV/AIDS/STDs, safer sex vulnerability of women changing behaviours to prevent HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS education and information pregnancy, birth and breast feeding of HIV/AIDS positive women blood transfusion, danger of needle sharing. Alcohol and drug use: alcohol/drug use, abuse and addiction alcohol/drug use in Lithuania intravenous drug use and HIV/AIDS prevention harm reduction of intravenous drug use harm reduction of alcohol and “soft” drug use Health care system and services in Lithuania Social/legal Legal aspects: contents legal regulation of sex work in Lithuania sexual violence against women sexual health: laws and policy human trafficking, sexual harassment protection of human rights in Lithuania organisations and institutions for the protection of human rights in Lithuania, applications and procedures Lithuanian laws regarding protection of sexual health. Social aspects: social services social/health care policies and procedures special features of private and public institutions Focusing help Help relationships. relationships Role-playing exercises for problem solving. Counselling Active listening and making proper requests; impor- basics elements tance of space for PE Identification of conversation-habits Conflicts Blocking communication exercises Assertive behaviour Group/organi- The training programme in Lithuania did not deve- sing group lop this module, and will include it in the training for work starting up a business

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The Netherlands

Focusing Reworking life experience of trainees prostitution Creating profiles of PE’s skills and abilities experience. Define role/functions of PE Focusing Sharing experiences with one other migration experience Focusing Psycho-education of post-traumatic stress syndrome deception experience Health care Transferring knowledge of female anatomy and physio- contents logy, STIs, HIV/AIDS, safe sex techniques, organisation and aspects of outreach work, social map of Dutch institutions/services for prostitution (5 days) STIs HIV / AIDS testing protocol and anti-viral therapy General health care Safe sex techniques in prostitution, negotiating with clients Sex organs and reproductive system, female anatomy Contraception, pregnancy, abortion, reproductive health care Organisation, techniques and aspects of outreach work Techniques for transmitting knowledge on STIs HIV and safe sex Social/legal Transferring knowledge on: contents Social map of Dutch institutions: services for prostitution/services for trafficked women, public health services Prostitution policies: legal regulation and practices Self employment in prostitution: duties and rights Legislation regarding migration, prostitution and trafficking Prostitution and human trafficking

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Focusing Working conditions in prostitution Help relations- Labour conditions in prostitution hips Communication techniques in multifaceted counselling and provision of services Planning interventions and upgrading monitoring techniques for services being provided Advocacy for sex workers’ rights protection

Counselling Communication/approach techniques: basics How to approach women on the street. elements How to make the presentation: contents, forms of communication. Types of negotiations you already know

Focusing The goals of this module were: negotiating; learning how Help relations- and when to set boundaries hips

Group/organi- Future planning, learning to think strategically, reaching sing group goals step by step: work Meeting with an HIV positive person: an example of a self-help/community based organisation: from reworking personal experience to setting up a self-help organisation for HIV positive persons. This was followed by: discussion on the process and organisation of volun- teer-based self-help organisations. types of legal entities and their regulations. different kinds of entities: their goals and philoso- phies Mobility and work: cross-border exchange of PEs among partner countries. in partner countries.

3.7 Project work: experimentation of ability and competence aquired

The following section describes the project work phase, which forms an essential part of the vocational training programme because it is the real application

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in a protected environment of the skills and abilities acquired during training. 3.7.1 Project work in Italy

Activity Contents Project presentation/ explaining peer Mailing of materials and telephone con- education tacts to present project, peer roles and functions; the possibility of a professional position. Requests to projects/activities for pla- Telephone contacts and ad hoc meetings cement in project work Meetings with project referents for Verify feasibility and conditions for placement in project work placement in project work based on activities carried out by projects; identifying referent operator in project work; activities to experiment during project work Analysing training needs Analysis of the level of learning and of additional training needs for each trainee based on progress and productivity during training course Monitoring logistical needs of trai- Ad hoc meetings with trainees in whole nees group Choice of projects/activities in which Comparison based on elements that to include project work emerged during analysis of training needs; monitoring of logistical needs in meetings with referents of projects that may host project work

Training agreement with trainees Definition of goals, activities and methods for individual project work assignments with whole group Agreement with projects hosting pro- Telephone contacts to define project ject work work based on training needs of each trainee and the activities offered by host projects. Definition of calendar and logistical aspects.

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Monitoring progress of project work Periodic contacts with trainees and project work directors of host project to discuss progress and resolve problems

Verify project work in progress Verify with whole group the possibility of achieving the goals, activities and methods set for each trainee

Final verification of project work Verify with whole group the outcome of each project work assignment

Restitution of evaluation by projects Evaluation by referent operator of pro- hosting project work ject work based on progress made

Training course activities are indicated in red. One day of the training course was dedicated to preparing project work, with the following aims: Identifying the specific project work training goals of each trainee Agreeing on how to carry out the individual project work programmes Strategy: training goals were identified based on the each trainee’s needs for practical knowledge and the personal maps of skills and capabilities prepared by each trainee during previous modules. A specific observa- tion grid was created with each trainee in order to help her adhere to the goals identified. Each grid included: goals activities agreed upon with the organisation hosting the project work specific activities by trainee in order to achieve goals

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summary of trainee’s tasks The following chart summarises trainee goals and the activities they performed

Residence/ Accompaniment Team User Mobile unit to Health Care organisation shelter Service needs Goals Learn to pro- Observe Observe how Observe ope- vide health method of operators and Observe how rators’ care informa- entry users agree meetings are methods of tion on accompa- carried out listening niment Observe how Observe Observe problems are methods of Observe how decision- defined presentation services making and reception function Observe ope- in campers. (hours, Observe divi- rator attitu- making sion of tasks des Acquire use- appoint- ful elements ments) Observe how for PE role users react to PE’s Observe how explanations counselling are carried out with users on specific themes

Activity Participate in Interview a nterview Participate in Try out ade- street-work residence expert opera- organisatio- quate ways operator on tors on health nal meetings of presenting Identify ope- criteria for care organi- PEs: who rator tasks admitting sations and Request info they are, users into services and clarifica- what they do programme tions on organisatio- nal structure

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in each project work situation: Organisations participating in project work: Cooperativa “il Cerchio” progetto di accoglienza UdS - Pisa Progetto “Oltre la strada” e UdS - di Reggio Emilia Servizio “Città e prostituzione” progetto “Free Woman” - Comune di Venezia Comunità di San Benedetto al Porto - Genova “Progetto Lunatica” Comunità di accoglienza per trafficate - Ravenna Progetto “Oltre la strada” Centro stranieri - Modena Tampep Onlus “Progetto Antares”- Torino “Progetto Stella Polare” accoglienza e UdS - Trieste

3.7.2 Project work in France

The tutor accompanied trainees during the training and met them in both work sessions and informally (during meals or other modules). We began by defining project work, i.e. making links between theory and practice. Ideally, the training should not last too long or be too one- rous, but there should be enough time for each person to find the information they require in order to evolve. It was thus important to focus on each trainee’s interests so that the project work would not be boring but would provide practical, tangible answers to questions that arose during the training. We contacted some organizations in Marseilles that had said they might accept trainees in their project work. The targeted entities were NGOs operating in the social/health care area, but we also approached public services, such as HIV/ STDs Testing Centres or hospital departments. However, only two trainees were from Marseilles, and the other trainees had to do their project work in their city of origin. The aim was to focus on the educational role of the PE, and to strengthen the vocational project of each trainee based on feedback after the initial entry into training. We viewed this training as a process in which trainees would modify their expectations and intentions. We gave each trainee a ‘questionnaire’ which was designed so they could make a connection between what they were experiencing during the project work and what they had learned in training. We specified that this was just a helpful tool to guide them during the project work and that we were not looking for the “right answers”.

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The evaluation criteria were based on: whether initial goals were reached whether there was development in the trainee’s practice a more precise definition of their vocational project We chose to make an oral evaluation based on the questionnaires used during the project work as a support and guide. This tool was not intended to elicit the ‘right answers’ in terms of what they had learned, but try to verify if the overall intentions of the Fenarete project were confirmed in practice. The value of this type of evaluation lies in the fact that we did not pena- lise the lacks or deficiencies, but instead tried to make them emerge so they could be identified, targeted and corrected. This evaluation took place both within the group and individually.

3.7.3 Project work in Germany

The methods, attitudes and knowledge gained during the course must be applied in hands-on situations that are as close as possible to real practice. Therefore, periods of work experience were planned in appropriate counselling centres, shelters or government agencies. These ‘internships’ were projected to last a total of 14 weeks. Since the trainees came from different federal states and cities, it was advisable to arrange for their placement in, or near their homes. In Germany, there is a strong infrastructure of counselling centres and shelters working in the area of prostitution, with networking capabilities. The organisers decided to contact Hydra e.V. and Amnesty for Women e.V. for help in finding suitable placements. The preferences and wishes expressed by the women during training were also a criterion for selecting work placements. In some cases, single trainees already had contacts with organisations that could offer them a position for work experience. However, the trainers advised these women to choose an alternative organisation with which they were less familiar in order to avoid possible role conflicts (e.g., formerly a client, now a colleague).

Placements were made in the following organisations:

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Focus of work/ Number Placement organisation trainee’s tasks of hours Hydra e.V., Berlin Counselling and streetwork 100 hours for prostitutes Frauentreff Olga, Berlin Low-threshold drugs work 10 hours

Hydra e.V., Berlin Counselling and streetwork 30 hours for prostitutes

Berlin Health AuthoritySTIs, counselling, 80 hours streetwork KARO e.V., PlauenCross-border counselling in 100 hours apartment and street-based prostitution Madonna e.V., BochumCounselling for prostitutes 90 hours

Hanover Health Authority Counselling, STDs 5 hours

Amnesty f. Women Counselling, migration, pro- 40 hours stitution

TAMPEP-Germany in Low-threshold contact orga- 30 hours Kaffeeklappe, Hamburg nisation for prostitutes and counselling, workshops Stuttgart Health Authority Counselling, streetwork total 130 hours Rosamunde e.V., Stuttgart Self-help, counselling for Prostitutes

Kaffeeklappe, Amburgo see above total 72 hours Ragazza, Hamburg Low-threshold drugs work

Lena, Linz (A) Counselling for prostitutes Prostitution Information Centre, Amsterdam (NL) Information centre and shop

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Some of the trainees completed their work experience requirements by combi- ning work in several different organisations (see table). One trainee did not complete the work experience. The extent and structuring of the placements were determined by the requirements and working hours of the placement organisations, and by each trainee’s personal situation (childcare, work as a prostitute, etc.). Thus, alternative moda- lities such as day visits, work experience for a period of several weeks, or one fixed day of placement during the week for a longer period were agreed upon with the placement organisations. Five of the trainees had an on-the-job instructor who acted as their supervisor; the others worked without supervision. Two trainees were able to carry out counselling on their own, with supervision. Most of the trainees were emotionally effected by working in difficult areas such as drug-based prostitution, child prostitution, and prostitution and human trafficking. In some cases, this led to their ruling out these areas of work; for others, this experience triggered a desire to get involved and to help in these areas. All the women felt the need to talk extensively about their experiences during their work training, and this took up considerably more time than had been planned. Therefore, together with the trainees it was decided to cancel the planned session for role-playing and evaluating a counselling situation which had occurred during placement, and use that time period in order to continue this intensive exchange of experiences.

3.7.4 Project work in Poland

As part of the Fenarete project, the trainees were given a project work assignment. Before the project work began, the co-ordinators met with the various project supervisors in Warsaw to discuss the aims and rules for carrying out the project work. Among the issues discussed was the requirement of 60 hours volun- teer work for completing an internship. Another topic was the trainee project workbook for reporting and evaluation. This book was also intended to allow the trainee to prepare feedback for the organisation. The work project’s main goals were: Testing acquired training skills Applying practical knowledge in street work and for PE functions Acquiring new office skills for existing PEs, e.g. fax use, computer literacy, operating Xerox machines, writing official letters to public agencies, etc. The duration of an internship was also meant to create possibilities for team- work. In our view, practical experience creates a sense of involvement when working with stigmatised social groups.

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The role of the supervisors was to support the trainees and provide assistance for particular development needs. Both supervisors and trainees could contact the trainer and project coordinators if they needed to. The internship program began with 6 women. Two had completed the programme; two were still in progress. In one case, this was due to giving birth, in the second the woman had problems getting a visa. The remaining two cases had to be suspended: the first due to a depression after miscarriage, the second due to family problems. We still maintain a working relationship with all six women and hope that the two women who had to suspend their training will return when their circumstances permit. The trainees were uneasy about beginning project work because they were former clients who were now colleagues (the supervisors had discussed this issue during the meeting with the Fenarete team). The natural locations for performing internships were the cities of Szczecin, Warsaw and Gdansk (TADA Society). An internship was performed at the local Municipal Health Care Office. One intern is still involved as a contract worker with the Warsaw project that deals with child and underage prostitution. She also did a short internship at the La Strada Foundation, in the Warsaw office (she was the person who publicly introduced herself as a PE during the Warsaw seminar ‘Living with HIV’ on female prostitution).

3.7.5 Project work in Lithuania

Project work preparation. Both trainers and the tutor worked together with the 7 trainees who had completed the course to prepare the project work. Each trainee was placed and the main tasks and goals were clearly explained to her. Possible difficulties were also discussed and the trainees were reminded of the capabilities and interpersonal skills acquired during the course. After this preparation, the women began to work 2 hours per day for 6 weeks. Three women worked in the Social Diseases Advisory Office at the Lithuanian AIDS Centre, two in the Anonymous Testing Site of the Lithuanian AIDS Centre and the remaining two in the Vilnius Substance Abuse Centre and the Women’s Crisis Centre, an NGO. The purpose of the project work was to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during training and identify any lacks or deficiencies. The women were encouraged to contact project staff for any problems or questions during the project and also received guidance from the tutor. Project work support. The trainers, tutor and 7 trainees met to discuss problems encountered during the project work, and the whole group was involved in offering possible solutions. The most difficult situations involved disappointments and their limited ability to solve especially difficult problems. However, it was

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important to discuss these limits and what the women felt about this situation. After the project work, each trainee was asked to complete the following questionnaire: How many users did you contact during your project work? What were the most common needs of users? What help did you provide? What was the most difficult aspect of your project work? What do you need in order to improve your work as a PE? The results were analysed and discussed with the group. The trainers and tutor were involved in giving the questionnaire to the women. They also discussed the project work results with the trainees, how they saw their role and what they had gained from this experience.

3.7.6 Project work in the Netherlands

The criteria for the selection of the internship place were as follows: in keeping with the political commitment strategy of the service providers, it was decided to use a broad spectrum of placements and rotate the trainees among the various services in order to break down the resistance of service providers and make them realise the added value of PEs placements were multidisciplinary, in order to permit the women to experience different settings and especially settings different from the ones they were used to matching the core qualities of each trainee to the most suitable work project recognising the internship as valid and comparable with other vocational training. The tutor was responsible for selecting the services in which to place trainees (based on these criteria), drawing up the agreements, monitoring the work experience from both sides, coaching the trainees and carrying out daily evaluations of each internship. At the end of the process, each of the organisations involved provided a written evaluation of the internship, which formed part of the graduation requirement. The internship provided the trainees with the opportunity for real working experience in representatives sectors of the country’s social and health care services. These entities included GOs, NGOs, municipalities and self-help organisations. This experience was not limited to the area of prostitution, but also included work with other marginalised groups such as underage asylum seekers. The Fenarete project has created a certain demand for public interventions by trainees, and some of this demand has been met. For example, one trainee was interviewed on television and another took part, as an expert, in a debate on

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street prostitution policy. This demand is likely to increase and Fenarete trainees will be able to represent their group as experts and advocates. Project work was carried out in the following organisations: Humanitas/BlinN (Bonded Labour in the Netherlands) Maatschappelijk Juridisch Werk (Legal aid) Shelter Asja (shelter for underage prostitutes) TAMPEP International Foundation (research on legislation/outreach work) PIC (Prostitution Information Centre) HAP (Huiskamer Aanloop Prostituees- Drop-in Centre for sex workers) De Rode Draad (The Red Thread - organisation of sex workers) STV (Foundation against Trafficking of Women) SAMAH (Foundation for Underage Refugees) GGD Alkmaar (Municipal Health Services) Participation in a parliamentary conference on street prostitution Interviews with various mass media

3.8 Evaluations

The following section presents the evaluations for each trial training course, and indicates the special elements of each national programme. A common deno- minator for all programmes was the fundamental importance of the training module for reworking the experience of prostitution.

3.8.1 Italy

The trainees greatly appreciated the first module dedicated to reworking personal experiences. A number of trainees also stated that, for the first time, they had been adequately guided in telling their stories. The time given to each person made them feel that they were being listened to by both the group and trainers. The method used, i.e. narration and graphics techniques which transformed the facts narrated into symbols, enabled them to reflect upon and decide what they wished to detach themselves from, and what instead to salvage and keep. The group was also very interested in the second module (information), although there were some difficulties with those trainers who were unaccustomed to interactive methods. The module dealing with managing help relationships was also well received, even though it highlighted some real personal difficulties in this specific area. The module on organising group work was likewise very well received in terms of its goal of making trainees focus on the forms of collaboration within the team, and also because it was an important moment for deciding whether to continue with the training for starting up a business.

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The techniques and strategies used were considered adequate with respect to the course goals and the characteristics of the training group. The group-management method used was of fundamental importance because it emphasised the following elements: the importance of space Because the contents of the PE-user relationship inevitably involves the experience of prostitution, the PE must be able to control her emotional identification with the prostitute-user. During the training, the trainees were able to directly verify their ability to manage the emotional space related to the ‘prostitution experience’, beginning with the first phase dedicated to reworking personal experiences together with the group. Telling one’s own story and especially listening to the stories of others provoked a wide range of emotions among the trainees, which were then analysed in terms of individual actions / reactions / involvement / detachment. Based precisely on the real emotions existing within the group, it was possible to make the trainees realise the functionality, efficacy and productivity of properly controlling one’s emotional space. The presence of trainers - who helped to stimulate and assimilate the stories being told also helped the trainees to reflect upon the nature of the PE’s work through their listening methods, which provided the trainees with an example of a warm and emotionally involved relationship that, however, did not disturb or over- whelm the professional setting or their role. Elements from the personal stories of each of the trainees were also of fundamental importance during the ‘PE role/functions’ module. In fact, expressing in a group setting the personal needs that were felt during the period of prostitution and, in particular, alternating in the role of someone attempting to respond adequately to those needs made the trainees experience the (not remote) sense of frustration at not being able to satisfy all of the needs of women sex workers. At the same time, it gave them the possibility of creating personal strategies for avoiding a sense of omnipotence, while still maintaining a close, help-relationship with the user. the importance of time The dimension of time involves methods of self-control, and the difference between acting immediately (exploding) or, instead, temporising, waiting and controlling our reactions. The temporal dimension can thus be linked to the ability to negotiate and provide services (for a PE, these terms can be seen as the ability to negotiate a personal course of action and the user’s course of action, and therefore the ability to provide a support that responds effectively to the needs expressed by the user, instead of attempting to take their place or act for them). Here too, the group proved itself to be a rich resource. The different personali- ties and personal characteristics which emerged progressively during the long training course provided a certain number of behavioural models. By interve- ning appropriately, the leaders were able to point out these different models to

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the group, in terms of acting immediately, or waiting and controlling one’s reactions, thereby making the trainees reflect on the effectiveness of different behaviours. By then directing the discussion towards the optimum characteristics for a good PE, it was possible to list and ‘try out’ directly within the group the various methods and behavioural strategies which were most appropriate to different situations. In this instance, the use of role-playing and simulation techniques and the guided discussions made the trainees focus on the issue of personal characteristics and elicited a group exchange of feedback regarding personal behaviours and attitudes. the importance of self-esteem Our sense of self-esteem is fundamental to how we handle our relationships. Self-esteem can be seen as a maturing process and we can obtain a better understanding of the importance of self-esteem by considering its role in the following areas: the ability to differentiate ourselves from others, the ability to think and decide for ourselves, the ability to recognise our own value and the value of others and to attach value to someone through behaviour, the ability to accept ourselves and our limits, the ability to experiment, to recognise our feelings and communicate and share them, the ability to relate to and feel empathy for others, the ability to make useful decisions for ourselves and decisions which are mutual beneficial within relationships, the ability to be flexible and adapt without losing our sense of self, and the ability to give meaning and importance to our personal experiences A training course for PEs in the area of prostitution cannot overlook these fundamental aspects. Because the professional PE must manage help-relationships with users who work as prostitutes and whose stories are both similar to and different from her own - past or present - her own sense of self and the ability to distinguish herself from the user becomes a fundamental element in a profession which is based on recognising and attaching value to users and their needs. Moving towards self-acceptance and self-esteem was the first aspect to be dealt with in the training course. In this case as well, the group became a crucial tool for experimenting with these abilities or, better, for pointing out the resources and limits involved in using these abilities and preparing effective strategies. The trainer handled the group adequately throughout the entire training programme, with respect to making the exchanges within the group productive and realistic, and especially during the reworking of the prostitution experience. In fact, given that this was the most innovative aspect of the method being proposed, the trainees had to be accompanied through their experiences in such a way

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as to cull the group’s emotional and cognitive feedback, while also directing the process towards the creation of a current self-image that would be able to deal with the outside world. It was in this context that the PE’s position within various external settings was outlined: institutional setting - recognising the PE’s functions and effectiveness with respect to projects and services that work in the area of prostitution operational setting - recognising oneself in relations with users social setting - recognising the role and importance of the professional PE

3.8.2 France

The final outcome of the training was that the trainees felt they had had a training experience which enabled them to undertake or strengthen their role as a PE for sex workers. Autres Regards and ACCES tried to offer a programme which combined experiential and cognitive learning. Learning about, doing, and being. A basic starting point in any training is that every trainee already knows a great deal. The training allowed “trainees” to verify what they had already learned, learn new things, and offer their own knowledge and experience as a learning experience for others. For this to happen, the trainees had to be made to feel comfortable, safe, and as free as possible of the stress of everyday life, so that they could relax into the training programme and gain the maximum benefit from it. The training took place in a pleasant setting and the trainers took great pains to negotiate with the group codes of confidentiality and respect, in order to encourage a balanced mix of “risk taking “ and “safety” within the group. This strategy was clearly successful, for all through the training the group continued to develop a more intense and challenging, but also supportive and frank, relationship. This made it possible for us to deal with some very difficult issues using not only theory and knowledge, but also personal experience and opinions. The residential week, which launched the training, was very experiential largely due to the combined effect of living under the same roof for a week and under- taking highly challenging exercises such as “the lifeline”. However, from the very outset the trainers introduced the notion of definition in terms of peer education, emphasising that each trainee should give him-or herself the opportunity, throughout the training, to define and develop a peer education practice that they were comfortable with and which corresponded to their personal and professional integrity. The programme was intense also because of the copious amounts of information that were offered, with theoretical presentations on peer education, counselling, drug and alcohol use, HIV, viral hepatitis, legal aspects, social rights and status, and project creation and management. A great deal of written materials were also

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provided throughout the training, so that those who liked to read (or who had the time) could do further research. The group was characterised by its cultural and, therefore, linguistic diversity. French was the mother tongue of only 3 of the 8 members (including the trainers). We therefore emphasised the importance of keeping the language as clear as possible. A very striking aspect of the training was the capacity of group members to express and understand complex issues in a spoken and written language which was not always their own mother tongue. Because we were aware that certain members of the group did not have a mastery of the written word, we always tried to use different methods of expression in order to convey information or ideas. However, for the trainers it was important to make the PEs realise that they were not expected to be experts in everything, or deal with every kind of situation. The training emphasised the importance of networking, of being able to refer clients or users to other operators, organisations or institutions, and thus the importance of sharing the load: ‘If you can’t, someone else can’. It also emphasised the importance of getting support and help when working, that things can build up, that some situations become too difficult to manage. The training, especially during the counselling week, worked a great deal on the influence that one’s own “baggage” of personal experience can have on our work. Counselling encourages self-awareness and self-confidence. This enables trainees, who are in a fundamentally person-oriented training programme, to explore themselves and discover their points of strength and vulnerability in a peer education type relationship. This, along with the work done with the tutor, enables the trainees to anticipate vulnerabilities, our ‘personal minefields’ as we call them, in order to ask for help when certain situations become unmanagea- ble. A training cycle which relies so heavily on its trainees wanting to be involved in the training is always a challenge for its trainers. The success of such a programme depends as much on the goodwill and enthusiasm of its ‘trainees’ as it does on its trainers, tutors, and organisers. The group we worked with in Marseilles showed us trust and openness, and we grew during this training just as much as they did. It should be said that during the social issues week, the only male trainee abruptly decided to quit the course. A violent quarrel took place within the group and he expressed himself in very harsh terms towards the other group members. He had finally realised that he was not yet ready to participate in this kind of training. He had a great potential for the help-relationship and counselling, but was simply not yet ready to exploit this resource. However, the fact that he left the training showed that he had progressed in his own mind and realised that he was not ready to go on with the training. It should also be said that being the only man in the group was not easy for him, because the women had very negative

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feelings about men in general and sometimes uttered severe reproaches (and he likewise against women). However, we have maintained contact with him and the trainers told him that they were available if he wanted to talk or needed help. This man is still in contact with people on the street and will use his abilities to create helping relationships and spread prevention messages.

The training also allowed people to raise the question of their ability to work as a PE even if they did come from the sex workers community.

3.8.3 Germany

The training programme in Germany was very successful and was a boon for both the trainees and the trainers, both professionally and personally. This was confirmed by the fact that nobody ever missed any of the training sessions or abandoned the training programme. What elements proved valuable? The fact that the trainees were able to stay together in one place for a period of a week, instead of returning to their normal lives in the evening, had a very positive effect on the group dynamics and on the joint learning process. The deliberate decision to choose a hotel characterised by a very pleasant and agreeable atmosphere, with extremely friendly and helpful service and a varied menu of high-quality food, was very much appreciated by the women. The respectful attitude conveyed by this choice seemed important for this group of trainees in particular, as due to their profession they are often confronted with disrespect, scorn and contempt. The methodology used, ‘learning from a model’, also proved effective in this informal context: the trainees returned the respect they were receiving and treated the hotel staff with the greatest possible polite- ness and esteem. The hotel staff returned the compliment by telling the trainees that they were their favourite group during the whole period of the training programme. The pre-established structures, such as set times for working and breaks could only be modified for exceptional reasons, and were accepted and observed by the trainees. Using two trainers to lead the programme had the advantage that while one was leading and structuring the process, the other could pay more attention to the group’s mood and the general atmosphere. The trainers exchanged opinions on these aspects at the end of each day of training. Tackling the legal texts, decrees and regulations was an arduous task for the trainees during the second module, not only because of the dryness of the material and the substantial amount of input over a short period, but also because the women were often personally affected by the issues being dealt with (e.g. taxes).

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The course thus also forced them to deal with some of the negative aspects of prostitution. After some initial scepticism, the women reacted well to the use of psychodrama methods. They enjoyed being creative, using movement and role-playing. They found it easier to express their feelings and conditions by means of non- verbal mediums (collages, pictures, symbols etc.) than through language. The trainees often worked more intensively in small groups and found it more difficult to communicate openly in the large group setting. The changes in setting from the large group to small groups, pair work and individual work prevented the group from showing signs of fatigue. After the first training unit, the group had already bonded well. There was a tangible sense of mutual solidarity and mutual responsibility. Throughout the training programme, the trainees experienced a strengthening of their self-confidence and self-assurance, which will be of use to them both in their private lives and when dealing with their colleagues in prostitution. What caused difficulties? Only the basics of counselling methods and attitudes can be presented over the course of one week. Further training, more intensive in terms of time and content, would be needed in order to ensure well-founded and confident counselling behaviour. Because of the personnel available, the tasks involved and the time limits, not all the trainees received enough support and opportunities to reflect on their experiences during their job placements. Because of the large distances involved, the organisers were often only able to provide advice and support by telephone. Throughout the training programme, the trainers were repeatedly confronted with the question of what real vocational prospects and job opportunities would become available to trainees after earning this qualification. Some women were hoping to build up an alternative professional line of work with this qualification. Even if expectations in this regard were kept low from the beginning, with the women’s growing self-identification as a PE, their expectations in this regard were very understandable. However, this meant that the training’s intention and content diverged repeatedly.

3.8.4 Poland

The most important part of the training course was the so-called ‘soft’ skills training session [reworking experience module]. During this session, the trainee had to deal with her personal issues, and there was also an initial a lack of trust among the members of the group and with respect to the trainers. Each woman evaluated this session as very successful in terms of personal development. Starting with that session, the trainees began to develop a strong integration among themselves and a fantastic working team began to take shape. The

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women showed great courage in sharing their experiences, emotions and dreams, together with their failures, fears, concerns and personal tragedies (like miscarriage or rape). This openness and commitment created an alliance within the group to work on issues critical to the project. It also required an ongoing awareness on the part of the trainers and tutors, in order to lead a very dynamic and demanding group. One trainee withdrew at the start of the course: despite her earlier commitment she was unable to accept the rules regarding openness and sincerity. Later we learned that the trainee had been uncertain about taking the training after her experience working as a prostitute. The so-called ‘hard’ skills training was slightly easier for the trainees because it did not require such intense emotional commitment. The workshop titles and lecture topics were based on earlier suggestions by the women, together with issues that had been pointed out by the trainers and project coordinators. These issues turned out to be interesting and were declared by the trainees to be useful and practical (for example, the information regarding the new national health care system in Poland). New suggestions emerged regarding possible topics for future sessions, which the women regarded as crucial and necessary (e.g. violence against children and women). The internship proved difficult to carry out, due to factors beyond the control of some of the trainees (giving birth, family problems, depression resulting from miscarriage). However, the trainees considered this part of the project as important for applying the skills acquired during training and increasing their knowledge. One woman was especially motivated in her project. After completing her internship, the trainee continued to be very involved with this project (‘the station’), which focuses on street children, especially young prostitutes or young girls who risk entering into prostitution. She is also interested in starting up and running a project on behalf of women who are prostitutes. Currently the coordinators and the project trainers are trying to motivate the women in to carrying out joint actions on behalf of prostitutes. This action does not aim at legalizing prostitution or fighting against current social-political deve- lopments in Poland. Instead, it is a lobbying strategy for changing how society perceives women who work as prostitutes, in order to combat stigma and ostracism. The project coordinators and trainers are also considering ways of strengthening links among project trainees. It is important that the coordinators, trainers and tutors share the skills and experience acquired during the project and also run training sessions on male prostitution or the victims of trafficking.

Problems and solutions During the training course we encountered several levels of difficulties. Modern Polish is a bit inadequate for communicating emotions, and this proved

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to be the case for the workshop trainees. In order to help trainees communicate their feelings, a number of terms for the emotions and feelings that emerged during brainstorming sessions were written down and posted on the wall. Initially, the workshop trainees looked to this list for clues when they were speaking, then later began to use the terms on their own. It emerged that the women had had very serious experiences in the past. Most had experienced violence in their relationships, were victims of rape (also as children), had had miscarriages and children who had died. One of the trainees was unaware that she was pregnant and miscarried on one of the training days. The trainer talked with each trainee individually concerning their traumatic experiences, explaining what concrete actions could be taken, the difficulties involved, the options for therapy and possible outcomes. A crisis occurred when one of the trainees did not want to include the solid object that was meant to represent a rape experience in the ‘positive box’. The group was trying to exert pressure on the trainee, in keeping with the training aim that ‘past events produce the learning experience’. The trainers proposed that extremely negative experiences be excluded by everyone by burning an object connected with a past experience of this sort. Roughly half the trainees chose an object, and there was no discussion as to what this object represented. After the session, all the trainees went outside with the trainers to burn the object, and watched the fire in silence.

3.8.5 Lithuania

The first training module was quite successful and fruitful and all the trainees gave it a positive evaluation. In fact, they described the first module as informa- tive, useful, interesting and encouraging, and as creating a collective feeling and helping them to know themselves and their colleagues better. However, they also described it as strong, bitter, sad, short and occasionally boring. The trainers were also satisfied with the first module, even though there were some doubts at the start, when 3 trainees withdrew in a single day. However, it was thought that losing people at the start was less traumatic and disturbed the group dynamics and group involvement less than if this had occurred later on during the course. Another initial worry for the trainers were the different levels present in the group, with two women who were very closed at the outset. However, they later changed their attitude, drawing closer to the group and being accepted in turn. This was an important event in the group’s dynamics. The trainers felt that the women had developed a strong motivation for continuing the training and were very interested in what they were doing. This perception was confirmed by the behaviour of the trainees, which made it possible to conclude the first module in a satisfactory manner. The second part of the programme, which focussed on information and impro-

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ving skills, was very satisfying for the trainees and, in our view, not only improved their knowledge and skills with respect to a series of technical issues, but also greatly improved their self-esteem and self-confidence. During the module on interpersonal skills, the issue of the nature of conflicts generated the greatest interest and also required the greatest amount of time. This issue was obviously very important to the women, who referred to their own personal experiences during the discussions. In their feedback, the trainees expressed their gratitude to the trainers and indicated what they thought were the areas in which the greatest progress had been made during the course: better self-recognition, better understanding of human behavior, greater awareness and self-confidence. The next module also proceeded smoothly and in accordance with the planned programme. Each trainee’s main interpersonal difficulties were noted and stressed and, on the whole, this module was also successful. The trainer, tutor and the 7 trainees then met to discuss the difficulties occurring in project work. The women talked about the problems they had encountered in their work and the whole group was involved in proposing solutions. The greatest difficulty was dealing with disappointments connected to the trainees taking responsibility for solving complex problems which were beyond their capacity to deal with at that time. This provided an opportunity to talk about the limits that often exist when trying to help people and the personal feelings resulting from this situation. In conclusion, our experience leads us to conclude that the FENARETE method for training PEs among sex workers can be used successfully in the future.

3.8.6 The Netherlands

The starting group was a mixture of nationalities (all migrants from 7 different countries), legal status (self-employed sex workers, persons in the protection programme for trafficked women) age (varying from 17 to 43), experience in prostitution (work-style, duration, active or former). Despite these differences, the training reached its goal because the group was actually very representative of the present situation in prostitution. Each trainee brought her own experiences and shared them with her colleagues in a context of strong group recognition and dynamics. The trainees can now be placed as PEs in the complex Dutch system of service organisations in the field of prostitution. Some of the Dutch organisations have already expressed their intention to employ some of the PEs in their operations. Given the rigid structure of Dutch service providers, which generally do not accept new professional figures in their activities, we can conclude that the innovative way in which Fenarete trained and employed their PEs has found a very positive response in the system. The following skills and knowledge have been taught and acquired:

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General communication skills basic knowledge of perception psychology managing of the feedback Counselling skills self perception, perception of the other reflection capabilities relationship management negotiating techniques active listening arousing empathy focussing on the problem techniques of outreach work case management techniques Professional knowledge health promotion in prostitution, HIV-STI prevention, female physiology and anatomy social map of the Netherlands legislation regarding migrants, sex workers, trafficked human beings elements of international law For the evaluation, the trainees were asked to consider the following aspects: A. What did you learn ? B. What can you use in your personal life? What can you use in your work or to further your education? C. What do you want to learn more about as a PE or for other professions or situations? D. If you were the director of this project what would you do the same and what would you do differently? A.1 Things learned: More patience Courage Persons are different; how to cope with those differences Setting goals Learning about emotions: I was laughing and crying. Learning about my qualities Learning to speak freely Learning when to keep my mouth shut Learning when to stop and when to insist My own limits and those of others How to make contact Where I make mistakes How to cope during difficult periods of my life How to be stronger

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How to say exactly what I want Trusting myself Believing in myself Asking for help How to take care of myself Daring to speak up Not being ashamed anymore

Information or skills regarding: Prostitution HIV/AIDS Health care and laws Safe sex More Dutch and English Pregnancy Organisations

B.1 What can you use? All the knowledge we can use in our personal lives, as well as in our jobs or education.

C.1 What do you want to learn more about ? Setting goals even when they are difficult to achieve Keeping one’s courage How to go on Experience in field work Asking for help and patience during difficult periods More information about organisations in native countries More information about sponsors The situation in native countries regarding prostitutes I want to learn more about what I have to do, how to cope during difficult periods of my life I want to see different kinds of settings were prostitution occurs, e.g. sex clubs, the street, the windows etc. I want to refresh my memory every few months

D.1 What would you do the same? What would you do differently? I would give the course in modules as was done, but I would plan more activities between modules. More time together and in one place, such as a house in the country during the summer. In the beginning, I found it difficult to talk about all the bad things that had happened to me. And also to listen to all these stories. I want to have more

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time for doing this. Also more time together. Also talking about the nice things in our lives. Not so much about the past at one time. And I’d like to stay longer in one place, because we had to travel a lot to participate in the course. Stay longer in hotels and with fewer hours, more time for fun things in the group. More field work.

Other wishes: An exchange programme with other countries A diploma that can be used in other countries More about the countries we come from, in case we are repatriated More materials we can use in our own countries More information about the B9 status More information about the legal aspects More audio-visual materials

3.9 Vocational training courses for PEs (trial projects)

Based on the information provided above, the purpose of this section is to indicate: the basic elements for the vocational training of PEs which remained the same in each partner country; those elements in the vocational training of PEs which depended on the specific conditions in each partner country. The trial projects confirmed the working method established by the Italian team for the vocational training of Pes. This meant that the training courses were organised around the following core elements: a core of personal awareness concerning the fundamental characteristic of the PE: that of having worked (or continuing to work) as a prostitute. This distinctive element for the professional role of PE must be dealt with properly, and is indispensable for the entire training course. a cognitive core (prevention, health care, social and legal aspects and vocational reskilling for all users who intend to stop working as prostitutes) a core of inter-personal skills due to the fact that the PE must engage in direct help-relationships with users.

The trial projects also showed how within this shared, essential structure for the vocational training of Pes, a number specific elements linked to the specific national context must also be taken into account.

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3.9.1 Basic and specific elements

Results for the module on reworking the experience of prostitution: Basic element Residential setting Except for Lithuania, all partners did this module in a residential structure. In Lithuania, all the trainees lived in Vilnius and could not leave the city due to various personal and family problems. However, in the trainers meeting, the Lithuanians stressed that the residential setting was essential for this module because it helped create an atmosphere of welcome and trust which was indispensable for dealing with personal and often painful issues and because trainees view being received and hosted in a pleasant place as a rare form of recognition that makes them feel important. Strategies / All trainer teams used strategies and techniques to techniques encourage the expression of feelings and emotional states. All teams used the ‘body profile’ and the ‘lifeline’, indicating that the reworking of personal experiences of prostitution must necessarily involve getting in touch with the emotions that were aroused or involved. Leadership All trainers were women, except for one member of the approaches French team. It should be noted that the French choice and trainer was consistent with the composition of the group, which characteristics also included men. All trainers had a balanced attitude towards prostitution, neither ‘salvationist’ or stigmati- sing, and respected individual choices. All trainers managed group dynamics and dealt with sensitive personal areas (related to intimate personal experiences) in an interactive way. They controlled their own emotions and those of the trainees, were open to negotiation and dialo- gue and flexible in their ideas and behaviour. Specific elements Trainee experiences All trainer teams dealt with prostitution-related themes that varied depending on the group’s composition. The Italian, French and Dutch teams dealt with migration and deception-related themes, because their groups were composed of trainees from different countries who had had traumatic experiences related to migration and trafficking.

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Results of the information modules:

Basic element Health care All partners provided information regarding HIV / AIDS and STIs Contraceptive methods, pregnancy, abortion Gynaecological information All partners thus considered this information important for the vocational training of PEs and their future activities Specific elements Social/legal Each partner dealt with the social/legal themes based on the national situation and the group’s composition. The French, Dutch and Italian teams had to focus on the social effects of national immigration policies; the Polish and French teams focused on substance abuse due to the nature of prostitution in those countries. The Dutch and German teams focused on the national legislation regarding prostitution, and the rights and duties of sex workers

Results of the inter-personal skills module:

Basic element Help-relationships All teams worked on gaining awareness, abilities and and counselling specific skills for carrying out a consultation with the user. All teams based their approach on methods of non-directive counselling and used different approaches (direct or indirect) to help trainees distinguish between friendly and help-relationships within the profession. This aspect underscored the interpersonal skills which the professional PE must have in order to work effectively and efficiently.

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Results of the group/organising group work module :

Basic element Managing group All teams focussed on the group, making trainees dynamics aware of group dynamics.

Specific elements Organising the work- Only the Dutch and Italian teams used this final trai- group ning module as a link with the training for starting up a legal agency/business. The other teams preferred to separate these two forms of training.

Results of project work:

Basic element Defining specific All teams tried to create personalised ‘hands-on’ trai- goals for each trainee ning processes based on each trainee’s characteristics.

Specific elements Services hosting Each team requested services operating in that country project work to host trainees for project work. The Italian team was able to involve public and private services that specifically targeted prostitution, both in street-work and providing support for women who wished to abandon prostitution; due to the lack of services dedicated specifically to prostitution, the Polish and Lithuanian teams had to place trainees in general health care structures and services (e.g. AIDS centres); the German team uti- lised a good network of specific services; the French team chose NGOs and public health care services; the Dutch team also placed trainees in sectors not specifically related to prostitution.

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3.10 Creating PE vocational training programmes in the area of prostitution

The 6 pilot training courses carried out in different countries made it possible to establish some guidelines for future PE vocational training courses in the area of prostitution. These guidelines will be presented in the form of an itinerary.

3.10.1 Analysing the national context

The first step in creating a programme is analysing the national context, as a number of fundamental choices will depend upon this aspect: 1 promoting and publicising the training course and selecting a group which is representative of the social and legal situation as it applies to the world of prostitution. The trial project underscored this aspect: the German, Lithuanian and Polish groups were made up of women who were citizens of those countries; the Italian group was composed exclusively of migrant women who were in social protection programmes; the Dutch group was primarily made up of foreign women with legal immigration status, while the French group was also primarily made up of foreigners and was the only group that included a man and a transsexual. 2 duration and setting. The trial project showed that the optimum duration was 25 days and that a residential setting was especially necessary for the module for the reworking of the prostitution experience. This means that all of the personal, work and family problems of the trainees must be considered and resolved beforehand. For the Italian group, which was made up of women already being hosted in social protection residences this was not a major problem, but for the Lithuanian trainees, who all lived in the same city and had children and/or other family members to support, it was necessary to find forms of support so they could leave their homes for that length of time. Another option is compressing each module as much as possible in order to reduce the overall duration of the course. This helps avoid dispersion and provides a clear idea of the commitment being asked of each trainee. 3 Trainer team. The pilot project demonstrated that the type of training structure being experimented required a specially organised team of trainers and professionals. The following training figures are needed: a trainer and co-trainer for the module for reworking the experience of prostitution and defining the role and functions of the PE. It is preferable to have two trainers in order to guarantee a proper attention to both the group dynamics and the training process (i.e. the specific contents to present and develop). a tutor to work with the group and accompany it during the various training phases

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a group of teachers for the various specific aspects being dealt with in the informational programme. The group’s make-up determines some of the personal and professional characteristics that should be looked for in trainers. Groups composed primarily of foreigners should have trainers who are competent linguistically (at least a knowledge of English) and able to use an intercultural approach. For mixed groups, with women, men and transsexuals (like the French group) the gender characteristics of trainers need to be evaluated. Aside from these specific qualities, it is impera- tive that trainers know how to manage group conflicts and the process for reworking traumatic or highly charged experiences, and that they have a balanced attitude towards prostitution-related themes. The team should be co-ordinated by someone who is responsible for the entire training process. This figure could be either an expert trainer or an expert co-ordinator of social training programmes. 4 themes in the informational modules. The analysis of the social/legal fra- meworks means that experts need to be found for the respective technical sectors being presented.

3.10.2 Modulating the training programme

The trial project showed that the training programme must be modulated in order to: 1 guide the trainees in reworking their experiences. The group’s make-up must be taken into account when deciding the mix of writing, discussion and graphics (e.g., for a group made up of foreigners, the linguistic difficulties must be considered). The trial project also showed that the perception and judgement of prostitution prevailing in each country must be taken into account when starting the module for reworking the experience of prostitution (for example, the Lithuanian trainees felt the strong national prejudice against prostitutes and a preparatory phase was necessary in order to free them of the decidedly negative image they had of themselves); 2 provide basic information health care, social and legal contents. As indicated above, these modules are strongly influenced by the situation in each country; 3 help gain interpersonal skills. As discussed above, the trial project used non-directive counselling methods; 4 provide the possibility of applying the skills learned in a protected setting (project work). The trial showed that the number and type of specific prostitution-related services differed greatly from country to country, resulting in a diversified offer of placement positions for trainees. It also confirmed that project work was an integral part of the training course because it constitutes the first direct, hands-on contact with future work as a professional PE.

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Cap. 4 | Peer educators organitations

A nother goal of the Fenarete project is verifying the feasibility of forming PE organisations in each partner country. The formation of these organisations would be facilitated through special training that would provide information and technical support. The purpose of these organisations is to provide a representative structure for trained PEs that would support and promote them in the following areas: the mutual exchange of information and experiences and the reskilling of PEs; creating awareness among public and private social services for the placement of professional PEs; as an official organisation it would be possible to act in a unified and coherent way, avoiding a piece- meal and disorganised approach; the formal recognition of PE training methods in the area of prostitution; the formal recognition of the role and functions of the professional PE. Fenarete’s proposal for specific training aimed at creating independent PE organisations is based on the fact that the services in which trained PEs are placed still need to be made more aware of the PE’s professional role, their functions and the possibilities this role offers. This training should thus be viewed as the passage from vocational training to the real application of the professional skills acquired, rather than as an element to be added to the training goals of PE vocational training.

4.1 Description of the training programme and process

4.1.1 The experience in Italy

As opposed to the partner countries, Italy asked the European Commission to modify the previously planned programme with respect to the training process for starting up a business. This change involved the contents related to managing group dynamics, which was to be added to the programmed training for the technical-administrative and bureaucratic aspects, and was intended to provide support for the necessary passage of the trained PEs from the training group to the work- group. In fact, the relationships among Pes were those of a learning

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group, while in order to form their own organisation their relations had to become those of a work-group. The technical-administrative and bureaucratic training projected during the planning phase would not have provided the necessary support for the group to make this change, and it was unlikely that it would have taken place of its own accord. The request was thus made to modify the programme by including several days of training dedicated to analysing and understanding group dynamics and the different roles within a PE work-group. The Commission approved the proposed change and the support programme for the passage from a learning to a work group (first phase of the ‘business start-up’ training in Italy) took place over a 4-day period. At the end of this training phase, the Pes involved produced a document describing who the PEs trained by the Fenarete project in Italy are, their skills and capabilities and the jobs they can perform and an analysis of potential clients. The document also states that the following goals were achieved: starting the changeover from a learning group to a work-group creating a good level of analysis and awareness regarding the PE’s professional role in Italy. The second phase of the business start-up training took place in 4 sessions. This training was included in the course to support trainees in starting up a business for providing PE services. The basic strategy was that of making the trainees progressively more aware of the possibility of starting up a business and what this entailed in terms of responsibility, commitment and a future image of themselves and their work. The strategy was applied using a ‘consultation’ style that began with personal elements (such as aspirations and ties) and the PE training course, and then led trainees to consider a different structure of the Self which would become the ‘entrepreneurial’ container for their personal aspirations and history. In terms of contents, the sessions were organised around an in-depth examination of the so-called ‘entrepreneurial formula’ of their hypothe- tical business, that also tried to make the trainees aware of their roles within this potential business. This approach definitely reinforced the trainees and provided them with a further opportunity for thinking about their own future in this profession.

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The training addressed the following issues: Presenting one’s idea for a business and whether there was the desire to establish this business with the group; The personal and professional characteristics required to run a business; The entrepreneurial idea and formula; Developing the idea of the business: services, clients, organisation; What services could our business provide? To whom? How can we organise ourselves? What type of organisation can we create? Types of business and organisations; The project’s economic-financial viability; Marketing plan: who can we offer our services to? How? Public and private clients: public jobs and private organisations; Internal organisation: who is involved and what do they do: operational activities / promotion / selling services; The personal itinerary. The approach was ‘funnel-shaped’, that is, it began with a general definition of the elements required for starting a business and then focused on specific aspects of starting and running a business. Services, clients and each person’s role were thus first introduced in general terms and then in a progressively more specific way, so that the idea of a business gradually took shape. However, because the trainees did not take the next step in the process, i.e., starting a business, the training programme was forced to stop at this point. The difficulty in making this leap towards starting up a business is typical of training and business support courses, especially when the trainees began the overall training with a different need and purpose in mind. In this case, the principal need of the trainees was reworking their own personal experiences in order to acquire a professional role, rather than in order to establish a business.

4.1.2 Partner countries

None of the partner countries asked the Commission to change the ori- ginal version of the training programme to include pre-training for starting and running a business. Therefore, none of the partner countries thought it necessary to support the PEs in their passage from the trai-

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ning group to the work-group. Instead, the partners (with the exception of the Dutch group, whose choice is described below) preferred to shift the ‘group’ module in the PE vocational training programme to the business start-up training module, and used this module to provide the basic theories on the work-group and working as a group. The partners thus based their choice on contents, while Italy made a choice based on process. The training programmes developed by Poland, Lithuania and Germany followed the Italian programme in the second phase (business start-up training), while the French and Dutch programmes were unique in certain respects. The French group made a choice based on contents, and was aimed at forming an NGO, the legal entity most commonly used in this area. Those intending to form an NGO must draw up a series of articles which state the aims, methods and composition of the NGO, the organisation of the Board of Directors, the funding system, etc.. The week-long programme covered the following aspects: Regulations and functions of an association Aims and projects Drawing up the articles Election of the Board of Directors Registering the association with the Préfecture (regional administrative body) Funding strategy The Dutch group instead focussed on both contents and the training process. Given that the training course had provided information on different forms of labour organisations, the tax system and the different regulations governing employed and self-employed persons in the Netherlands, this information was transferred into the module on starting up a business/legal agency. The training covered the various aspects of forming and running an organisation: PR, co-ordination, office skills, contacts with service providers, etc.. Internship experiences and legal procedures involving trainees were also used as specific case studies for training and group discussions (for example, one trainee began formalising her status as sex worker, while others were also involved in direct dealings with the authorities). All cases of bureaucratic and legal dealings with institutions involving trainees were analysed and supported by information on how the system worked. Dealing with this complex legal and regulatory framework, as well as

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the experience acquired during internships, provided the trainees with the skills and background necessary for preparing their professional careers as PEs. One another important step in the process of formal recognition of the profession of peer educator and as the bridge towards the introduction into the labour market was the ceremony of graduation and handing out of the diplomas and curriculum certificates. These activities have formed an important and integrated part of the training. They included: professional training curriculum, description of professional skills and qualities that are results of the training and authorised and evaluatory certificates of the individual internships (project work). These curricula are comparable with the certificate for professional adult education (for the training certificate for the persons in certain sectors of education). This means that they are able to present the certificate of the training while soliciting for a job. The complete diplomas and curricula were written in two languages: Dutch and English (English for the use of the certificate in transnational exchange). The graduation ceremony was very carefully prepared and attended by representatives of various institutions, including the institutions who intend to employ the peer educators in future. During the ceremony the profiles of the trainees, the contents of the training and employment of the future agency were presented and discussed with the participants. For the trainees their graduation and the graduation ceremony was important step towards their recognition as peer educators and their involvement in the future activities as peer educators.

4.1.3 Public role of PEs trained in Germany

The proposal was made for the PE group to participate in an already existing and established institution within the prostitution movement: the “ German Prostitute’s Congress”, also called “Conference on Prostitution”. This congress/conference is national in scope and has been taking place for many years. It meets twice a year, focusing on different issues each time, and is made up of representatives from all the German prostitution-related projects, advisory centres, health care agencies, as well as individual women. The trainees were invited to the next scheduled conference, which took place on October 27-29, 2003, in Berlin, and a separate work-group was set up to discuss their concerns. Five trainees accepted this invitation and took part in the conference. They presented a report on the FENARETE training programme

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during the final plenary session and appealed to the other 40 conference members to support the project by providing structural and/or financial assistance and by utilising their capabilities and skills as Pes in their services. This request was met with widespread support. The PEs will also participate in the next Congress/Conference on Prostitution. Identifying what additional areas of employment might be available to PEs remains an important issue. For example, FENARETE trainees could help evaluate the impact of the new Prostitution Act by intervie- wing sex workers and asking about their experiences. This information could be made available to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, which will be compiling a report on the effects of the Prostitution Act three years after it came into effect.

4.2 Conclusions: Training for PE organisations

All of the partners agreed on the need and importance of creating formal groups of professionally trained PEs, and for the same reasons that had led to the development of the preliminary training project. However, some of the factors which hindered this process were: the geographical dispersion of the trainees (especially in Italy and Germany). The decision to open the PE training course to trainees anywhere in the country proved to be an obstacle when trying to create an independent PE organisation, due to the difficulties of long-distance co-ordination. the trainees’ lack of computer skills and familiarity with the internet made it difficult to overcome the problem of distances through technical means. Any future PE training courses should take this into account and it would be important to include a module for computer training and use of the internet, and not only sove the problem of distances but also for expediting normal secretarial practices. however, the trained PE groups still feel the need for the support of an established and recognised organisation in order to obtain more visibility and create awareness among public and private services and projects regarding the use of PEs. The trial project confirmed the need to identify existing organisations that can act as ‘incubators’ for new organisations, supporting and helping them to develop in a protected manner until they are completely self-sufficient. The experiences in Poland and the Netherlands are especially significant in this regard:

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The Netherlands - in order to ensure the project’s future and the continua- tion of the group, the Dutch group decided to set up a support structure based on co-operation among various existing organisations who commit- ted themselves to establishing the basic infrastructure of a PE organisation. Poland - the trainees preferred to join an existing organisation rather than create their own (however, this was based on the assumption that organisations like ‘La Strada’ and ‘TADA’were ready to accept them). Support was given to the trainees’ social development, in the hope that they would use their newly acquired knowledge and self-awareness to improve their lives and living conditions and eventually become independent. This was the premise for supporting the women in establishing a PE organisation. To this end, trainees were coached and they were encouraged to work together and stay in touch. It was assumed that it would take a year to make the organisation fully independent. The PEs were interested in their work, but were worried about their possibilities for success. They were thus also coached concerning the time required for evaluating their assignment. Accreditation - During the Fenarete project, the ways for accrediting the training course in partner countries were examined. The procedures proved to differ greatly from country to country. The situation in Italy cannot be applied elsewhere, given that each Region has its own rules for recognising professional qualifications and accrediting training courses, and there is no uniform procedure applicable to the entire country. The French system of capitalising training units is not yet applicable in all of the EU, but this could be a useful tool for the exchange of professional qualifications throughout Europe. For its part, the EU1 has promoted a series of studies on the possible certification of informal training courses and professional qualifications that wish to have their skills and abilities certified at the European level. It proved impossible to create a PE organisation in Lithuania, due to the following factors: The country’s serious economic problems The living conditions of Lithuanian prostitutes, who are extremely poor, often alcoholic, heavily exploited and often subject to violence by their ‘protectors’ and/or ‘husbands’. The grave difficulties these women face precludes the commitment necessary for creating an organisation. The lack of suitable associations or coops with which to collaborate and receive support. In fact, the Fenarete partner is a public service, the Vilnius AIDS Centre, and aside from this service no other structures in Lithuania are active in the area of prostitution or carry out other kinds of social/health care work.

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The trial project also identified some areas for improvement in the business start-up training. Two aspects are especially significant: changing the structure of the business start-up activities; providing help and support after the business has been established. The business start-up training could already be introduced during the regular training in the following way: as each trainee re-examines her personal history and begins to view it in terms of an opportunity, she can also start thinking about commitment herself to a business and, together with the other trainees, begin gathering information on the market and business organisation. With respect to helping new businesses, in addition to financial support, this assistance could include operational and professional advice and assistance in identifying the first group of projects/clients that the new organisation could offer its services to.

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Cap. 5 | Conclusions: The Fenarete project

In conclusion, we should like to focus on a number of aspects of the Fenarete project that proved to be effective during the trials. Despite their fundamental importance, it would be reductive to consider the guidelines as the only positive outcome of the project. In our view, the results should be considered as being on two levels:

5.1 Guidelines for the vocational training of PEs in the area of prostitution

The present manual, and especially sections 3.9 and 3.10, are the tangible result of the Fenarete project with respect to the experimentation of the methods in the partner countries. This thematic summary of the extensive documentation produced by each national team is a resource that is now available to all professionals in the area of vocational training and all professionals and operators working in the area of prostitution. The trial project confirmed the working hypothesis, especially as regards the positive outcomes for the innovative, core idea of including the reworking of personal experience in the training process. This element confirmed itself as a basic method which was not modified in the different partner countries. The trial projects also made it possible to identify a number of specific contextual elements to bear in mind for future PE training courses. For this reason, we consider the documentation to be a very positive and useful result. It not only describes the fundamental phases in the training course, but shows that the course is flexible and can be adapted to the different national con- texts in which it is carried out.

5.2 Applying the method to other targets

The trial project raised the issue of the possibility of applying this method to other targets. The Fenarete project for the vocational training of PEs in the area of prostitution shows the potential that exists in the encounter between vocational training and different sectors of the job market. The method is based upon the philosophy of peer education and can therefore be extended to a wide range of professional profiles. Peer education is an innovative approach in the field of social/health care interventions. The relationships among peers triggers a mutual recognition that reduces defence mechanisms, making it possible to establish relationships of trust more rapidly and facilitating the opening of channels of communication which are suitable for transmitting information and modifying inadequate or inappropriate behaviours.

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Peer education experiences thus far have involved specific targets (adolescents, substance abusers, sex workers). But all of these previous experiences were informal, with no specific training that was based on tried and proven methods, and without any recognition of the role and professional function of the PE. Currently, the labour market is being impacted by the recourse to flexibility, with the risk of precariousness and a de-professionalisation of job roles. The task of the various vocational training sectors is to combat this tendency by using tools that attach value to the professional skills of all those figures which, though essential, are not recognised by the job market.

5.3 Final considerations

We consider this experience as one element of a ‘work in progress’, which is that of an ideal world that is being created by the social inclusion of all members of society. The persons who participated in this project, with their experiences which often occurred on the margins of society, can become an important resource and harbinger for social changes that appear as increasingly indispensable in order for our societies to survive. In our society, social ‘policies’ are either invoked and appealed to as a way of improving the quality of our lives or, on the contrary, are decried and denoun- ced as failures. In reality, each person’s actions and choices can contribute towards creating different policies. In the vast area which we have chosen to operate in, the area of social work with sex workers, substance abusers, migrant women, troubled young people, etc., it is the responsibility of those providing the services to accompany their ‘users’ and develop their potential so that they can take an active part in the process of inclusion and emancipation. Only a strong proposal coming from below, from the ‘grass roots’ can produce the changes that will guarantee these new, potential workers. Transforming one’s own condition into a potential job is a challenge that recalls the struggles of other workers in the past, and which now risk being cancelled from collective memory. These struggles were aimed at obtaining safeguards and a social sta- tute for a mass of workers. We have the obligation to support these new workers who are the citizens of a new Millennium that announces itself as precarious and cruel. The building block of Peer Education could be greatly expanded and become one of the portals for the conquest of rights and the creation of an innovative social-labour model.

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Project roles and names for each national team

Italy

Project director: Maria Pia Covre e Daniela Mannu Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute Administrative director: Paolo Corazza. Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute Trainers: Pierfranca Borlone, Grazia Macchieraldo Piccolo Principe snc Tutor: Silvia Command educatrice del progetto Stella Polare

France

Project director: Eric Kerimel (2002), Jean-Baptiste March, Christophe Collado (2003) Autres Regard Administrative director: Amandine Akouka Autres Regard Trainers: Jacqui Schneider-Harris and Eric Schneider Acces Tutor: Christophe Collado

Germany

Project director: Veronica Munk Amnesty for Women Friederike Strack Hydra Administrative director: Andrea Petsch Hydra Regina Wenzel Amnesty for Women Trainers: Stephanie Klee, Monika Hoffmann Tutor: Veronica Munk, Andrea Petsch, Friederike Strack

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Lithuania

Project director: Rima Krupenkaite. Lithuanian AIDS Centre Administrative director: Svetlana Kulsis Lithuanian AIDS Centre Trainers: Karile Levickaite, Jurgita Dapkeviciene Lithuanian AIDS Centre Tutor: Ruta Jarasuniene Doctor Lithuanian AIDS Centre

Poland

Project director: Joanna Garnier La Strada Joanna Winiarska TADA Administrative director: Agnieszka Janowska Formatori: Irena Dawid - Olczyk, Joanna Winiarska Tutor: Krzysztof Martyniak TADA Wioleta Zajkowska La Strada

The Neatherlands

Project director: Licia Brussa, Hanka Mongard TAMPEP International Foundation Administrative directors: Ellen Verbrugge TAMPEP International Foundation Trainers: Martine Groen, Annemarie Willemars Tutor: Christy ten Broeke

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Glossary

This glossary was prepared with the intention of clarifying terms that might have different meanings depending on the social/legal context, country or culture. The definitions given are generally those found in a standard dictionary, while some are accompanied by an explanation that refers only to their specific use in the manual guidelines. Although we tried to always use the same term in referring to the same element in the manual, in some cases more than one term was used. In order to avoid confusion we include all of the terms used.

Assistance: help, support given or made available to another, it is derived from Latin: ad + sistere: literally: to stand near, by.

Authority: the legitimate power which one person or a group holds over another. The element of legitimacy is vital to the notion of authority and is the main means by which authority is distinguished from the more general concept of power. Power can be exerted by the use of force or violence. Authority, by con- trast, depends on the acceptance by subordinates of the right of those above them to give them orders or directives.

Boundary: a natural or artificial line that limits the extension of a territory, a property, or the sovereignty of a state. It has a literal sense (the stone, or barrier that bounds the territory) and a figurative one (a position between two conditions, a measure for this position). The work is commonly used to indicate the limit, the edge or end of something.

Case study: an intensive analysis of an individual unit (as a person or community) stressing developmental factors in relation to environment.

Client: 1. a regular visitor of places for the sale of goods and services; 2. a person that seeks professional advice. Used extensively, it refers to a person who, for his/her own interest, submissively yields to the will of a powerful person (one may think of the words clientele, patronage, especially used in politics).

Coaching: the term coaching with reference to human encouragement and advice appears to have origins in English traditional university “cramming” in the mid-19th century. The name allegedly recalls the multi-tasking skills associated with controlling the team of a horse-drawn coach. By the 1880s American college sports teams had, as well as managers, coaches. Some time in the 20th century, non-sporting coaches emerged: non-experts in the specific technical skills of their clients, but who nevertheless ventured to offer generalised motivational or inspirational advice.

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Community-based organisation (in the field of prostitution): organisation based on the principle of the integration of sex workers in the working team as outreach workers and in the Board of Directors that gives the main derections of the organisation’s actions.

Counselling: 1. the job or process of listening to someone and giving them advice about their problems: a counselling service; 2. the process of helping an individual discover and develop their educational, vocational, and psychological potentialities and thereby to achieve an optimal level of personal happiness and social well being.

Empathy: the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and understand the other’s feelings, desires, ideas, and actions, a term coined in the early 20th century; the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vica- riously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another person in either the past or present, without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.

Evaluation: 1. assessment of value: the act of considering or examining something in order to judge its value, quality, importance, extent, or condition; 2. statement of value: a spoken or written statement of the value, quality, importance, extent, or condition of something.

Feedback: response: comments in the form of opinions about and reactions to something, intended to provide useful information for future decisions and development.

Inclusion: the addition of somebody or something to, or the presence of somebody or something in, a group or mixture; social inclusion: acts and programmes aimed at including marginal groups into the fabric of society.

Illegal person/undocumented person/irregular person: a person who has no residence and/or work permit for the country where he/she is (temporarily) living and/or working.

Information form: in the guidelines: the part of the training that refers to the transfer of factual knowledge required for the PE’s work. The lessons were usually given by external teachers.

Institution: 1. an organization that exists to serve a public purpose such as education or support for people who need help; 2. the set of laws and fundamental customs upon which the state or a political or social organisation is based.

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Integration: the act or process or an instance of integrating: the bringing of people of different racial or ethnic groups into unrestricted and equal association, as in society or within an organization; desegregation. The term takes on different senses according to the context of use. When speaking of social integration we refer to actions and programmes aimed at integrating marginal groups into the social fabric.

Internship/project work/work placement/probation: 1. a period of time spent doing a job as part of becoming qualified to do it; intern (student): someone who is finishing his/her training for a skilled job especially by obtaining practical experience of the work involved; 2. a trial period during which one’s character and abilities are tested to see whether the person is suitable for work or for membership

Legal entity/agency/business: in the guidelines: an organisation that will be formed and managed by PEs after they will have completed their training. The agency will offer the services of PEs to the service providers in a given country.

Mediation: the action performed by those who interpose themselves between two parties, establishing a connection between them with a view to forming an agreement. Cultural mediation: cultural mediators are go-betweens who know the moti- vations, customs and codes of the dominant culture in the host country, as well as the conditions, social ethics and settings in which a minority group finds itself.

Migrant sex worker: a person who works in prostitution in a country other than their own through choice, economic circumstances, coercion.

Monitoring: the act of observing something, keeping a record of it for a special purpose; regularly gathering information about the project’s activities form the start to find out whether work is being carried out as planned and whether there are any reasons to change the goals, objectives or activities.

Outreach/street work/field work/: means actively making contact with potential or existing project users in their territory, or wherever else they may be found, and not waiting for them to seek out project workers. It is a service as well as a method of service delivery.

Practice: in the language of the social and health care services, the word refers to the measures and interventions carried out by care professionals to respond to the demands of service users. In current usage one speaks of good and bad practices with regards to the levels of satisfaction showed by the users. A practice can be said to be good when it is successful in matching the technical quality of the response to the quality of the human relationships.

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Peer: 1. a person who is the same age or has the same social position or the same abilities as other people in a group; 2. a nobleman (duke or marquis or earl or viscount or baron) who is a member of the British peerage; peer group: the people who are approximately the same age as the others in the group and come from a similar social group, PE in prostitution: a sex worker specially trained in the multifaceted interventions in prostitution.

Prostitution: the word derives from the Latin pro-statuere, meaning: to cause to stand, place before, exhibit, expose to public view, with no reference to monetary transaction. Commonly used to indicate the trade in sexual services. In legal terms, prostitution is solely applied to those people involved in the stated transaction in which sexual services are exchanged for an agreed sum of money or commodities.

Protection: 1. the act of activity of defending against possible harm; 2. activity performed for someone’s benefit. It can also take on a disparaging connotation, as the favouring of someone against someone else. Social protection: actions carried out by a third party (institutions and/or associations) in order to help (migrant) women or men to escape the violence and conditioning of the criminal organisation they are subjected to, and to participate in social support and integration programmes.

Recruitment (see also: selection): the act of getting recruits; enlisting people for the army, a job, a cause, etc.

Relationship management: in the guidelines: the part of the training that refers to the guidance towards the perception of the differences between friendship and a professional relationship. This section also contains the training in counselling.

Residential: 1. relating to housing: a residential road, area, etc. has only private houses, not offices and factories; 2. used for long-term living: used as a place to live for the long term; 3. a residential job, position, course, etc: is one in which the person lives in the same place where they work or study.

Reworking personal experience: in the guidelines: the part of the training that refers to the guided re-examination of certain periods in the lives of the trainees in order to distinguish positive and negative elements. This leads to a perception of which resources and skills have been acquired through those personal experiences. The exploitation of these skills will form a central part of the peer’s unique professional role.

Role-playing: 1. to assume the attitudes, actions, and discourse of (another), esp. in a make-believe situation in an effort to understand a differing point of

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view or social interaction; 2. to experiment with or experience (a situation or viewpoint) by playing a role.

Selection (see also: recruitment): 1. an act of choosing somebody or something from a wide variety of others; 2. the status of somebody or something chosen from among others; 3. somebody or something chosen from among others.

Self-employment (in prostitution): earning one’s living directly from one’s own profession or business, not working for an employer but finding work for oneself or having one’s own business.

Self-esteem: the term refers to one’s self-image at an emotional level, hence: a feeling of pride in oneself; the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect

Self-determination: determining one’s own acts freely and autonomously; an expression of a person’s freedom, and thus of the responsibility and accountabi- lity for every decision and action.

Service: from the Latin servus, a slave, 1. work done by somebody for somebody else as a job, a duty, a punishment, or a favour; 2. the system or operation by which people are provided with something they need, for example, public transportation, or the organization that runs such a system; 3. an official organization, especially a government department, or the work performed for such an organization

Supervision: 1. management by overseeing the performance or operation of a person or group; 2. to be responsible for the good performance of (an activity or job), or for the correct behaviour or safety of (a person)

Target: a term meaning any point or area aimed at. It has acquired a great number of other meanings; it is used, for example, in a commercial and a sociologi- cal sense to indicate prospective buyers, and the users or beneficiaries of a service, action or research.

Teacher: someone whose business or occupation is to instruct others; an instructor; a tutor.

Traffic: 1. the movement of vehicle or people along a route of transportation. A trade involving the transportation from one place to another usually referred to goods; 2. an illicit trade. Trafficking in women: every act that facilitates the legal or illegal entry of women into a country, as well as their transit, stay and depar- ture from that country, with the aim of exploiting them. According to the

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Palermo Protocol, trafficking in persons is: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Trainer: someone who trains; an instructor who trains or coaches men, horses, etc. for exercises requiring physical agility and strength; in the guidelines: the persons who conducted the vocational training.

Trainee/learner: someone who is being prepared for a job, activity or sport, by learning skills and/or by mental or physical exercise; apprentice

Tutor: 1. a person employed to instruct another in some branch or branches of learning, esp. a private instructor. 2. a teacher without institutional connection who assists students in preparing for examinations.

Vocational training: in the manual: the part of the training which, based on the reworking of the personal lives of the trainees and the exploration of their capabilities teaches them skills that are needed for exercising the profession of a PE.

by Hanka Mongard

References: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, (c) 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, 10th Edition Encarta(r) World English Dictionary, North American Edition The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus UltraLingua English Dictionary Lexical FreeNet Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Cambridge Dictionary of American English

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Italian Adamo Chiara. L’Unione Europea e la tratta di esseri umani. Monza: La botte- ga creativa, 2000 Agnoletto Vittorio. La società dell’Aids. Milano: Baldini & Castoldi, 2000. Bimbi Franca. Differenze e disuguaglianze, prospettive per gli studi di genere in Italia. Bologna: il Mulino, 2003. Bimbi Franca. Sex workers, reti sociali, progetti e servizi per uscire dalla prostituzione. Roma: Aesse, 2000 Berne E. Principi di terapia di gruppo. Roma: Astrolabio, 1986 Bowlby J. A secure base. Londra: Routledge, 1988 Caprinico S., Role playing. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore Convenzione sui diritti dell’infanzia. Roma; UNICEF, 2002 Corso Carla, Landi Sandra. Ritratto a tinte forti. Firenze: Giunti, 1991. Corso Carla, Landi Sandra. Quanto vuoi: clienti e prostitute si raccontano. Firenze: Giunti, 1998. Corso Carla; Trifirò Ada. ....e siamo partite!i. Firenze: Giunti, 2003. Dallari M. Lo specchio e l’altro. Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1990 Dallari M. A regola d’arte. L’idea pedagogica dell’isopoiesi. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1995 Demetrio D. Micropedagogia. La ricerca qualitativa in educazione. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1992 Demetrio D. Raccontarsi. L’autobiografia come cura di sé. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore, 1996 Demetrio D. Pedagogia della memoria. Per se stessi con gli altri. Roma: Meltemi, 1998 Demetrio D. L’educazione interiore. Introduzione alla pedagogia introspettiva. Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 2000 English F. I contratti triangolari e multipli “Analyse transactionnelle et emotions. EPI, Desclée de Brouwer, 1992 Erbetta A. Educazione ed esistenza. Torino: Il Segnalibro, 1998 Free woman project. Rapporto 1997-1999. Comitato per I diritti civili delle prostitute. Pordenone: 1999. Gardner H. (1993) Intelligenze multuple. Milano: Anabasi, 1994 Merlin Lina. Lettere dalle case chiuse. Ed. Avanti!: Milano-Roma, 1955. Morrone Aldo. La promozione della salute nei processi di globalizzazione: dal- l’ortodossia all’ortoprassi. Roma: San Gallicano, 1998. La prostituzione in Italia: problematiche relative ai bisogni sanitari, rapporto di ricerca. Torino: Gruppo Abele, 2000. Signorelli A., Treppete M., a cura Servizi in vetrina, manuale di interventi nel mondo della prostituzione migrante. Trieste: Asterios, 2001.

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Virgilio Maria, Zorzella Nazzarena. I diritti delle donne migranti: guida legale per ope- ratori sociali della prostituzione, e per chi voglia capire. Monza: Franco Angeli, 2001 Kohlrieser G. A. Dispensa al seminario: sviluppo delle risorse umane. Milano 2000 Boyce M., I dodici permessi, “AT Rivista italiana di analisi transazionale e metodologie psicoterapeutiche”, Anno VI, n.10-1986 Cuomo M.P., La prima fase di un intervento formativo in ambito aziendale: una lettura transazionale, in “AT Rivista italiana di analisi transazionale e metodologie psicoterapeutiche”. Anno IV, n.7-1984 Mei Vannini E., L’intervento formativo: quadro globale e tratti distintivi del for- matore analitico-transazionale, “AT Rivista italiana di analisi transazionale e metodologie psicoterapeutiche”. Anno X, n.19-1990 Moiso C., Il cambiamento: risultato o processo?, in “Quaderni di psicologia, analisi transazionale e scienze umane”. Edizioni La Vita Felice, Milano, n.5/1991 Munari Podda D., Il volto dell’altro “Quaderni di psicologia, analisi transazionale e scienze umane”. Edizioni La Vita Felice, n.26-1999 Ranci D. Gruppo, individuo e società: il contributo dell’Analisi Transazionale, in “Quaderni di psicologia, analisi transazionale e scienze umane. Edizioni La Vita Felice, Milano, n. 23-1998

English Brussa Licia; Tampep. Health Migration Sex Worker. Amsterdam: Tampep, 1999 Bell Laurie, Good girls/ad girls, sex trade workers and feminist face to face Toronto: Women’s press, 1987. Alexander Priscilla, Sex work, Writings by Women in the Sex Industry. London : Virago Press,1988. Doezema Jo, Kamala Kempadoo; Global Sex Worker, Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition. London: Virago Press,1998. Holmes J. John, Bowlby and attachment theory. London: Routledge, Hustling for Health, Developing Services for Sex Worker in Europe. Londra : Europap-Tampep, 1998. Protection schemes for victims of trafficking , in selected EU member countries, candidate of third countries. Geneve: IOM, c 2003 Health, Migration & Sex Work: the experience of TAMPEP; Transnational AIDS/STI prevention among migrant prostitutes in Europe; TAMPEP International Foundation. Amsterdam 1999 Helm Therese van der & Mens L. van; Mobility in prostitution in the Netherlands 1998-1999 Amsterdam: EUROPAP Research for Sex Work, number 1 on Peer Education: Amsterdam 1998 TAMPEP 5 Report September 2000/February 2002, volume 1, 2, 3: Amsterdam 2002 TAMPEP 6 Interim Report, November 2003- June 2003: Amsterdam 2003 TAMPEP Peer educators’ manual: Amsterdam 1997

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Trafficking in Human Beings, Second report of the Dutch National Rapporteur: The Hague, 2003 Visser J.H., Oomens H.C.D.M. & Boerman F.A. (2000). Prostitution in Nederland in 1999: Amsterdam: Mr.A. de Graaf Stichting CD-rom Multilanguage information and education materials for sex workers. Licia Brussa: Pordenone 2002

German Thema Prostitution, Migration. In agisra-Rundbrief No. 35 Frankfurt am Main, 2003 Bachmair Faber. Beraten will gelernt sein (Counselling must be learned). Weinheim, 1989 Bosselmann R., Gellert M., Variationen des Psychodramas. (Variations of psychodrama). 1993 Bundesministerium für Gesundheit und Soziale Sicherung SPI-Forschung: Gesundheitsämter im Wandel. Abschlussbericht 2002. Forschungsbericht 296 (Sozialforschung). Berlin (SPI Research: Health authorities undergoing change. Final report 2002. Research report 296 (Social research), 2002 Deutsche Hurenbewegung. Prostitution: Job, Beruf, Arbeit. Broschüre zum Gesetzesentwurf zur rechtlichen und sozialen Gleichstellung von Prostituierten mit anderen Erwerbstätigen. (Prostitution: Job, profession, work. A brochure on the draft law to eliminate legal and social inequality between prostitutes and other workers). Nuremberg: Deutsche Hurenbewegung, 1996 Geißler Karlheinz A.; Anfangssituationen. (Initial situations) Weinheim, Basel,1997 Heintel, Peter Das ist Gruppendynamik. (Introducing group dynamics). Munich, 1974 HWG Prostitution. Ein Handbuch. Marburg (Prostitution. A manual), 1994 HWG Women at Work. Sexarbeit, Binnenmarkt und Prostitution. (Sex work, the single market and prostitution). Marburg, 1992 Hydra. Beruf: Hure. (Profession: Whore). Hamburg: Hydra, 1989 Hydra. Freier. Das heimliche Treiben der Männer. Hamburg: Hydra, 1992 Hydra. Zeitschrift Nachtexpress. Berlin: Hydra 1988 - 2003 Klee Stephanie. HighLights Magazine. Berlin, 1995 - 2003 Kommunaler Kriminalpräventionsrat (KKP) Hannover (2002): Fragen und Antworten zum Prostitutionsgesetz. (Questions and answers on the Prostitution Act) Hannover, 2002 Laskowski, Silke Ruth; Die Ausübung der Prostitution. Ein verfassungsrechtlich geschützter Beruf im Sinne von Art. 12 Abs. 1 GG. (Exercising prostitution. A profession protected by the constitution, in the sense of Article 12 Section 1 of the Basic Law). Frankfurt am Main. 1997 Leopold Beate, Steffan, Elfriede; Paul, Nikola, Dokumentation zur rechtlichen und sozialen Situation von Prostituierten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In: Schriftenreihe des Bundesministeriums für Frauen und Jugend (Hrsg.), Vol.

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143, Stuttgart, Berlin, Köln (Documentation on the legal and social situation of prostitutes in the Federal Republic of Germany.). 1994 Pheterson Gail: Hurenstigma. Wie man aus Frauen Huren macht. (Whores’ stigma. How women are turned into whores). Hamburg, 1990 Pheterson Gail, The Prostitution Prism. Amsterdam, 1996. Schaller Roger, Das große Rollenspielbuch. (The big book of role-playing). Weinheim und Basel ,2001 Schulz von Thun Friedemann, Miteinander Reden 1. Störungen und Klärungen. (Talking to each other 1. Disturbances and clarifications.) Hamburg ,1992. Stellungnahme der Bundesweiten AG Recht Prostitution, (Submission by the nationwide working group on the law and prostitution). March 2003 Stellungnahme der Bundesweiten AG Migrantinnen in der Sexarbeit, (Submission by the nationwide working group on migrants in sex work). April 2003 TAMPEP V Endbericht. (Final report), September 2000-February 2002. TAMPEP VI Umfrage 2003 (2003 Questionnaire). Hamburg: Amnesty for Woman June, 2002-June 2004

Bibliografy by Daniela Manu

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Promoter and partners organisations

Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute Founded in 1982 by a group of working prostitutes in Italy from the Province of Pordenone, the Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute (Committee for the Civil Rights of Prostitutes, hereafter referred to as Comitato) is a non-profit association that unfolds activities to aid and assist prostitutes, which is open to the prostitutes and to all other persons who unreservedly and wholly share in its philosophy, operating principles, and legislative aims. Also, the Comitato fosters social and cultural activities that are aimed at introducing social policies and legislation that would improve the living and working conditions of all the people that voluntarily or involuntarily practice prostitution. In addition, the Comitato unfolds activities to raise society’s overall sensitivity towards respecting the dignity and rights of sex workers, conducts training, fights against discrimination, and fights for both group- and self-empowerment of women prostitutes and material improvement in their quality of life, to include the fight, wherever applicable, for the human rights of any given single human being. The Comitato is manned with, or enjoys the collaboration of, interpreters, doctors, lawyers, psychologists, teachers, sociologists, peer educators, cultural mediators, and other subject matter experts that carry out their roles as either volunteers, or consultants, or employees that work on a regular basis. The Comitato unfolds street and workplace intervention for prostitutes, dissemi- nates health, legal, and job information to female/male prostitutes, and also to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), accompanies prostitutes to health and social services centres/agencies, shelters trafficked women, offers cultural mediation, organises training courses for both former and present prostitutes, social and health operators, female cultural mediators/peer educators, and acts as a consultant to NGOs and public institutions for all problems that concern prostitution.

Activities TAMPEP The Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe/Project is an ongoing project that has existed since 1993 Projects Stella Polare, Princesa and Antares While offering both material and psychological support, the main objective of both these projects is to shelter foreign trafficked women Since 1999 Project Turnaround Project Turnaround’s general objective is to promote an information campaign in Nigeria for the prevention of the trafficking of human beings. Since 2001

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The partner organisations in Germany

Amnesty for Women Städtegruppe Hamburg e.V. The organisation is a non-profit association (NGO) in Hamburg. Working on the principle of “helping women to help themselves”, the organisation carries out activities focused on the needs of migrant women, including migrant sex workers, offering psychological, social and legal counselling, accompanying and German language courses. Public relations work aims to publicise their situation and the issues with which they are faced. The overall goal is to strengthen the social and legal situation of migrant women/ migrant sex workers and thus, in the long term, to assist their integration into German society. Amnesty for Women e.V. acts as a meeting place and a counselling centre for migrant women. Most our staff have a migrant background and speak German, English, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Czech. Psychological counselling is offered in Polish and Spanish. The counselling services are free and anonymous. The organisation carries out four EU Projects at the moment:

TAMPEP, Transnational AIDS/STD prevention among migrant prostitutes in Europe (European Commission DG V, programme Europe Against AIDS). Since 1993. FEMMIGRATION, Legal Agenda for Migrant Prostitutes and Trafficked Women on the Internet (European Commission DG A/5, Daphne programme). Since 2000. FENARETE, Training for sex workers as peer educators (European Commission DG XXII, Leonardo da Vinci programme). Since 2002. PSYFEM, Psychological and psychiatric care for migrant women in Europe (European Commission DG Empl/E/2). Since 2002.

Hydra e.V. Hydra e.V. was the first autonomous prostitutes’organisation in Germany. It was founded in 1980 by dedicated women working in a variety of occupations. Since 1985, Hydra e.V. has been receiving continuous public financing, allowing it to set up a counselling centre. Some of the staff of this counselling centre have their own experiences of prostitution. The staff are volunteers, working, firstly, to achieve greater understanding for prostitutes and for the improvement of prostitutes’ living and working conditions, so that prostitutes have control over these themselves. In addition, Hydra e.V.’s long term goal is to achieve equal status for prostitutes, compared to other workers, in terms of their legal and social situation. Hydra e.V. also takes a practical approach, communicating its extensive

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knowledge of health issues, especially on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, Hydra e.V. focuses on the legal situation of prostitutes, on developing information material for street work, and on the situation of migrant prostitutes. Going beyond local and national communications work, Hydra e.V. participates in an international network to support prostitutes world- wide. Hydra e.V. communicates its extensive experience and specialized knowledge to a wider audience by carrying out training sessions for contact persons such as medical staff, the staff of centres for the disabled, lawyers, and police- women, using its experience gained in practical and theoretical work. The group also works with independent organisations and public or governmental organisations across Germany and internationally as part of an international network.

The partner organisations in Poland

TADA - Programme for the Prevention of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The TADA programme is a non-governmental one and is being realised in six Polish cities. Using street work, we try to reach persons whose behaviour seems risky in the context of the HIV/AIDS problem, e.g., men and women selling sexual services, potential clients and young people subject to various social initiations such as an early sex debut and experimenting with drugs. In our everyday activities we try to offer the following forms of services: information about safe sexual behaviour organising anonymous medical advice creating support groups, and giving information on other institutions for social assistance.

La Strada Foundation against Trafficking in Women - Poland - is a non-governmental women’s organization that seeks to prevent and combat the traffic of women in Poland. The Warsaw office was established in 1995 as part of a pilot project, “La Strada Program: Prevention of Traffic in Women in Central and Eastern Europe”, under the supervision of Stichting tegen Vrouwenhandel (Dutch Foundation against Traffic in Women, STV). After eight years of success, this program has expanded to a network of 9 independent but coordinated offices in Poland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarussia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Macedonia and Moldova. The La Strada Program seeks to make the issue of traffic of women visible and to influence the authorities and public opinion to address the topic from a human rights perspective. The program also seeks to refer victims to support networks and to educate women and girls against potential dangers of trafficking. The needs of the women concerned form the starting point of all activities.

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The partner organisations in Lithuania

Lithuanian AIDS Centre Activity: administration and provision of integrated health care services. The main objective of the Lithuanian AIDS Centre is to organize and implement prevention and control measures of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and drug use, to take care of the health of Lithuanian inhabitants, to stop the spreading of HIV/AIDS and aim at decreasing morbidity, disablement and mortality of Lithuanian inhabitantsThe aims of the Lithuanian AIDS Centre have gradually changed and developed along with problem perception and epidemiological situation. Centre’s personnel monitors and evaluates epidemiological situation in Lithuania and neighbouring countries, constantly performs sociolo- gical surveys in target groups, performs laboratory testing on STI/HIV, controls the activities of HIV diagnostic laboratories, educates risk groups, organizes out- patient care, provides medical support for HIV/AIDS infected people at home, lately is in charge of STI monitoring in Lithuania.

The partner organisations in France

Autres regards Autres Regards is a community-based organization, located in Marseille, working with and for all sex workers: women, men, transvestites, transsexuals. This organization has been initiated in 1991 under the name of “Projet Saint- Charles”and has become independent officially in 1995 and called “Autres Regards”. The particularity of Autres Regards is to include sex workers in the working team (as peer educators) but also in the Board of Directors, which gives the main direction of the organization actions Its main activity is to promote health in giving HIV and STI prevention tools and messages. The team is composed of 12 people : a coordinator, medical staff (doctor, nurse, psychologist), street workers, social workers, administrative staff who are doing street and outreach work. Every week, a mobile unit circulates in the centre of the city and on the roads around Marseille to reach people on their work place at night and day. People can also come and visit us at Autres Regards helpdesk. These places are made for sex workers to find help on specific questions regading health prevention or social matters but are also made for them to make a break, drink a coffee or simply have a nice talk. Autres Regards has developped its activities towards more general care actions taking in account the health, social or psychological environment. It also has set up a particular work towards migrant women, victims of trafficking to get an access to their basic rights and benefit from a better access to health system. Autres Regards is also leading actions to change the look on prostitution and make sex workers more accepted and respected.

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At the European level, Autres Regards is taking part to the Femmigration project (Daphné programm, which aims at setting up a legal Agenda for Migrant Prostitutes and Trafficked Women on the Internet, coordinated by Amnesty for Woman. It also participates to the Tampep project (Transnational AIDS/STD Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe/Project) as a guest partner.

The partner organisations in The Netherlands

TAMPEP International Foundation TAMPEP got started in 1993, TAMPEP stands for Transnational AIDS/STD Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe/Project. Its partners are Stichting TAMPEP in the Netherlands, Amnesty for Women in Germany, Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute in Italy and LEFÖ (Lateinamerikanische Emigrierte Frauen in Österreich) in Austria. In 1997 the participants of TAMPEP’s network founded a federation of NGOs called TAM- PEP International Foundation, in Amsterdam, which became a European centre for assistance, consultation, training and advice on health, prostitution and migration and anti trafficking policy. In this moment the net-work of TAMPEP is based in 14 EU countries and in 9 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The aims of the Foundation are: co-ordinating the international activities of TAMPEP promoting actions and policies based on the respect for all persons working as sex workers promoting protection and improvement of the human and civil rights of migrant sex workers and of all those who are socially marginalised or are discriminated against developing non-discriminatory policies on prostitution and migration creating and developing a structure for a broader network of health care and social support for (migrant) sex workers creating and developing a structure of NGOs and GOs organisations in Europe for the protection of trafficked women

TAMPEP is an international networking project aimed at carrying out and imple- menting multi-faceted strategies for health promotion and social support for migrant and trafficked sex workers. The task of TAMPEP is to transfer knowledge and expertise, play a role in advocacy, investigate the local context of prostitution, observe the dynamics of migration in Europe, protect the interests of migrant sex workers and trafficked women, create possibilities for medical and social protection and carry out co-operation structures between countries and regions. The TAMPEP project is financed by the European Commission, DG V- Public Health- and co-financed by national governmental organisations.

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Besides co-ordinating TAMPEP, the Foundation also promotes other projects. These include a programme had been developed in four countries, “Cultural mediators in the area of prostitution. Transnational training”, financed by the European Commission, DG XXII-Education, Training and Youth- Leonardo da Vinci Programme and the project “Moonlight. Safe Prostitution”, a project aimed at female sex workers in Latvia by the Latvian Gender Centre, an NGO in Riga. This project was financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its programme MATRA. Current parallel projects are: two-year project in Ukraine financed by Matra and other European projects. TAMPEP International Foundation also collaborates with international agencies and NGOs around the world, especially in the countries where migrant sex workers come from.

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Acknowledgements

Dott. Giuseppe Caccia, Assessore alle Politiche sociali del Comune di Venezia; Dott. Alberto Caldana Assessore Politiche sociali e sanitarie del Comune di Modena. to the teachers Jacqui Schneider-Harris, Eric Schneider, Philippe Aubert, Alexandre Olenine, Muriel Pradon, Olivier Lantelme, Noëlle Van den Bosch, Dr. Michael Ernst Pörksen, a management expert and tax advisor; Peter Hinz, an insurance broker; Margarete Gräfin von Galen, a lawyer and specialist in criminal law; Andrea Würdinger, a lawyer and specialist in aliens law; Renate Harder, a doctor specialising in STD and HIV/AIDS counselling and examination of prostitutes, with a district health authority in Berlin; Petra Weigand, a social worker and colour therapist; Bernhild Schrand, a sociologist and a management and public speaking; Dr. Ruta Jarasuniene, gynaecologist, General Practitioner; Dr. Giedrius Likatavicius, Laboratory Doctor; Dr. Vilnele Lipnickiene, Doctor Epidemiologist; Dr. Algirdas Griskevicius, Head Accountant Jolanta Moro (all from the Lithuanian AIDS Centre), Professor of the Lithuanian Law University D. Beinoravicius, Head Specialist of the Social Security and Labour Ministry J. Sliuziene; Mariska Majoor, PIC (Prostitution Information Centre); Jacqueline Waterman, PIC; Hanneke Roosjen, AIDS Fonds; Sandra Claassen, Humanitas/BLinN; Marjan Wijers, Clara Wichman Instituut; Christy ten Broeke Mirjam, member of Stichting Tampep; Marieke Bevelanderhuis; Marieke van Doorninck, Mr. A. de Graaf Stichting; Hanka Mongard, TAMPEP International Foundation; Licia Brussa, TAMPEP International Foundation; Pia Covre, Carla Corso, Loris Zampieri, Cinzia Bragagnolo, Luboya Natibwe, Sofia Di Bella, Cecchetto Alessandra, Barelli Andrea, Nicola Atalmi, Agnese Francescato, Chiara Ghetti, Chiara Scotta, Zbigniew Izdebski, Andrzej Kremplewski, Sebastian Ocwieja, Ryszard Rutkowski, Anna Staszewska, Malgorzata Szulik, Anna Zydowicz - Mucha.

1One of the priorities of the Copenaghen process is to increase the transparency of qualifications and improve vocational guidance throughout Europe in order to ensure that skills and qualifications acquired in a another country are recognised. This priority also includes support in developing skills and qualifications at the sector level through closer cooperation and coordination, particularly involving social partners;

Special thanks to the services and NGO hosting the trainees for the project work.

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Index

Introduction 1

Cap. 1 | Methodology: working hypothesis 3

1.1 The professional role of PEs in the area of prostitution 3 1.1.1 Role and functions of PEs in the area of prostitution 4 1.2 Basic training methods for PEs 5 1.2.1 Analysis of professional abilities 5 1.2.2 Methods: a working hypothesis 6 1.2.3 The reworking of one’s personal experience is based on Kohlrieser’s life-cycle theory. 6 1.2.4 The “group” as resource 6

Cap. 2 | Analysis of the enviroment in partner countries 11 2.1. The enviroment of prostitution in partner countries 11 1.2.1 Italy 11 2.1.2 France 12 2.1.3 Germany 12 2.1.4 The Netherlands 13 2.1.5 Lithuania 14 2.1.6. Poland 16 2.2 Immigration and prostitution: the legal framework in partner countries 17 2.2.1 Italy 17 2.2.2. France 19 2.2.3 Germany 19 2.2.4. The Netherlands 21 2.2.5. Lithuania 23 2.2.6. Poland 25 2.3. Conclusions 26

Cap. 3 | Trial project and guidelines for the vocational training of peer educators in the area of prostitution 27 3.1 Trial project 27 3.2 Training course structure in Italy 28 3.3 Goals and strategies 29 3.4 Techniques used 31 3.4.1 Example ‘verbal activities’: 32 3.4.2 Example ‘written activities’ 32 3.4.3 Example ‘graphic’ techniques 33

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3.5 Setting 34 3.6 The trial project in partner countries. 35 3.7 Project work: experimentation of ability and competence aquired 45 3.7.1 Project work in Italy 46 3.7.2 Project work in France 49 3.7.3 Project work in Germany 50 3.7.4 Project work in Poland 52 3.7.5 Project work in Lithuania 53 3.7.6 Project work in the Netherlands 54 3.8 Evaluations 55 3.8.1 Italy 55 3.8.2 France 58 3.8.3 Germany 60 3.8.4 Poland 61 3.8.5 Lithuania 63 3.8.6 The Netherlands 64 3.9 Vocational training courses for PEs (trial projects) 67 3.9.1 Basic and specific elements 68 3.10 Creating PE vocational training programmes in the area of prostitution 71 3.10.1 Analysing the national context 71 3.10.2 Modulating the training programme 72

Cap. 4 | Peer educators organitations 73 4.1 Description of the training programme and process 73 4.1.1 The experience in Italy. 73 4.1.2 Partner countries 75 4.1.3 Public role of PEs trained in Germany 77 4.2 Conclusions: Training for PE organisations 78

Cap. 5 | Conclusions: The Fenarete project 81

5.1 Guidelines for the vocational training of PEs in the area of prostitution 81 5.2 Applying the method to other targets 81 5.3 Final considerations 82 Project roles and names for each national team 83 Glossary 85 Bibliografy 91 Promoter and partners organisations 95 Acknowledgements 101 Index 103

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