MONTREAL, May 31, 2024 /CNW/ - This Saturday, 1 June, a World Survivors of Prostitution's March will bring together for the first time survivors of prostitution from a dozen countries, as well as allies from around the world, in Montreal, Canada.

Organised by the international network of women survivors of prostitution SPACE international, the march will start from Place Emilie Gamelin at 1.45pm. The march is an opportunity for more than forty survivors present to call on governments and the general public to recognise prostitution as a violation of human dignity and a fundamental obstacle to equality between women and men.

This event symbolically opens the 4th World Congress on the Abolition of Prostitution, which takes place from 1 to 3 June in Montreal. The Congress is organised by the Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution (CAP International) and its four member associations in North America: La CLES (Montreal), Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter (Vancouver), Breaking Free (Minneapolis) and EVA Center (Boston). It includes panel discussions and workshops, as well as side-events, a civil society forum and exhibitions.

The panel discussions will feature nearly forty speakers from all over the world, including 25 survivors from 7 different countries, researchers, frontline workers, feminist activists, indigenous leaders, parliamentarians and trade union representatives of international renown. Following on from the World Congresses in Paris in 2014, New Delhi in 2017 and Mainz in 2019, nearly 400 participants from 35 countries are expected to attend this year's event.

"We have decided to call this congress "Equality in Action" because the fight to abolish the prostitution system is a fight for equality. As survivors of prostitution, we know very well that there will be no equality between women and men as long as men are able to use their privileges to buy access to women's bodies", says Cherie Jimenez, survivor of prostitution and President of CAP International.

The Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution (CAP International) is a coalition of 35 grassroots frontline and survivors-led organisations operating in 28 countries, which provided direct support to 18,000 victims of prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation last year.

The Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle - CLES - is a group of organisations and individuals who believe that a world without prostitution is possible, and who support women and girls who are victims of sexual exploitation and their families. It also provides training and awareness-raising, and lobbies for women's rights and a world without prostitution.

SOURCE Concertation des luttes contre l'exploitation sexuelle