Fight sex work by stemming demand, say speakers at Vatican conference

Published: 2005-06-21

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Combating the problem of the trafficking of women and girls for prostitution also requires stemming the demand for prostitutes, said participants of a Vatican-sponsored conference. The Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers hosted its first international meeting June 20-21 on "The Pastoral Care for the Liberation of Street Women." Fifty women and men who are active in offering care and assistance to prostitutes attended the conference to offer their reflections and ideas. "Everyone says being a woman on the street is bad, but when I see six cars all lined up for a 14-year-old girl, why don't we hear that it's the man on the street that is worse?" said Italian Consolata Sister Eugenia Bonetti, head of anti-trafficking initiatives for the Italian Union of Major Superiors. "We need to change the mentality of young people to make them understand that nobody can buy the dignity of a human person, not even with all the money in the world," she told Catholic News Service June 20.

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