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   From: nancy@pelosi.com   
      
   PARIS — After days of emotional debates and intense lobbying,   
   delegates from Amnesty International voted on Tuesday to support   
   a policy that calls for decriminalization of the sex trade,   
   including prostitution, payment for sex and brothel ownership.   
      
   The vote came on the last day of a biennial meeting in Dublin of   
   about 400 members of the human rights organization from 60   
   countries. They had gathered to set the group’s future policies.   
      
   The proposal about prostitution provoked an aggressive lobbying   
   campaign by international groups opposed to sparing buyers and   
   pimps from penalties. Competing petitions were organized by   
   women’s groups and celebrities— including former President Jimmy   
   Carter, who issued a letter on Monday — appealing to the group   
   to maintain penalties for buyers and to “stay true to its   
   mission.”   
      
   With the vote, Amnesty International’s 12-member board will now   
   hammer out the final draft of a policy that the group will use   
   to lobby governments to repeal most laws that forbid the sale   
   and purchase of sex. The group’s resolution called for a policy   
   that “supports the full decriminalization of all aspects of   
   consensual sex work.”   
      
   “Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the   
   world who in most instances face constant risk of   
   discrimination, violence and abuse,” Salil Shetty, the secretary   
   general of the organization, said in a statement after the vote.   
      
   The proposal split human rights activists. Amnesty chapters in   
   Sweden and France pressed the group to support a so-called   
   Swedish or Nordic model, now followed in several Scandinavian   
   countries, that spares prostitutes from penalties but sanctions   
   the buyers with heavy fines and prison terms. Lawmakers in   
   France are pushing new legislation to punish buyers that most   
   likely will be voted on in the fall.   
      
   After the vote, the Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution,   
   a French organization, vowed that it would no longer work with   
   Amnesty International. “Amnesty chooses impunity for pimps and   
   johns and not protection from sexual abuse for all women,” the   
   coalition’s executive director, Grégoire Théry, said.   
      
   Margot Wallstrom, Sweden’s foreign minister, said she was   
   concerned about the effect of Amnesty’s new policy because it is   
   a respected organization.   
      
   “They mixed all these arguments, and that worries me,” she said.   
   “It is a myth about the happy prostitute who does this as a free   
   choice. Unfortunately, I can now hear people saying ‘hurrah’ —   
   all those johns and pimps who run the brothels. It’s a   
   multibillion-euro industry.”   
      
   Amnesty will give its national chapters leeway to decide whether   
   to support or lobby for decriminalization.   
      
   “There are no plans to have a major campaign with a focus on   
   this,” said Sarah Beamish, a board member who will help draft   
   the final policy over the next few months. “It’s really up to   
   each section to take this issue up on the local level. There are   
   no plans for a global focus.”   
      
   Although the vote was taken openly among the delegates, the   
   meeting was closed and the vote count was kept confidential. Ms.   
   Beamish said the resolution had passed “comfortably.”   
      
   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/world/europe/amnesty-   
   international-votes-for-policy-calling-for-decriminalization-of-   
   prostitution.html?_r=0   
          
      
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