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A Non-Profit Making International Organisation

Registered Office:
Boulevard Brand Withlock, 66 Woluwe Saint-Lambert, 1200 Bruxelles (Belgium)

Operative Office (Secretariat):
Via M. Gavazzeni, 3 24125 – Bergamo (Italy) Fax : 0039.035.42.47.230

Website : www.aretusa.net
email :  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ARETUSA is the long term benefit of several years of informal networking between organisations from different Member States in the framework of the implementation of transnational European projects.

In Greek mythology, Aretusa was a nymph and daughter of Nereus and later became a fountain on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse, Sicily. On 6th December 2002, during the “Turning the spotlight on trafficking in women” conference, promoted by the European Commission and held in Syracuse by the Italian Ministry for Equal Opportunities, the European Network Against Trafficking in Women was launched to foster the exchange of expertise and best practices to prevent and combat violence against women and especially trafficking. The consortium was led by an Italian NGO (IRENE Association) in partnership with other women’s organisations based in Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland.

In 2006 the platform was enlarged to include organisations from the new EU member States: Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria. The platform has enabled an effective and cohesive cooperation among 80 women’s organisations from 21 EU member States. The network brings together organisations sharing the commitment towards gender equality in different fields of intervention (gender violence, participation to economic activities, social inclusion, participation to politics) and from different points of view (research, management of social services and shelters, advice on gender policies, mainstreaming).

By year 2007, 18 organisations decided to legally establish, on the basis of the effective cooperation developed since 2002, the international association named “Aretusa” as a permanent and cohesive framework in order to ensure the quality of future undertakings and to maximise the results of the networking activities in the field of gender equality.

The network Aretusa was formally formed in 2007 by a number of nongoverment organizations within EU member countries to work jointly with combat sex trafficking and prostitution. Aretusa currently consists of 18 organizations from 15 EU Member States, one of the member organizations of the network is the Baltic Fem, City of Norrtalje, Sweden.
Right now in Aretusa a preparatory work is ongoing to shape a joint opinion campaign in 2009 with a focus on demand. The aim is to highlight the so-called purchasers of sex their responsibility and role in international trafficking and domestic prostitution.
Within Aretusa the member organizations at a number of working meetings during the autumn of 2008 has to work out the document and the actionplan for a coordinated campaign work in 2009. More information in Swedish and English will be published continuously on the Baltic Fem website.

Open letter to the French government and French embassies in Europe

A Call to the French presidency on its action to liberate Europe from sex slavery?

"What has the French presidency done during the second half of 2008 to challenge the demand for sexual slavery in Europe?"

This is the question every citizen of Europe should ask after looking at the official program for all ministerial and expert meetings that have been arranged during the French presidency.
We, 17 non-governmental organizations, NGO's, across Europe from 14 Member States, cannot find any evidence of any ambition to place this modern form of slavery in the public agenda.