Brussels, 30/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - MEPs are supporting the campaign carried out by the European Women's Lobby (EWL) against prostitution during the periods in which sport events are held. With Europe staging major sports events such as the Olympic Games in the United Kingdom and the European football championship in Poland and Ukraine, the Women's Lobby is showing the red card to prostitution during the period in which these events are held. This is why around 20 MEPs at a visual event on Wednesday 30 May at the European Parliament brandished a red card, in which they addressed their message to athletes, officials, fans, journalists and decision-makers: “Be a sport. Keep it fair… Say NO to prostitution.” Mikael Gustafsson (GUE, Sweden), the chair of the women's rights and gender equality committee, also stated: “Men should not have the right to buy access to women's bodies for sex - that is simply not compatible with fair play and equality.” Major sporting events are regularly coupled with a boom in prostitution. Viviane Teitelbaum, Vice-President of the EWL, regretted that sporting events are associated with the outmoded macho “boys will be boys” concept and argued that “sponsored sporting events should be the venue to encourage positive and respectful relationships of all kinds, including between women and men”. (MD/transl.fl)