WUNRN
TO CRIMINALISE PROSTITUTES OR
NOT - Another View
I participated in the same
conference as Mr. Lagon - Conference
"Overlaps of Prostitution, Migration, and Human Trafficking" in
Berne, Switzerland, which brought together European government experts from
Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain to discuss a very hot
topic: the relationship between prostitution and human trafficking.
As for the Netherlands: Indeed, and this
we share with all other countries, we have not succeeded in weeding
out criminality in the sex industry. Yet I have not seen figures that convince
me that criminalising prostitutes as does the US - despite the rhetoric
about all prostitutes being victims - is more succesfull in
doing so. On the contrary. Criminalising prostitutes denies them the protection
of the law against violence and abuse, including trafficking, acts as an
effective barrier for women in prostitution to denouce their abusers as by
doing so they expose themselves to arrest and prosecution, and adds to the
marginalisation and stigmatisation of prostitutes, thus sending the
message that they can be abused with impunity.
Which is exactly what happens.
In the US victims of trafficking
have to prove that they "did
not consent to become a prostitute and did so because of force, fraud or
coercion" to be recognised as a victim of trafficking, thus
shifting the focus from the acts of the offender to the (sexual) 'innocence' of
the victim. Meaning that prostitutes can be abused with impunity. Who of us is
not acquainted with this same type of reasoning in rape cases? That it is our
own fault when we are raped, because our skirt is too short, because we dare to
be out on the streets after sunset, because we accepted a drink from a guy, or
because we have sexual relations without being married?
Whatever can be said about the Dutch
legal system on prostitution, at least we consider all women to be worth of
protection against violence or abuse, including prostitutes. For the Dutch
law it is not important whether or not a woman worked as a prostitute
before, consented to work in prostitution or wants to continue to do so
under self controlled circumstances: all
women deserve protection against trafficking, against rape, against
violence and against abuse.
Between 14,500 and 17,500 people
are estimated to be trafficked into the U.S. each year (Report Women’s
Commission for refugee Women and Children). Since 2000, however, only 675
people have been officially identified as trafficked into the U.S. and received
the corresponding benefits. In the Netherlands a 2006 study estimated
about 1000 women to be trafficked into the sexindustry that year. However,
since 2000 more than 1100 people were officially identified as trafficked
and received the corresponding benefits.
According to Mr. Lagon the
statement that prostitution fuels sex trafficking is based on solid
empirical evidence. The solidity of this emperical evidence,
however, is seriously disputed by researchers and other academics. See
e.g. http://www.genderhealth.org/pubs/LtrMillerTrafficking.pdf.
Lagon also mentions that in
Sweden, since it made sex buying illegal, there has been a decrease in known
human trafficking cases. Important here is the word "known".
Definitively the criminalising of clients succeeded in reducing
the visibility of
prostitution and consequently of trafficking victims. But is that what we
strive for?
It is time that the US look
critically at their own policies on prostitution and trafficking, rather
than try to impose them on the rest of the world.
Kind regards,
Marjan Wijers, Research
& Consultancy
T + 31 (0)6
30546012
F + 31 (0)84 759
5408
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