1. The regulation of prostitution in The Netherlands - analysis Karin Werkman November 2012 Conference on Violence agianst Women and Prostitution, Nicosia, Cyprus

2. Belle Respect sex workers all over the world

3. Lifting of the ban on brothels 2000 ≠ legalisation of prostitution Lifting of the ban on brothels 1911 = legalisation of brothels and pimping Introduction of distinctions: forced / voluntary prostitution; prostition / trafficking Goals: state control & improvement of ‘working conditions’

4. Six main goals: 1.the control of the exploitation of voluntary prostitution; 2.the improvement of the combat against the exploitation of coerced prostitution; 3.the protection of minors from sexual abuse; 4.the protection of the position of prostitutes; 5.to disentangle the ties between prostitution and criminal peripheral phenomena; 6.to reduce the scale of prostitution by illegal foreign nationals.

5. Impact - studies Baseline study 1999: brothels present in 30% municipalities Rotterdam 2006: > 50% of women ‘work illegally’ Working illegally = ▫forced to work; ▫no residency/illegal status; ▫minors (<18yrs old); ▫working in illegal sex establishments.

6. DSP-Group 2006 on municpalities 68% municipalities have policy on brothels 30% brothels in violation of policy past 5 years 49% mention fight human trafficking in policy 6% muncipalities offer exit programmes

7. Impact – studies. DPS 2006

8. Evaluation Daalder 2007 6 main goals: Voluntary: majority industry outside gov control Forced: ‘impossible to comment’ Minors: ‘scarcely encountered’ Conditions: emotional well-being decreased on all accounts; use of sedatives increased; high demand for exit, but no possiblities Separation: ‘impossible to comment’ Illegals: somewhat succesful: 2004 EU borders

9. Impact - studies KLPD 2008 ‘Keeping up appearances’ Sneep-case 50-90% ‘work involuntarily’: At least 4,000 women Amsterdam.. RIEC 2010 Analysis 2,600 advertisements 17% advertisements sex industry originate from licenced brothels

10. Emergo – Amsterdam 2011 Half of bussineses in Amsterdam red light district has one or more managers with criminal record

11. Law proposal 2009-present Permits all sex industry Registration women Buyers of unregistered women criminalised Zero-option Minimum age 18 – 21 yrs old Register suspicion of trafficking

12. Legalisation = normalisation Buyers website: 25,000 women in prostitution 150,000 ‘customer reviews’ 500,000 unique visitors 8 million page views On 30 October 2012 new ‘world’ record with 3,992 unique visitors at one single moment…

13. Buyers in the Netherlands Openly participate in policy making; Openly advise the government; Lobby in parliament; Assist the police; Lecture in university, appear on nat TV. Senate majority and public opinion are opposed to responsibility for prostitution buyers, for the police needs support from buyers to fight human trafficking.. ?

14. Legalisation = normalisation ‘prostitution = sex work’ Is it work? ‘fair trade’ labels Sex tourism is tourism.. Advertise unique attraction on government websites.. Or paying pimps to leave the city ?

20. Conclusion Impact of legalisation: Improve women’s lives? Fight trafficking? Not making things do ‘underground’? Normalisation Solutions: Push legalisation further; Or punish the buyers?

21. Opzij enquiry 77% support criminalisation of buyers of underage women / trafficking victims; 71% criminalisation of pimping; 59% of female respondents disagree that prostitution is a normal profession and a choice.

22. Thank you for your attention!