The Global View of Prostitution: Does the World Need Reform?

For my final post I would like to touch on the prostitution laws around the world and compare them to those of Canada.

In terms of the G8 countries, Canada’s laws are roughly smack dab in the middle of the scale.

Out of the 9 countries, excluding Canada, that have been polled, 5 of them have laws set in place that make prostitution legal.

Germany                    Status: Legal

-       Prostitution is municipally regulated

-       Cities can restrict to certain areas

-       Penalty for breaking restrictions is fine or jail time

-       In Hamburg, only business done in night clubs at certain hours is legal

-       In Berlin, there are no restrictions on street solicitation

-       Brothels are considered regular business and don’t require special licenses

-       Sex workers are independent contractors and pay taxes

France                       Status: Legal

-       Similar to former Canadian laws

-       Prostitution is legal, but everything surrounding it isn’t

-       Prostitutes must pay taxes

-       Illegal to solicit in public

United States                        Status: Illegal

-       Legal in only the state of Nevada

-       Regulated brothels operate legally

-       Convicted prostitutes of Louisiana are registered as sex offenders

England                     Status: Legal

-       Owning/managing a brothel is illegal

-       Soliciting in public is illegal

-       Facilitating contact with prostitutes is illegal

Wales & Northern Ireland               Status: Illegal

-       Illegal to have sex with a prostitute who has been forced into the sex trade

-       Even if the procurer had no knowledge the prostitute was forced

Netherlands              Status: Legal

-       Brothels are legal

-       The usage of Pimps is legal

-       Prostitutes are protected under labour laws

-       Prostitutes must pay taxes

-       Must be registered with government

Sweden, Norway & Iceland                       Status: Illegal

-       Illegal to buy sex

-       Legal to sell sex

-       Criminality is placed on the customers, not the sex workers

Greece                       Status: Legal

-       Sex workers must be registered

-       Must be over 21

-       Must have health checks completed every 2 weeks

-       Prostitutes are fined if caught working without a proper medical card

-       Main goal of government is to control spread of STI’s

I feel like these laws would benefit sex workers in Canada and should be taken into consideration by our government.

They would greatly help control the negative issues of prostitution such as

-       Forced sex workers

-       Underage sex workers

-       Diseases spread throughout the sex workers community

 

The article that provided the statistics:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/26/prostitution-laws-around-the-world-canada-in-about-the-middle-of-g8-countries/