Street walking halved as sex moves to web
Looks like Sweden and Norway needs to go on everyones do not visit list. A criminal charge could effect your ability to get a visa.
Street walking halved as sex moves to web
IGOR GEDILAGHINE
July 5, 2010
STOCKHOLM: A Swedish law that punishes the buying of sex has halved street prostitution, but the country is still facing a growing problem of sex sold over the internet, a report says.
''The evaluation shows that the ban on the purchase of sexual services has had the intended effect and is an important instrument in preventing and combating prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes,'' says the report, which was handed to the Justice Minister, Beatrice Ask, on Friday. It maintained that prostitution in Sweden had not increased since the ban took effect in 1999.
While the law punishing the client rather than the prostitute may not have caused a dramatic drop in prostitution as a whole, its true triumph, the report says, is that ''street prostitution in Sweden has been halved''.
''This reduction may be considered to be a direct result of the criminalisation of sex purchases,'' it says.
Before Sweden became the first country to criminalise buying sex, the number of street prostitutes in its capital was on a par with the capitals of neighbouring Norway and Denmark.
Norway introduced similar legislation to Sweden's on January 1, 2009.
The Swedish law stipulates that ''purchasing a sexual service on one single occasion is sufficient for criminal liability'', whether with money or other means such as alcohol or drugs.
But while cracking down on sex purchasers on the street has paid off, the report acknowledges that prostitution in other more hidden and obscure areas is hard to assess and limit.
The internet especially constitutes a new and dangerous arena, allowing sex to be sold ''in secret'' and purchasers to remain ''fairly invisible''.
Agence France-Presse
Link here:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/stre ... -20100704-zvxf.html
[ Last edited by atomic3d at 5-7-2010 10:37 ] | |
