The Mayor of Amsterdam approach to prostitution
Posted on: August 20, 2014
Eberhard van der Laan’s Approach to Prostitution in Amsterdam
“Amsterdam’s Red Light District is world famous. Prostitution will always be part of the city. But some things have to change. We cannot tolerate exploitation and human trafficking. Prostitutes must be able to do their work safely, healthy and in freedom. Operators play a major role in this. We’ve made some good progress, but we’re taking extra measure to make things even better. We expect operators to comply with regulations and actively report abuses. Our approach will focus on those operators who put up with abuses or even contribute to them. It’s the express intention that good operators will get less trouble from us. And that operators provide good working conditions and greater safety.
The legal age to be allowed to work as a prostitute will be raised from 18 to 21 years old. We want to prevent extremely long working hours, for example by not keeping windows open for the whole night. This is how we want things to be”:
Amsterdam is introducing new rules to tackle abuse and human trafficking in the prostitution industry. And to better support prostitutes.
- We will raise the minimum legal age to work as a prostitute
- We’ve introduced new rules to prevent extremely long working hours
- Operators must have a business plan, describing how they prevent abuse. And insure good working conditions and greater security.
“Amsterdam will always have a Red Light District and it sure will remain world famous. But it also will be normal and more caring of each other.”
