UFI at the United Nations
A Case Study in Legalizing Immorality: NGO Shadow Report on the Netherlands
By
Linda Ash
January 24, 2007
It
is with mixed emotions that I proceed to relate highlights of the NGO (Non-Government
Organization) Shadow Report on the Netherlands filed here at the CEDAW (Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) committee.
Prepared by the Coalition against Trafficking in Women, the Shadow Report
describes atrocities that are shocking and heart-wrenching—and quite beyond
the world most of us know. Unfortunately, similar atrocities are taking place
in other parts of the world as well, including in the United States. And because
I believe that there are important lessons here about the relationship of
law and public behavior, this is a report that we must be aware of. Here are
a few of the highlights.
The operation of brothels was penalized in the Netherlands until October 1, 2000. At that time, in effect, the government decriminalized pimps and other sex exploiters, facilitating the profiting from the commercial sexual exploitation of women in prostitution.
Many localities in the Netherlands do not want any prostitution in their cities, yet they can't reject brothels. The complete banning of brothels within any municipality conflicts with the federally guaranteed “right to free choice of work.”
The Dutch government has defended its policy of legalizing sexual exploitation by stating that it is bringing its law in line with “everyday reality,” characterizing prostitution as a “fact of life.”
Prostitution, like other forms of sexual violence, arises from the historical subordination of women to men. The sex industry is built upon and maintains women's low social status and relegates women to the role of sexual merchandise. The trafficking of women is directly linked to prostitution.
The Harms of the Exploitation of Prostitution of Women
Prostituted women often suffer severe health consequences ranging from injuries inflicted by beatings, rapes and unwanted sex; psychological devastation, including trauma, depression, and suicide; HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases; and alcohol and drug abuse induced by pimps or by the women's attempts to self-medicate. The health effects of prostitution are wide-ranging and severe and commonly include tuberculosis, frequent viral illness, vaginal infections, infertility, backaches, pelvic pain, sleeplessness, headaches, eating disorder, cervical cancer, hepatitis, broken bones, lacerations, brain injury resulting from head trauma, anxiety disorders, disassociative disorders and early mortality. As stated by a prominent researcher, “many of the chronic symptoms of women in prostitution are similar to the long-term physical consequences of torture.” (Melissa Farley, “Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart”)
Legalization fails to stop any of the abuses associated with illegal prostitution, such as brutal physical violence, the influence of organized crime in the sex industry, or the trafficking of women for purposes of prostitution. Indeed, countries where prostitution has been legalized in an effort to reduce its harms have experienced quite the opposite result—huge growth in the illegal sex industry.
Following legalization of prostitution in Victoria, Australia, legal brothels proliferated, but the greatest expansion was in illegal brothels, which according to Farley, increased by 300 percent in one year. This is because legalizing prostitution creates a hospitable environment for sex tourists and other buyers, thus driving up demand.
Ultimately the only truly effective way to protect against the harms of prostitution is to assist its victims in getting out. When a survey was conducted of 854 prostitutes in nine countries, the question was asked, “What do you need?” The No. 1 response, according to 89 percent of respondents, asked for a way to get out of prostitution. (Farley)
In the Netherlands, 20 percent of the prostitutes are Dutch, while approximately 80 percent are foreign-born and primarily from poor countries.
The Dutch government wrongly assumed that legalization would lead to a decrease in prostitution. “Rolling out the red carpet” to the sex industry could only result in expansion of the industry and the number of women and children it victimizes. With the blessing of the Dutch government, prostitution in the Netherlands has grown into a multi-million euro business.
Legalized prostitution brings sex tourists and heightens the demand among local men. Local women constitute an inadequate supply, so foreign girls and women are trafficked in to meet the demand. The trafficked women are often cheaper, younger, more exciting to customers and easier to control, especially given their often tenuous immigration status, youth, inability to speak the language and lack of familiarity with the legal system.
Child prostitution in the Netherlands has increased dramatically in a legal regime of legalized prostitution. The Amsterdam-based Child Right Organization estimated that the number of children in prostitution increased from 4,000 in 1996 to 15,000 in 2001 after the legalization went into effect.
Once an industry is created, demand increases. Men who previously would not have risked buying women for sex are encouraged to view the use of women as merchandise as socially acceptable. Men and boys are given the message that prostitution is harmless fun. (Dorchen Leidholdt, “So Deep a Violence: Prostitution, Trafficking and the Global Sex Industry, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women”)
There is a saying that there is no right way to do a wrong thing. Does legalizing a moral wrong make it right? Does it remove the terrible consequences or lessen their burden? What a lesson from the Netherlands!
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