The question of legalising prostitution in South Africa for the World Cup is becoming increasingly pertinent in view of compelling evidence.
On July 7, 2000, Germany was announced as the host nation for the 2006 world cup finals. In 2002, prostitution was legalised in preparation for the tournament. This pattern is currently being repeated in South Africa.
The "Report of the Act Regulating the Legal Situation of Prostitutes (Prostitution Act)" published by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth states that: "In 2006, the issues of trafficking in human beings and forced prostitution drew great media attention in the context of the Fifa Football World Cup. At home and abroad, not least on account of the distorted reporting on the matter, supporters of a general ban on prostitution criticised both Germany's attitude to prostitution and the Prostitution Act.
"For example, the Prostitution Act was accused of not having improved the prostitutes' social and legal position, and of promoting prostitution and favouring brothel operators and pimps. In addition, the Prostitution Act, as it was claimed, made it more difficult to combat trafficking in human beings and forced prostitution."
These discussions - along with its obligation to report to the German Bundestag - encouraged the German federal government to revisit the goals of the Prostitution Act. The goals were:
- For prostitution to no longer be considered immoral;
- To ensure that prostitutes could take legal action to enforce their pay;
- To facilitate access to social insurance;
- To remove the breeding ground for prostitution-related crime;
- To make it easier for prostitutes to leave prostitution; and
- To improve working conditions (which pose as few health risks as possible).
The "Report on the Prostitution Act" summarised the federal government's conclusions as follows: "The federal government believes that the Prostitution Act has only to a limited degree achieved the goals intended by the legislator.
- Although it has been possible to create the legal framework to enable contracts of employment to be concluded that are subject to social insurance, few have as yet made use of this option. The Prostitution Act has thus, up to now, also not been able to make actual, measurable improvements to prostitutes' social protection.
- As regards improving prostitutes' work conditions, hardly any measurable, positive impact has been observed. At most there are tentative signs that point in this direction. It is especially in this area that no short-term improvements that could benefit the prostitutes are to be expected.
The Prostitution Act has not recognisably improved the prostitutes' means for leaving prostitution.
- There are as yet no viable indications that the Prostitution Act has reduced crime. The Prostitution Act has as yet contributed very little in terms of improving transparency in the world of prostitution.
On the other hand, the fears that were partly linked to the Prostitution Act have not proved true, in particular in the area of fighting crime. The Prostitution Act has not made it more difficult to prosecute trafficking in human beings, forced prostitution and other prostitution-related violence."
Since South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup tournament, various officials and organisations have been lobbying for the decriminalisation of prostitution - ostensibly to secure the "human rights" of women trapped in sexual slavery.
The terrible abuse and sexual exploitation of women and children trapped in prostitution have been a blight on our nation for many years. Why the urgency now to decriminalise the sex industry - a policy the overwhelming body of international evidence shows does not help women and children in prostitution?
The answer lies in the fact that this morally reprehensible, but lucrative trade in human flesh, stands to make crime syndicates, sex traffickers and corrupt officials millions of rands and underscores the point that legalised prostitution has nothing to do with the human rights of women and children - and all to do with the money it will generate for these human parasites.
Significantly, research drawn from nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands shows that decriminalising or legalising prostitution does not improve or ensure the human rights and dignity of women and girls trapped in prostitution.
At the most basic level, an expansion of the sex industry in its current forms will be accompanied by increased incidences of violence.
Since legalisation, violence against women in prostitution does not seem to have decreased in the Netherlands or Victoria. There are even suggestions that it has increased. (Jeffreys 1997, Daley 2001). The only people who benefited from this policy are organised crime figures, sex traffickers and pimps.
Tragically, legalised prostitution in these nations has removed barriers and thrown the door open to international sex traffickers to operate with impunity.
As a result, there has been an explosion in legal and illegal street prostitution, child prostitution, drug dealing and money laundering.
The mayor of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, has admitted that this policy has failed in the Netherlands. Organised crime dominates the sex industry.
On May 18, Adam Walters reported in The Daily Telegraph that illegal brothels were exploding across Sydney in Australia, amid accusations that all levels of government were doing little to drive them out of business.
It has been claimed "tough" new laws have failed to prevent unprotected sex, slavery and corruption. An investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed illegal brothels and escort services outnumbered licensed establishments by four to one - and the gap is growing.
The Adult Business Association (ABA) estimates the number of illegal sex services in the metropolitan area exceeds 400. "It's out of control," association spokesman Chris Seage said.
Despite the introduction of legislation 18 months ago to ease the burden of proof for councils that want to close illegal brothels, the ABA said they continued to thrive. Alarmingly, the crisis in Australia is being repeated in other major First World countries that have legalised or decriminalised prostitution.
Bonnie Erbe, contributing editor at US News & World Report, wrote in the June 15 2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article headed "Cry Foul on World Cup Prostitution" that "Germany is one of several European nations where prostitution is legal. Germany came late to this game, in 2002.
"In only four years, it built up a work force of 400 000-strong for its multibillion-dollar annual prostitution business. My admiration for relaxed European attitudes towards sex comes to an excruciatingly cacophonous halt on the issue of legalised prostitution.
"Women's-rights activists believe the German government's sanctioning of sex services for world cup visitors will drive the illicit international trade in sex trafficking. This, in turn, could force thousands of unwilling women into prostitution. "Whether women enter the sex trade willingly or not, no government should sanction prostitution. By its very nature, prostitution is demeaning to women and encourages antisocial, some would say depraved, behaviour by men. ...German officials... should ban prostitution altogether. Sanctioning of sex services for World Cup visitors will drive the illicit international trade in sex trafficking."
Gunilla Ekberg, special adviser to the Swedish division for gender equality in the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, wrote an article titled "The Swedish Law That Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services: Best Practices for Prevention of Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings."
Published in the October 2004 issue of Violence Against Women, it said: "In Sweden, prostitution is officially acknowledged as a form of male sexual violence against women and children.
"One of the cornerstones of Swedish policies against prostitution and trafficking in human beings is the focus on the root cause - the recognition that without men's demand for and use of women and girls for sexual exploitation, the global prostitution industry would not be able to flourish and expand.
"Prostitution is a serious problem to society at large.
"Therefore, prostituted women and children are seen as victims of male violence. Instead, they have a right to assistance to escape prostitution."
We agree and call for the criminalising of the entire sex industry with particular focus on men who solicit and buy sex, procurers, pimps and sex traffickers. This must be accompanied by government-supported exit programmes to help women and girls escape prostitution.
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