Prostitution in the Netherlands
From Freepedia
Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands. However, prostitutes must be at least 18, while for non-commercial sex the age of consent is 16. Clients must be at least 16. Prostitutes are considered bona fide entrepreneurs; they pay taxes and are otherwise treated like any other self-employed tradesperson. Advertising the services is likewise tolerated. Health and social services are readily available, but the women are not required to undergo regular health checks. The women are self-employed and rent the rooms for some 100-150 euros per 8 hour shift, which includes closed-circuit security. Twenty minutes of sex cost about 40 to 50 euros. Despite the legalization, some of the working women are still illegal immigrants.
Some municipalities in the Netherlands would like a "zero policy" for brothels, i.e. not allow any, on moral grounds, but by law this is not possible. However, regulations, including restrictions in number and location are common. Whether a zero policy on urban planning grounds is allowed is still unclear.
The largest and best-known red-light district in the Netherlands is De Wallen in Amsterdam, also known as Walletjes or Rosse Buurt.
Not to be outdone, Utrecht also boasts an impressive red light district, centered around the area north of the famous Rode Brug (red bridge), containing more than one hundred canal boats and also a smaller city center street called Hardebollenstraat.
An article in Le Monde in 1997 found that 80% of prostitutes in the Netherlands were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers, suggesting that at least some were victims of sex trafficking, forced prostitution. [1] [2] The Netherlands is one of a number of destination countries in Europe for trafficked women (many of whom are led to believe by organised criminals that they are being offered work in hotels or restaurants or in child care and are forced into prostitution with the threat or actual use of violence).
