Debate on Prostitution

Economist
September 6, 2010

Opening statements

Sienna Baskin
Co-director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Centre

In the Netherlands, prostitution and running commercial sex businesses are legal and heavily regulated, and penalties for exploiting minors and trafficking in persons are severe. A 2007 study found that the sex industry had actually decreased since legalisation. No large numbers of underage sex workers were found, and only 8% of sex workers reported being coerced.

Melissa Farley
Executive director, Prostitution Research and Education

Five years after legally defining prostitution as work, the New Zealand law was unable to change the exploitive quasi-contractual arrangements that existed before prostitution was decriminalised. Most people in prostitution (both indoor and street) continued to mistrust police. They did not report violence or crimes against them. Trafficking of children has increased.

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