Abstract:
In the Netherlands, the general ban on brothels was lifted on 1 October
2000.
The essence of the amendment of the law is that, under certain conditions,
those forms of prostitution in which prostitutes of age are voluntarily
engaged are no longer prohibited. At the same time, the legislator
intends to crack down forcefully on unacceptable forms of prostitution
(in particular various forms of trafficking in human beings). A first evaluation
of the amendment of the law was carried out in 2001 and 2002. The
Minister of Justice promised Dutch Parliament that a second evaluation
study would be carried out a few years after the amendment of the law
had become effective. The Research and Documentation Centre (WODC)
was asked to direct this evaluation. Three sub-studies were commissioned
by and carried out under the supervision of the Research and Documentation
Centre. In this report, the results of the sub-studies will be summarised
and combined with relevant information from other studies and
reports.
The aim of this study is to provide information on the state of affairs
regarding prostitution in the Netherlands in 2006 in the context of the
evaluation of the lifting of the brothel ban, in order to be able, if necessary,
to develop flanking policy.
The research questions are:
– What is the current situation regarding prostitution in the Netherlands
with regard to municipal policy, enforcement and compliance?
– What is the current social position of prostitutes in the Netherlands?
– What is the nature and scale of involuntary prostitution, prostitution
by minors, and prostitution by women who do not have a valid work
permit?
– Which developments have taken place in the prostitution sector during
the past years, and to what extent is it plausible that shifts have (in
part) been caused by the lifting of the ban on brothels?
