Prostitution in the Netherlands since the lifting of the brothel ban

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?