The Australian Christian Lobby has raised concerns due to a report from The Guardian exposing the incidence of human trafficking under the Netherland’s prostitution regime.
Prostitution has been legal in Amsterdam since 2000 and continues to be home to human trafficking and criminal gangs who force and coerce women mainly from eastern Europe into prostitution.
ACL’s state director Christopher Brohier said, “South Australia would be foolish indeed not to learn from the mistakes of other jurisdictions.”
“Amsterdam is yet another example of where industrialised prostitution fails to protect women. SA should not go down the decriminalisation route in relation to prostitution law reform. Instead, if we are serious in fighting sex trafficking let’s enact the Nordic Model of prostitution law reform.”
“This model puts the blame on those who traffic women and criminalises the buying of sexual services. It provides meaningful exit strategies for women wanting to leave prostitution rather than trapping them in an industry they were forced into initially.”
“This will help end the industrialisation of prostitution and so the demand for trafficked human beings. Einstein said the definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing, again and again, expecting a different result. Let’s not repeat Amsterdam’s madness,” commented Mr Brohier.
ACL will continue to campaign against the Statutes Amendment (Decriminalisation of Sex Work) Bill 2018 introduced by the Greens into the SA upper house earlier this year as this bill will only serve to increase trafficking and further degrade respect for women.
