Street prostitution is illegal in Switzerland in principle
Keystone
The Council of Europe has urged member states to step up the fight against human trafficking and prostitution. The recommendation by Europe’s leading human rights organisation is not legally binding.
The Strasbourg-based assembly on Tuesday stopped short of calling for a ban, but it proposed following the example of Sweden where prostitutes are protected but their clients are prosecuted.
A council report said known cases of human trafficking of sex slaves had decreased in Sweden, following a tightening of the law in 1999. It made it illegal to buy sexual services, but not to sell them.
The assembly of representatives from 47 member countries, including Switzerland, also called for a ban on procuring and pimping. It recommended setting the minimum age for prostitution at 21.
José Mendes Bota, a representative from Portugal and rapporteur said it was wrong to believe that women choose prostitution out of their own free will.
“I am inclined to think that voluntary, free and independent prostitution – free from exploitation – is little more than a myth, as it applies to a small minority of sex workers,” Mendes Bota wrote in his report.
Doris Fiala, one of six Swiss parliamentarians in the Council of Europe assembly, said the Swedish approach was worth considering.
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Debating the right to sell sex
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To imagine a society without prostitution is utopian. Those who are willing to offer their own bodies in exchange for money must be allowed to do so without being stigmatised or punished. This is the view put forward by Terre des Femmes Switzerland, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of women. Claudine Esseiva, general-secretary…
Prostitution has been legal and regulated in Switzerland since 1942. However, street prostitution is illegal, except in specially designated areas in major cities.
Last year, parliament decided to raise the legal age of prostitution in Switzerland from 16 to 18 in line with an international child protection convention.
People who pay for sex with 16- or 17-year-old prostitutes will face up to three years in prison. Underage prostitutes themselves face no punishment.
The cabinet signed the Lanzarote Convention – otherwise known as the Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse – back in 2010.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
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Authorities relieved by sex box success
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“The overall situation has clearly improved,” said Richard Wolff, head of the Zurich police department, on Tuesday. “The sex boxes have good supplies and services, there’s advice, it’s safe – there are showers and changing rooms. It’s completely different from how it used to be. Bearing this in mind, I think the situation’s much better…
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People who pay for sex with 16- or 17-year-old prostitutes will face up to three years in prison. Underage prostitutes themselves face no punishment. The cabinet can now ratify and implement the Lanzarote Convention – otherwise known as the Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse – which…
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On the ground floor there is a café-bar, where customers and prostitutes can meet. The bedrooms – seven of them – are upstairs. The operation starts like in a movie: a convoy of squad cars and an armoured van roar out of the station. After a few miles we arrive at our destination. The building…
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At the end of October, police in Bern dismantled a human trafficking network. Seven people have been charged with bringing into Switzerland 50 women and transsexuals, mostly of Thai origin, with the intention of forcing them into prostitution. The phenomenon is not new. A few weeks earlier, clandestine trafficking of Hungarian prostitutes was uncovered in…
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Sex workers’ unions already exist in many European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands. Despite having some of the most liberal prostitution laws in the world, Switzerland has never before been home to a formal union for sex workers. The new union, which has formally called itself the Sex Workers’ Syndicate (STTS) and is based…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.