5 yrs of Decriminalized Prostitution; NZ govt report

[HaywoodJabloemy]

Nearly five years of extensive observations since prostitution was decriminalized in New Zealand were summarized in a report to the government by the Prostitution Law Review Committee.
http://www.justice.govt.nz/prostitution-law-review-committee/publications/plrc-report/index.html

The rants from prohibitionists claiming there had been large increases in the amount of street prostitution, the overall number of prostitutes or specifically underaged ones,
https://terb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=115672

were demonstrated to be unfounded.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4558286a11.html
http://www.labour.org.nz/our_mps/li...ty_of_sex_workers,_report_lianne_dalziel.html

... "There`s no evidence of increased numbers of people being used in underage prostitution. In fact, the PRA has raised awareness of the problem," Lianne Dalziel said...

"The PRA has had a marked effect in safeguarding the rights of sex workers. Removing the taint of illegality has empowered sex workers by reducing the opportunity for coercion and exploitation."

...The report says many of the perceptions held about the sex industry are based on stereotypes and a lack of information...

PRA is the Prostitution Reform Act of 2003.

 

[HaywoodJabloemy]

Victoria Times-Colonist
August 1 and August 8 columns by Jody Paterson

...Like Canada, New Zealand's laws had made it a crime for an adult to solicit sex for money in a public place, keep or manage a brothel or live on the earnings of sex work.

Like us, the country tolerated a bustling sex industry while maintaining the pretence of trying to eliminate it, trapping sex workers in a grey zone of quasi-legality...

...Four of us are down here right now trolling through a few of the country's brothels, legalized five years ago when New Zealand scrapped its Canadian-style laws against adult prostitution and started treating the industry like any other business.

The most immediate result of our travels will be a documentary next spring on Global TV. But I hope the ultimate outcome will be the beginning of change in our own country...

...the 2003 changes were primarily about acknowledging the right to safe, fair workplaces for the country's estimated 4,000 sex workers.

Let's hope more of the Canadian media can start honestly admitting that false pretence she describes, instead of the usual idiocy of going along with it -- like the Toronto Star claiming "the city had inadvertently licensed more than 300 brothels", as though city officials somehow don't know what these places are, when everyone else can tell by simply glancing at their ads and websites.