In the past week or so, I’ve begun to narrow down my research to solely The Netherlands. A lot of the information that I’ve been reading in the past week has been from research based on case studies of victims of trafficking in human beings in The Netherlands. Interestingly, while the UN protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children has given a wide array of definitions for human trafficking, The Netherlands has narrowed down the definition to merely exploitation of prostitution (article 250a). Therefore, professional prostitutes are not included in the research I’m reading, nor do I want to talk about them in my paper, so I found their definition to be beneficial.
In the 400+ research paper I’m reading, they talk a lot about the pimp. These “classical con men,” as they call them, have a variety of techniques to lure the girls into the illegal sex trade. One of the most common techniques includes the “lover boy” trap. This type of recruitment is when the pimp gets into a relationship with an underage girl; she falls in love with him and consequently will do anything for him. Obviously, there’s no fairy tale ending for these girls. Then they explain the three general types of victims: “kidnapped or sold women; deceived women; and exploited women”. I found it incredibly sad that no one will really ever know how many victims there truly are in the world.
But let’s get back to the laws mentioned in the first paragraph. In greater detail, Law 250a in The Netherlands states that trafficking that’s related to prostitution will be penalized, as decided in the Criminal Code. Based on this legislation, forcing or keeping people in prostitution, bringing or keeping minors in prostitution (whether they consent or not), or bringing foreigners to The Netherlands for prostitution (whether they consent or not) is a punishable offense. Also punishable is if one participates or is connected to any of the profits made from the illegal prostitution. In further detail, anyone who prostitutes someone under 12 will always be punished, anyone who prostitutes someone ages 12-16 will sometimes be punished, as well as anyone who prostitutes someone between the ages of 16 and 18. Maximum penalties for violating these laws include a variance of 6-10 years in prison and a 45,000 Euros fine. Other significant laws include Law 250Sr which says you can’t punish an adult who wants to be a prostitute.
Fascinatingly, the local authorities are the people in charge of controlling and regulating prostitution. Since it is a municipal issue, it is projected that prostitution will never be banned. It is the responsibility of the local authorities to check the sex institution’s license, the building, and “the actual exploitation (such as closing hours, supervision concerning labor law, medical aspects)” (262). If anything is wrong or something is violated in regards to their license, the punishments can include: one or more warnings, temporary closure, adaption of the allowed opening hours, withdrawal of the license until further notice or permanent withdrawal, and closure of the sex institution.
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