This seems like a positive change. My previous reading on legalizing sex work is that it's generally safer for everyone, but it increases the amount of human trafficking which gives me...
This seems like a positive change. My previous reading on legalizing sex work is that it's generally safer for everyone, but it increases the amount of human trafficking which gives me reservations.
I wonder what the mechanism is? Is it perhaps easier to convince victims to cooperate and travel to a country where prostitution is legalized because they can be fooled into believing that the...
I wonder what the mechanism is? Is it perhaps easier to convince victims to cooperate and travel to a country where prostitution is legalized because they can be fooled into believing that the work will be legitimate and they will have legal protections?
Other kinds of human trafficking often work this way — convincing victims that they are on an immigration path and will have full employee rights in the country where they are headed. (Unfortunately, this very thing happened to one of my in-laws just a few years ago. He thought he was getting a legitimate work visa to the US, but instead his passport was seized upon arrival and he was enslaved to do hard labor. He was supposed to come my sister's and my brother-in-law's wedding in the US, but he didn't turn up and no one knew where he was. I remember his family was quietly freaking out at the wedding because they hadn't heard from him in weeks. Thankfully he did manage to escape after a few months.)
The statistics in the linked page claim that high-income countries report larger increases than middle-income countries and that democratic countries have larger increases than authoritarian...
The statistics in the linked page claim that high-income countries report larger increases than middle-income countries and that democratic countries have larger increases than authoritarian countries, so I suspect that the attractiveness of the destination may play a large role -- legalization of prostitution doesn't necessarily affect that attractiveness directly, but countries in which sex work is legal may have confounding factors that make them more attractive to people who want to immigrate, which (as you're aware) is a common way people are human trafficked regardless.
I also agree with @DefinitelyNotaFae that there may be a reporting bias here -- victims may be much more likely to come forward and report their trafficking in countries where sex work is not criminalized for obvious reasons. Perhaps the study took this into account but the write-up linked didn't say anything about it (other than pointing out that the positive effects of legalizing sex work on actual sex workers may overrule the negative impacts of increased trafficking on a societal level, which I generally agree with).
Probably a lot of factors at play. If something is legal (prostitution), you have a lot lower risk of getting caught when you tie something else illegal to it (human trafficking). That makes it...
Probably a lot of factors at play. If something is legal (prostitution), you have a lot lower risk of getting caught when you tie something else illegal to it (human trafficking). That makes it less risky, and thus less pricey to engage in that activity. Because countries where prostitution is legal seem to have roughly the same cost of paying for sex as countries where it's not (whole different conversation as to why that is), human trafficking is likely more lucrative in places with legal sex work.
There's also an argument to be made that legalizing sex work increases the demand side as well, since customers don't have to worry about being arrested for seeking it out, and it starts becoming an attractive destination for sex tourism. More money in an industry inevitably equals more crime.
There's also the argument that victims are more likely to come forward when they are not risking arrest themselves. Especially in countries where police are likely paid off by the traffickers. I'm...
There's also the argument that victims are more likely to come forward when they are not risking arrest themselves. Especially in countries where police are likely paid off by the traffickers. I'm not sure it's easy to quantify how much is existing trafficking coming to light with greater frequency and how much is increased.
All the more so when there are absolutely no labor laws in the industry, as has been the case for most of history. Decriminalization is only a first step in protecting sex workers. Labor and...
All the more so when there are absolutely no labor laws in the industry, as has been the case for most of history. Decriminalization is only a first step in protecting sex workers. Labor and consumer protections are necessary concomitants for it to work.
Absolutely, decriminalization isn't legalization and it isn't being included in labor laws. It should reallocate the money from traffickers/"pimps" to the sex workers, ultimately, which should...
Absolutely, decriminalization isn't legalization and it isn't being included in labor laws.
It should reallocate the money from traffickers/"pimps" to the sex workers, ultimately, which should reduce trafficking's profitability if the laws can be enforced.
One of the interesting things I have read is that it does not seem to make a difference what form the legalized prostitution takes. For example, legalizing prostitution only in the form of...
One of the interesting things I have read is that it does not seem to make a difference what form the legalized prostitution takes. For example, legalizing prostitution only in the form of registered, well-marked brothels makes it much harder for illegal prostitution to fly under the radar than does legalizing street walking (which is highly susceptible to prostitute-pimp dynamics). Yet the studies I've seen suggest that this has no effect on trafficking rates; only legalization itself does. This makes me suspect that the increase in trafficking is not due to increased demand.
Belgium in general is very progressive on sex work. We've long had protections for sex workers and since ~2019 they've been putting a lot of new measures in place for them.
Belgium in general is very progressive on sex work. We've long had protections for sex workers and since ~2019 they've been putting a lot of new measures in place for them.
This seems like a positive change. My previous reading on legalizing sex work is that it's generally safer for everyone, but it increases the amount of human trafficking which gives me reservations.
https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/lids/2014/06/12/does-legalized-prostitution-increase-human-trafficking/
I wonder what the mechanism is? Is it perhaps easier to convince victims to cooperate and travel to a country where prostitution is legalized because they can be fooled into believing that the work will be legitimate and they will have legal protections?
Other kinds of human trafficking often work this way — convincing victims that they are on an immigration path and will have full employee rights in the country where they are headed. (Unfortunately, this very thing happened to one of my in-laws just a few years ago. He thought he was getting a legitimate work visa to the US, but instead his passport was seized upon arrival and he was enslaved to do hard labor. He was supposed to come my sister's and my brother-in-law's wedding in the US, but he didn't turn up and no one knew where he was. I remember his family was quietly freaking out at the wedding because they hadn't heard from him in weeks. Thankfully he did manage to escape after a few months.)
The statistics in the linked page claim that high-income countries report larger increases than middle-income countries and that democratic countries have larger increases than authoritarian countries, so I suspect that the attractiveness of the destination may play a large role -- legalization of prostitution doesn't necessarily affect that attractiveness directly, but countries in which sex work is legal may have confounding factors that make them more attractive to people who want to immigrate, which (as you're aware) is a common way people are human trafficked regardless.
I also agree with @DefinitelyNotaFae that there may be a reporting bias here -- victims may be much more likely to come forward and report their trafficking in countries where sex work is not criminalized for obvious reasons. Perhaps the study took this into account but the write-up linked didn't say anything about it (other than pointing out that the positive effects of legalizing sex work on actual sex workers may overrule the negative impacts of increased trafficking on a societal level, which I generally agree with).
Probably a lot of factors at play. If something is legal (prostitution), you have a lot lower risk of getting caught when you tie something else illegal to it (human trafficking). That makes it less risky, and thus less pricey to engage in that activity. Because countries where prostitution is legal seem to have roughly the same cost of paying for sex as countries where it's not (whole different conversation as to why that is), human trafficking is likely more lucrative in places with legal sex work.
There's also an argument to be made that legalizing sex work increases the demand side as well, since customers don't have to worry about being arrested for seeking it out, and it starts becoming an attractive destination for sex tourism. More money in an industry inevitably equals more crime.
There's also the argument that victims are more likely to come forward when they are not risking arrest themselves. Especially in countries where police are likely paid off by the traffickers. I'm not sure it's easy to quantify how much is existing trafficking coming to light with greater frequency and how much is increased.
All the more so when there are absolutely no labor laws in the industry, as has been the case for most of history. Decriminalization is only a first step in protecting sex workers. Labor and consumer protections are necessary concomitants for it to work.
Absolutely, decriminalization isn't legalization and it isn't being included in labor laws.
It should reallocate the money from traffickers/"pimps" to the sex workers, ultimately, which should reduce trafficking's profitability if the laws can be enforced.
One of the interesting things I have read is that it does not seem to make a difference what form the legalized prostitution takes. For example, legalizing prostitution only in the form of registered, well-marked brothels makes it much harder for illegal prostitution to fly under the radar than does legalizing street walking (which is highly susceptible to prostitute-pimp dynamics). Yet the studies I've seen suggest that this has no effect on trafficking rates; only legalization itself does. This makes me suspect that the increase in trafficking is not due to increased demand.
Belgium in general is very progressive on sex work. We've long had protections for sex workers and since ~2019 they've been putting a lot of new measures in place for them.