Back to the Cabinet Agenda
In the first years after the legalization, the Christian Democrat/Liberal/Social Liberal cabinet Balkenende II went along with the idea that it was too early to pronounce judgment on the new situation (e.g. TK 2002–2003, 25437, no. 30. Brief Minister van Justitie, 21 February 2003). However, the recurrent publicity about the persistence of trafficking of women and the ‘loverboy’ panic led to a renewed framing of sex workers as young girls as victims of abuse and trafficking as organized crime. This was picked up by christian democrats, orthodox protestants and the law-and-order liberals in parliament, who started to call for measures against ‘youth prostitution’ involving ‘vulnerable young girls’ or children. The definition of ‘youth’ or ‘child’ varied in parliamentary debate. The legal age for defining minors in the Netherlands is 18, which is also the age of consent for sex work, while for sex in general it is 16 years. But in the new discourse, ‘very young prostitutes’ were all sex workers under 23 (TK 2002–2003, 25437, 25437, no. 31. Brief Minister, 13 May 2003, p. 12; (TK 2008–2009, 28638, no. 39. Verslag Algemeen Overleg Vaste Kamercommissie Justitie, 22 December 2008, p. 7; p. 13). At a later stage, christian and liberal MPs also came along with ‘slightly mentally handicapped girls’ in prostitution to lend further urgency to the issue (TK 2008–2009, 28638, no. 39, Verslag Algemeen Overleg Vaste Commissie Justitie, 22 December 2008, p.7; p. 11). No evidence, however, was found for this claim.
Given the publicity and parliamentary pressure, prostitution returned to the cabinet agenda in 2007, when the christian democrats, social democrats and christian unionists formed a new cabinet (Balkenende IV) and included the issue in their cabinet pact. Prostitution was framed as a ‘breeding place’ for crime, and penalties for both undocumented workers and clients, as well as setting up exit programs for women wanting to leave the trade, were proposed (Regeerakkoord
2007: 35).
This opened the debate on revising the 1999 act. The christian democrats began to argue that ‘the romantic expectations about the lift of the ban on brothels in 2000 have led to nothing’ (TK 2008–2009, 28638, no. 39, Verslag Algemeen Overleg Vaste Commissie Justitie, 22 December, p. 30) and demanded a higher age limit for sex work as well as more exit programs for prostitutes. The social democrats, although they rejected the youth framing by pointing out most prostitutes are adult women, went along with the victim discourse by stating that ‘thousands’ of women were a victim of coercion into prostitution (TK 2008–2009, 28638, Mensenhandel, no. 44, Verslag Algemeen Overleg Vaste Commissie Justitie, 13 July 2009, p. 2).
In the debates, the emphasis on youth prostitution and the link with organized crime shifted the spotlight from the older discourses which turned ‘Third World’ women into either victims of trafficking by definition or as calculating migrants entering the country illegally, to Eastern European victims (making the victim change color) while at the same time ‘coloring’ traffickers by emphasizing their Turkish or Balkan roots. Interestingly, the new articles on human trafficking in the penal code of 2005 (formulated to comply with the 2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons) redefined forced prostitution as forced labor and no longer tie trafficking to the crossing of national borders. While the penal code now obliterates boundaries, nationalities, ethnicities and gender (it talks about ‘persons’), many of the public and the politicians continue to see ‘white girls and young women’ and ‘Balkan and Turkish gangsters’.
The New Bill ‘Regulation of Prostitution and Suppression of Abuse in the Sex Industry’
The promised new bill was introduced in parliament in 2009 by the cabinet Balkenende IV (TK 2009–2010, 32211, Wet regulering prostitutie en bestrijding misstanden sex branche, 11 November 2009). It was adopted by the new minority liberal/christian democrat cabinet Rutte, with the support of the far right Freedom Party, when it came to power in 2010. The bill’s major aim is to regulate prostitution in order to fight human trafficking, crime and abuse in the sex industry. To achieve this, it proposed a licensing regime of all forms of prostitution with uniform regulation across all communities (but keeping the option of a local ban open) and the registration of prostitutes. Licensing is also to apply to the escort services. The bill also proposed to raise the age for sex work to 21 years. If clients use the services of non-documented workers, they are liable to a fine, so as to make them ‘personally responsible’. A more liberal regime to allow non-EU residents to work in the sex industry was opposed on the familiar grounds that it would make for more trafficking. The registration of prostitutes, with penalties for failing to do so—an unprecedented shift in Dutch prostitution policy—and several measures to clarify the difference between self-employment and wage work, were included to enable sex workers to work independently. Finally, the bill proposed extra measures for exit options for those who want to leave prostitution. In the words of the Liberal minister of justice: ‘By the introduction of a compulsory licensing system in combination with compulsory registration and the national register of escort services, an almost closed administrative system is erected that can improve the fight against abuses in the sex industry and the judicial suppression of forced prostitution’ (TK, 2010–2011, 51-8-60, Bestrijding misstanden sex branche, 10 February 2011).
Although both cabinets have made revisions of the text following committee debate, the major intentions were more or less unchanged by the time it was debated in plenary by the Second Chamber in spring 2011. There was consensus about the purposes of the bill among the parliamentary parties, none of which contested the dominant framing. The parties differed in their opinions about the 1999 act: the religious parties held it to be a failure, while the secular parties still supported the legalization and ascribed its shortcomings to failing law enforcement and loopholes in the original. Across the board many feared that the new bill would be the erection of a ‘paper reality’ of administrative measures which would prove to be ineffective.
The major bone of contention during the debates was the registration of the sex workers which aimed at preventing forced prostitution by establishing a contact between local authority and sex worker to check whether she was doing the work out of free will. But the registration is also about control; in the words of the minister for justice, ‘Compulsory registration increases the visibility and the grip on the sex sector and retrieves prostitutes from anonymity’ (idem, 51-8-59). All the secular parties objected to registration on the grounds of the right to privacy. Clients have to ask for the registration pass of their sex worker, otherwise they are also liable to prosecution. After opposing that the pass would disclose the sex worker’s real identity to the client, the minister retracted the pass, but not the registration (TK, 2010–2011, 32211, no. 30, Derde Nota van Wijziging, 10 February 2011). This leaves open the question how a client is then supposed to check whether the sex worker was registered or not; an issue which has been left to later regulation.
The raising of the age of consent for sex work to 21 years was less controversial, although the left-wing parties and the Social Liberals had doubts about its effectiveness in curbing forced prostitution. The licensing of escort services and the harmonization of local regulation was generally supported, although there was debate whether municipalities could forbid prostitution outright (the ‘zero option’, amendment accepted) and whether home sex workers had to have a license like sex businesses (amendment not accepted) (EK 2010–2011, 32221 no. A, Gewijzigd voorstel van wet, 29 March 2011) The social rights of sex workers were only discussed at the last stage of the debates, during which the cabinet promised to take away the obstacles to their right to work. It also promised to extend exit programs for prostitutes, a favorite of the religious parties, but also supported by the social democrats.
Despite the reservations of the secular parties, only the Green Left party and the Social Liberals voted against the bill, so that it received a generous majority (TK, 2010–2011, 26 March 2011). Noteworthy is the shift in position of the Socialist and the Social Democrat party, who had both voted in favor of lifting the ban on brothels in 1999, but now went along with the new framing. The newcomer Freedom Party, who originally tabled raising the age of consent for sex work, sided with the religious parties; its discourse about victims, vulnerable young girls, the prevalence of ‘loverboys’ and lusting clients is little different from that of the Orthodox Christian parties.
The bill has received its first reading in the First Chamber, where most parties were highly critical, doubting whether the bill will actually achieve its aims and if the proposed registration does not contravene the right to privacy (EK 2011–2012, 32211, D, Nader Voorlopig Verslag, 13 December 2011). The minister of justice still has to respond to the critique before it can be taken to the final vote. Complicating the issue is that the cabinet Rutte has only 37 of the 75 seats in the chamber, making it dependent on the opposition to pass the bill. The First Chamber does not have the right to amend bills and must therefore either pass or fail the bill in its entirety. It remains to be seen whether the First Chamber, a house of review traditionally strong on constitutional rights and legal technical issues, will find enough justification to fail it.