A pathetic attempt from christian evangelic politician Gert-Jan Segers in collaboration with his anti-prostitution friend Dick Pels to claim in an article in the newspaper, that believing in 'happy hookers' is false. Such a poor attempt, that even using the most basic statistics their entire article in NRC can be demolished to something that even a 3 year old won't take serious anymore.
The call out of Segers and Pels is to close down windows, and the limit exploitation and pimping. Because, according to them, 70% of the prostitutes are forced. Yeah, we heard that one before. Did you find the source already, Segers & Pels, because the Public Prosecutor that stated this still can't find it himself! That is because there is no source that states that, it's just a wild claim Werner ten Kate made to support his own conclusions. So let me know when you finally found the source, okay? (p.s. you can always e-mail me)
Segers and Pels report that the Public Prosecutor said that there are at least 8 Hungarian crime gangs active in the Red Light District. Well, if that's so, than why don't they fucking do something about it?! Or are they gonna do the same thing as what they did with Saban B., which was nothing, until almost 10 years had passed, and then blame the whole thing in a report on others to avoid taking responsibility for this?
Segers & Pels use the numbers of the National Rapporteur Human Trafficking that there's so much wrong with prostitution, especially in Amsterdam's Red Light District. They mention the number of 1000 'possible' victims from the National Rapporteur on 25.000 estimated prostitutes. I don't know if Segers & Pels ever went to school, but even if all those 1000 'possible' victims would really be all victims, that's still only 4%. Not exactly the huge majority they claim to speak of!
And when you look at the numbers from the National Rapporteur in regards to Amsterdam, where the Red Light District is located, you still don't get the idea that most women are victims. Why? Because if you look at where these reported 'possible' victims come from, which is from CoMensha the organisation where the National Rapporteur gets her numbers from, in 2013 there were only 48 'possible' victims of trafficking in prostitution in Amsterdam. And from the statistics known until 30 September 2014, Amsterdam only counted 26 'possible' victims. So what is the truth know behind the Red Light District?
Even according to CoMensha in their report from 2013, it was commented that the 48 'possible' victims from Amsterdam was remarkable small for a region with such a large portion of prostitution compared to the rest of the country. The lowest estimate of prostitutes in Amsterdam are 4000 prostitutes, so even if all 48 reported victims from 2013 were all real victims, that's still only about 1%. In fact, from the 980 reported 'possible' victims in 2013, that's only 5% of the country's total number of 'possible' victims from prostitution. And from the total amount of reported victims from prostitution until September (833), the 26 'possible' victims from Amsterdam only are 3% of all 'possible' victims in prostitution. So what were you saying again?
The mentioned report in their article, of Project Emergo 2011 (also known as Project 1012), is being used to claim that even prostitutes agree that there are no good pimps. But looking at the mentioned page 84 from that report, that's not a claim made by prostitutes, but by so called 'experts'. On that same page however it is also reported that between 2006 and 2009 in all of Amsterdam there were only 48 cases of human trafficking registered.
Wait, what? Only 48 cases? Not exactly the 50, 70 or 90% people like Asscher, Segers and Pels so often claim. By the way guys, when are you gonna make up which numbers you are finally going to settle on? If you guys keep switching so much in numbers, in the end people will dismiss your arguments as 'unbelievable' if you use such different numbers each time. So pick a number and stick to it! Or are you perhaps scared that we will debunk your fake ass statistics, and is that the reason you need to keep switching from number to number, in hopes that nobody will find out?
Another interesting fact that Pels and Segers are scared to mention, is the fact that since 2007 the number of court cases on human trafficking have remained almost the same. Each year there are only about 280 cases (with ups and downs), which also include cases outside of prostitution. In 2007 for example there were 281 cases, in 2014 there were 278 cases. So while others claim there's an increase, especially from the Public Prosecutor's side, how come they only have 280 cases a year for years already? Where is the increase you are always talking about?
Gert-Jan Segers and Dick Pels are typical abolitionists. They constantly think they can keep twisting facts for their own interests, and nobody will find out. Well, it must suck for you that I ain't the dumb 'elite' hooker you take me for. An 'elite' by the way, that is being backed up by a group of over 200 protesting prostitutes from the Red Light District alone, and with over 400 signatures against the closures you propose Gert-Jan and Dick. Doesn't exactly sound to me like the majority of the prostitutes agree with your ideas.
Your attempt to constantly try to turn back time, and undo what has already happened is pathetic. Your refusal to accept the fact that prostitution is a job, and that it has a legal status in Holland, just shows your true colors. You fucking don't care about victims, you just hate prostitution, and you are willing to sacrifice victims to get things your way, and criminalize prostitution, only for yourselves. You are such pathetic egoistic people, to only think about yourselves and not about the victims you claim to be standing up for!
You may claim that Dina Siegel, who researched 30 prostitutes after the closure of windows in Utrecht, cannot speak for all prostitutes from Utrecht. But at least she talked with 30 prostitutes from over there, which is a hell of a lot more than you both talked to! And since there's no other report that spoke with more women from Utrecht to conclude otherwise, we'll just have to do with her report.
Prostitution is legal. Get over it!
Dutch version
The call out of Segers and Pels is to close down windows, and the limit exploitation and pimping. Because, according to them, 70% of the prostitutes are forced. Yeah, we heard that one before. Did you find the source already, Segers & Pels, because the Public Prosecutor that stated this still can't find it himself! That is because there is no source that states that, it's just a wild claim Werner ten Kate made to support his own conclusions. So let me know when you finally found the source, okay? (p.s. you can always e-mail me)
Segers and Pels report that the Public Prosecutor said that there are at least 8 Hungarian crime gangs active in the Red Light District. Well, if that's so, than why don't they fucking do something about it?! Or are they gonna do the same thing as what they did with Saban B., which was nothing, until almost 10 years had passed, and then blame the whole thing in a report on others to avoid taking responsibility for this?
Segers & Pels use the numbers of the National Rapporteur Human Trafficking that there's so much wrong with prostitution, especially in Amsterdam's Red Light District. They mention the number of 1000 'possible' victims from the National Rapporteur on 25.000 estimated prostitutes. I don't know if Segers & Pels ever went to school, but even if all those 1000 'possible' victims would really be all victims, that's still only 4%. Not exactly the huge majority they claim to speak of!
And when you look at the numbers from the National Rapporteur in regards to Amsterdam, where the Red Light District is located, you still don't get the idea that most women are victims. Why? Because if you look at where these reported 'possible' victims come from, which is from CoMensha the organisation where the National Rapporteur gets her numbers from, in 2013 there were only 48 'possible' victims of trafficking in prostitution in Amsterdam. And from the statistics known until 30 September 2014, Amsterdam only counted 26 'possible' victims. So what is the truth know behind the Red Light District?
The mentioned report in their article, of Project Emergo 2011 (also known as Project 1012), is being used to claim that even prostitutes agree that there are no good pimps. But looking at the mentioned page 84 from that report, that's not a claim made by prostitutes, but by so called 'experts'. On that same page however it is also reported that between 2006 and 2009 in all of Amsterdam there were only 48 cases of human trafficking registered.
Wait, what? Only 48 cases? Not exactly the 50, 70 or 90% people like Asscher, Segers and Pels so often claim. By the way guys, when are you gonna make up which numbers you are finally going to settle on? If you guys keep switching so much in numbers, in the end people will dismiss your arguments as 'unbelievable' if you use such different numbers each time. So pick a number and stick to it! Or are you perhaps scared that we will debunk your fake ass statistics, and is that the reason you need to keep switching from number to number, in hopes that nobody will find out?
Another interesting fact that Pels and Segers are scared to mention, is the fact that since 2007 the number of court cases on human trafficking have remained almost the same. Each year there are only about 280 cases (with ups and downs), which also include cases outside of prostitution. In 2007 for example there were 281 cases, in 2014 there were 278 cases. So while others claim there's an increase, especially from the Public Prosecutor's side, how come they only have 280 cases a year for years already? Where is the increase you are always talking about?
Your attempt to constantly try to turn back time, and undo what has already happened is pathetic. Your refusal to accept the fact that prostitution is a job, and that it has a legal status in Holland, just shows your true colors. You fucking don't care about victims, you just hate prostitution, and you are willing to sacrifice victims to get things your way, and criminalize prostitution, only for yourselves. You are such pathetic egoistic people, to only think about yourselves and not about the victims you claim to be standing up for!
You may claim that Dina Siegel, who researched 30 prostitutes after the closure of windows in Utrecht, cannot speak for all prostitutes from Utrecht. But at least she talked with 30 prostitutes from over there, which is a hell of a lot more than you both talked to! And since there's no other report that spoke with more women from Utrecht to conclude otherwise, we'll just have to do with her report.
Prostitution is legal. Get over it!
Dutch version
To start of with, between June 2014 and April 2015 they got 297 anonymous reports of possible trafficking. According to the anonymous tip line a huge success, at least 34% more reports than last year, almost as if more trafficking victims is something we should celebrate. But the question remains of course, are anonymous reports are also reliable. After all, just because someone thinks they see something suspicious doesn't make it so. So is there really more trafficking leading to more being reported, or are people just more paranoid? So let's delve a little deeper into the numbers.
The first thing that sticks out is the number of reports about illegal prostitution (prostitution without a permit). At least 207 reports were about illegal prostitution (70%), meaning only 90 reports were about legal prostitution (30%). In short, by far most reports were about illegal prostitution. This furthermore strengthens the conclusion of the recent report of the Ministry of Justice and Safety, that if any abuses occur, they are more likely to happen in the illegal prostitution rather than in the licenses prostitution. But just because prostitution happens without a license, doesn't mean there's also trafficking occurring. To illustrate they wrote:
'People see an illegal brothel in a living area of above a cafe. They notice for example that every few months a couple of new women come to work there. They are brought and picked up from work, never go outside or sleep at their workplace.'
Okay, but just because something is happening in a place where they don't have a permit for it, doesn't mean these women are coerced or exploited. And just because new women come to work there, also doesn't prove a damn thing. And how can they never go outside, if someone comes to pick them up and brings them to work? And since when is sleeping at your workplace illegal? How many other people live and work at the same place, are they victims as well?
I'm not saying these couldn't be victims, but I'm starting to doubt whether these 207 reports about illegal prostitution were added because it was illegal prostitution (without a permit), or because someone actually had something to report about possible abuses taking place there. In short, are these reports about illegal prostitution itself, or the abuses?
The report also states they got 137 'concrete' signs of anonymous tippers. But what 'concrete' means never gets explained. It begs the question what 'concrete' signs means, and than what they consider to be no concrete signs. Does this simply mean they only got 137 reports that actually had information regarding possible trafficking, and the other 160 reports were just a bunch of people who had some hunches but not really anything that they could connect to trafficking? In short, does 'concrete' signs mean that the other reports were just a bunch of nonsense reports based on paranoid suspicion, or do they have another reason why they call these 137 reports 'concrete' signs?
They also talk about minors in prostitution, which is by definition trafficking, even if the minor is doing it willingly and is not being exploited. According to the report 22 'possible' minors were reported. Interesting is the use of the word 'possible', which suggests they also don't know if the victim truly was a minor or not. In other words, these 22 reports are just people reporting girls that look young, but just because she looks young doesn't make her a minor. Looks can be deceiving. Especially girls from Eastern Europe, like myself, often get looked upon as 'young'. I still get on a daily base the question if I'm old enough to do this job. Heck, I'm already 29 years old and I'm still getting this question! And I'm not the only one, many girls I know get that question. Fun fact here, most prostitutes in the Red Light District are actually closer to 30 than 18. In fact, there hardly are any girls younger than 25 in the busiest area of the Red Light District.
And what were the results? Well, at least 22 people got arrested, that doesn't prove they're also guilty, but still. That's about 7% of all the reports, exactly like last year (see link here). So even though 34% more reports were made, still only 7% leads to an arrest. In fact, last year they arrested 28 people.
So a lot of people reporting stuff, but in the end only 7% of them lead to an actual arrest. And 22 arrests aren't exactly world shocking considering the fact that there are an estimated 20.000 prostitutes working legal in this country. This is about 0,1% of all the legal working prostitutes in Holland, not exactly the numbers they so often claim. And looking at the number of legal prostitutes in Holland, since only 90 anonymous reports were about legal prostitution, that's about 0,5% of all the legal prostitutes in this country.
So a lot of people reporting stuff, but in the end only 7% of them lead to an actual arrest. And 22 arrests aren't exactly world shocking considering the fact that there are an estimated 20.000 prostitutes working legal in this country. This is about 0,1% of all the legal working prostitutes in Holland, not exactly the numbers they so often claim. And looking at the number of legal prostitutes in Holland, since only 90 anonymous reports were about legal prostitution, that's about 0,5% of all the legal prostitutes in this country.
Once again they prove the statistics don't match up to their claims. The National Rapporteur speaks of 1026 'possible' victims in the prostitution industry, while the number of court cases has remained the same approx. 280 cases a year already since 2007. There are 297 reports of 'possible' trafficking, but only 7% lead to an actual arrest just like last year, and by far the largest part comes from illegal prostitution. And since reports can be anonymous, it is not to say if the report is also reliable. I know for a fact for example, that the police often use the anonymous tip line when they have suspicions but not enough to start a case, because their suspicions are too vague. They'll call the anonymous tip line to report it anonymously, so it will get added to the case, and than they have a case to build things on. So in a lot of cases it's just the police trying to force a case when they have very little to go on.
The minister of Justice and Safety spoke this week about an increase in human trafficking, but reality is that there is no increase in actual trafficking. Just more people think they're reporting trafficking, but fact is that the number of cases a year has been the same for years already. People have just become more paranoid because this witch hunt on trafficking, based on a hype created by the city of Amsterdam and some abolitionists together with anti-trafficking organisations looking to profit from it. Reporting things that possibly could be happening doesn't prove it actually is happening. So an increase in there reports mean nothing. Facts however do prove something, and fact is that the number of court cases has been the same already since 2007, no increase at all!
Dutch version
Dutch version
The National Rapporteur Human Trafficking in The Netherlands has just released their new statistics on 'possible' human trafficking. Last year (2014) 1561 'possible' victims were reported. These are not just victims of trafficking in prostitution, but in all industries together. The number of 'possible' trafficking victims in the sex industry are however a large majority. A total of 1026 'possible' victims (66%) came from the sex industry, leaving 535 (33%) of the victims coming from other industries.
Of course the issue is the focus on trafficking in prostitution. Since almost every sex worker in Holland at one time or another gets investigated, whether or not he or she is a victim or not. Yet, other industries have much less focus on this. In short, the chances that a victim of trafficking is found in the prostitution industry is much higher, since that's what the focus is on. Yet the focus on other industries is much less, thus resulting in less reported 'possible' victims from those industries.
The 'possible' victims that get reported by the National Rapporteur are not all real victims. The reports are based on people on which suspicions arise that they could be victims. This is also the reason the National Rapporteur calls them 'possible' victims, because they're not sure if the people in these reports are actually victims, or not at all. In short, the reports are based on suspicions and not on facts. Also the definition used by organisations is questionable. For example the Dutch Royal Marshals (KMar) use also the definition of a sex worker who voluntarily and without being exploited, crosses the border with help to become a sex worker in another country, as a human trafficking victim (this would be law 273f 1,3). Not a victims of exploitation of coercion at all, but simply someone who received help with migration in a legal way.
But according to the report 1561 'possible' victims were reported. That's more than one year ago when 1437 'possible' victims were reported, but less than in 2012 when 1711 were reported. Looking back at the report of the National Rapporteur in 2000 it is quite a change, back than only 341 'possible' victims were reported. So where does this increase come from? Are there simply more victims to report, as abolitionist suggest, or could there be another reason why more 'possible' victims get reported? Or are simply more people incorrectly getting reported, based on incorrect suspicions?
What could give us an answer in this situation, are the actual court cases. After all, if really more 'possible' victims would really be actual victims, it should also result in more court cases. But when looking at these numbers you will see that little has changed. Yes, the number of court cases has gone up since 2000, from 144 court cases in 2000 to 278 court cases in 2014, but the increase in court cases (98%) isn't even close to the increase in reported 'possible' victims (358%) by the National Rapporteur.
Back in 2000 the number of court cases made up 42% of all the 341 reported 'possible victims. Right now the number of court cases only make up 17% of all the 1561 reported 'possible' victims. While back in 2000 the difference between reported 'possible' victims and court cases were only 134, right now that difference has gone up to 1220 more reported 'possible' victims versus actual court cases!
The figure above shows nicely how much the number of court cases has gone up versus the number of reported 'possible' victims since 2000. So while there is an increase, though slightly, in amount of actual court cases, the increase in reported 'possible' victims has been enormous. Especially since the year 2007 the number of reported 'possible' victims has increased enormously, and has taken on such steep rise compared to the actual court cases, that it seems like something is wrong. These two things suggest that a lot of more people are incorrectly getting reported as 'possible' victims, since the increase in amount of court cases isn't even remotely close to the amount of reported 'possible' victims. In short, people get reported as 'possible' victims, but they are not actually victims.
And this also got confirmed in the previous report of the National Rapporteur Human Trafficking, in which a number of these incorrectly reported 'possible' victims were written down. I'll give two examples here of women that got counted in the previous report of the National Rapporteur as 'possible' victims, to illustrate this:
"In the course of the controls of the so-called “risk flights” out of Bulgaria, the ‘sluisteam’ (part of the border control) of the KMar [Koninklijke Marechaussee: Royal Dutch Marechaussee, or Marshals] spoke with a Bulgarian woman. This woman has been checked multiple times by the KMar when she arrived in the Netherlands, and she indicated that this was tedious. She claims to (“still”) not have anything to do with prostitution. This time she says that she is coming to the Netherlands for 3 days to visit a number of friends. From further observation by the KMar officers to identify a possible person picking her up it seems that the woman went to the information desk of the Dutch Railway (Nederlandse Spoorwegen or NS), then made contact with someone via a public telephone, and made contact with someone again with her mobile phone. She subsequently left the airport by train. The KMar registered the woman with CoMensha." (p. 78)
And another example here:
"In the course of the controls of the so-called “risk flights” out of Bulgaria, the ‘sluisteam’ (part of the border control) of the KMar at Schiphol spoke with a highly educated Bulgarian woman. The woman admitted during a conversation with the KMar officers that she has lived in Amsterdam since sometime in 2010 and since about then has worked as a prostitute in the Netherlands, for which she registered herself with the Chamber of Commerce. She couldn’t give her monthly earnings from prostitution, but she does report that the earnings are not much and that she has kept a written record of the precise details. She can give her expenses, which concern 1,250 euros for the rent of her house, 90 euros for the rent of a window during the day and 100 euros for the rent of a window at night. After the conversation with the woman, the KMar officers observed whether the woman would be picked up. However, this seemed not to be the case: the woman simply left the airport by taxi. She was reported for registration with CoMensha." (p.79-80):
The National Rapporteur therefore also specifies the reports made by the KMar (Dutch Royal Marshals) separate from the other reports. In the below figure you can see in red the number of reported 'possible' victims by all organisations, and in blue the number of reported 'possible' victims that only got reported by the KMar itself. Especially since 2012 the number of people being reported by the KMar alone has increased enormously. In 2012 the KMar reported immediatly 500 more victims than any other organisation did.Truly victims, or people being falsely reported as 'possible' victims?
This does explain the increase in number of 'possible' victims being reported between 2011 and 2012, which went up with a staggering 40% from the year before. But how come the number of reported 'possible' victims since 2007 has went up that much more versus the actual court cases? Well, one explanation may be the person who is the National Rapporteur. Back in 2000 Dien Korvinus was the National Rapporteur. Since 2007 however Corine Dettmeijer has become the National Rapporteur, and ever since than the numbers have gone up with 845 more people being reported as 'possible' victims in 8 years time. That, while her predecessor, Dien Korvinus, only had an increase of 238 reported 'possible' victims over a period of 7 years.
More interesting is the fact that since Corine Dettmeijer has started, the number of court cases have been pretty stable. When she started back in 2007, the number of court cases were 281, and last year the number of court cases were 278. Indeed, that's 3 less court cases than when she started. So in terms of court cases there has been no increase or decrease to speak of. While the number of reported possible victims went up from 716 in 2007 (already a raise of 137 from her predecessor the year before) to 1561 last year. That's an increase of 845 'possible' victims, while the court cases didn't go up at all!
When looking at the period of Korvinus however, the number of reports did go up with 238, but so did the number of court cases with 59. Indeed, the reports went up with more than the actual court cases, also percentage wise, but not to an incredible extend. While on the other hand, since Dettmeijer has been in office the number of court cases has dropped with 1%, while the number of reports has gone up with at least 118%.
So why do Dettmeijer her numbers of reports differ so much from the actual court cases? Is Dettmeijer to blame, or is something else at work here, that causes a huge increase in what people think they see and report, and the actual facts as presented in court. One explanation could be the fact that since Dettmeijer has started, the focus on trafficking in prostitution has risen to an insane amount. Around that same time the case of Saban B. caught the media's attention. And ever since than prostitution in The Netherlands has been under a magnifying glass. Each possible hint at something that may even look only slightly like human trafficking, is immediately being seen as proof of trafficking. While in reality the number of court cases has remained the same since 2007, people are just more suspicious of prostitution, resulting in a lot more people being reported as possible victims.
Dettmeijer is only the messenger. She doesn't create the numbers, she only reports about them. After all, she is the National Rapporteur. The organisations however that make up all these reports, seem to have become paranoid, and report almost everything as a sign of trafficking, resulting in a lot more reports, without it actually being real trafficking victims. Things like having a bruise is immediatly suspicious for organisations, to which sex workers get reported as 'possible' victims, while in reality that may not be the case at all. We are humans just like any other human being, and just like others we can get bruises from a lot of things, not just because we would supposedly be victims.
The case of Saban B., which got exploited by the city of Amsterdam as an excuse to close down window brothels, has led to a witch hunt. A witch hunt on trafficking victims, which in reality hasn't increased since 2007, but people think is happening a lot more since that time. This whitch hunt has created a 'human trafficking' hype, which abolisionists like Renaten van der Zee, Gert-Jan Segers, Dick Pels, Jojanneke van den Berge and Elma Verheij gladly use for their war on sex work. Human trafficking organisations have used this hype to increase their donations and subsidizing, using these incorrect suspicions. Meanwhile the real victims of trafficking have become a victim of this witch hunt. Because more and more sex workers that aren't victims at all get reported as victims, police and other authorities waste a lot of their time on them, while that time would be better spend on the real victims of trafficking.
Dutch version
The 'possible' victims that get reported by the National Rapporteur are not all real victims. The reports are based on people on which suspicions arise that they could be victims. This is also the reason the National Rapporteur calls them 'possible' victims, because they're not sure if the people in these reports are actually victims, or not at all. In short, the reports are based on suspicions and not on facts. Also the definition used by organisations is questionable. For example the Dutch Royal Marshals (KMar) use also the definition of a sex worker who voluntarily and without being exploited, crosses the border with help to become a sex worker in another country, as a human trafficking victim (this would be law 273f 1,3). Not a victims of exploitation of coercion at all, but simply someone who received help with migration in a legal way.
But according to the report 1561 'possible' victims were reported. That's more than one year ago when 1437 'possible' victims were reported, but less than in 2012 when 1711 were reported. Looking back at the report of the National Rapporteur in 2000 it is quite a change, back than only 341 'possible' victims were reported. So where does this increase come from? Are there simply more victims to report, as abolitionist suggest, or could there be another reason why more 'possible' victims get reported? Or are simply more people incorrectly getting reported, based on incorrect suspicions?
What could give us an answer in this situation, are the actual court cases. After all, if really more 'possible' victims would really be actual victims, it should also result in more court cases. But when looking at these numbers you will see that little has changed. Yes, the number of court cases has gone up since 2000, from 144 court cases in 2000 to 278 court cases in 2014, but the increase in court cases (98%) isn't even close to the increase in reported 'possible' victims (358%) by the National Rapporteur.
Back in 2000 the number of court cases made up 42% of all the 341 reported 'possible victims. Right now the number of court cases only make up 17% of all the 1561 reported 'possible' victims. While back in 2000 the difference between reported 'possible' victims and court cases were only 134, right now that difference has gone up to 1220 more reported 'possible' victims versus actual court cases!
And this also got confirmed in the previous report of the National Rapporteur Human Trafficking, in which a number of these incorrectly reported 'possible' victims were written down. I'll give two examples here of women that got counted in the previous report of the National Rapporteur as 'possible' victims, to illustrate this:
"In the course of the controls of the so-called “risk flights” out of Bulgaria, the ‘sluisteam’ (part of the border control) of the KMar [Koninklijke Marechaussee: Royal Dutch Marechaussee, or Marshals] spoke with a Bulgarian woman. This woman has been checked multiple times by the KMar when she arrived in the Netherlands, and she indicated that this was tedious. She claims to (“still”) not have anything to do with prostitution. This time she says that she is coming to the Netherlands for 3 days to visit a number of friends. From further observation by the KMar officers to identify a possible person picking her up it seems that the woman went to the information desk of the Dutch Railway (Nederlandse Spoorwegen or NS), then made contact with someone via a public telephone, and made contact with someone again with her mobile phone. She subsequently left the airport by train. The KMar registered the woman with CoMensha." (p. 78)
And another example here:
"In the course of the controls of the so-called “risk flights” out of Bulgaria, the ‘sluisteam’ (part of the border control) of the KMar at Schiphol spoke with a highly educated Bulgarian woman. The woman admitted during a conversation with the KMar officers that she has lived in Amsterdam since sometime in 2010 and since about then has worked as a prostitute in the Netherlands, for which she registered herself with the Chamber of Commerce. She couldn’t give her monthly earnings from prostitution, but she does report that the earnings are not much and that she has kept a written record of the precise details. She can give her expenses, which concern 1,250 euros for the rent of her house, 90 euros for the rent of a window during the day and 100 euros for the rent of a window at night. After the conversation with the woman, the KMar officers observed whether the woman would be picked up. However, this seemed not to be the case: the woman simply left the airport by taxi. She was reported for registration with CoMensha." (p.79-80):
The National Rapporteur therefore also specifies the reports made by the KMar (Dutch Royal Marshals) separate from the other reports. In the below figure you can see in red the number of reported 'possible' victims by all organisations, and in blue the number of reported 'possible' victims that only got reported by the KMar itself. Especially since 2012 the number of people being reported by the KMar alone has increased enormously. In 2012 the KMar reported immediatly 500 more victims than any other organisation did.Truly victims, or people being falsely reported as 'possible' victims?
More interesting is the fact that since Corine Dettmeijer has started, the number of court cases have been pretty stable. When she started back in 2007, the number of court cases were 281, and last year the number of court cases were 278. Indeed, that's 3 less court cases than when she started. So in terms of court cases there has been no increase or decrease to speak of. While the number of reported possible victims went up from 716 in 2007 (already a raise of 137 from her predecessor the year before) to 1561 last year. That's an increase of 845 'possible' victims, while the court cases didn't go up at all!
When looking at the period of Korvinus however, the number of reports did go up with 238, but so did the number of court cases with 59. Indeed, the reports went up with more than the actual court cases, also percentage wise, but not to an incredible extend. While on the other hand, since Dettmeijer has been in office the number of court cases has dropped with 1%, while the number of reports has gone up with at least 118%.
So why do Dettmeijer her numbers of reports differ so much from the actual court cases? Is Dettmeijer to blame, or is something else at work here, that causes a huge increase in what people think they see and report, and the actual facts as presented in court. One explanation could be the fact that since Dettmeijer has started, the focus on trafficking in prostitution has risen to an insane amount. Around that same time the case of Saban B. caught the media's attention. And ever since than prostitution in The Netherlands has been under a magnifying glass. Each possible hint at something that may even look only slightly like human trafficking, is immediately being seen as proof of trafficking. While in reality the number of court cases has remained the same since 2007, people are just more suspicious of prostitution, resulting in a lot more people being reported as possible victims.
Dettmeijer is only the messenger. She doesn't create the numbers, she only reports about them. After all, she is the National Rapporteur. The organisations however that make up all these reports, seem to have become paranoid, and report almost everything as a sign of trafficking, resulting in a lot more reports, without it actually being real trafficking victims. Things like having a bruise is immediatly suspicious for organisations, to which sex workers get reported as 'possible' victims, while in reality that may not be the case at all. We are humans just like any other human being, and just like others we can get bruises from a lot of things, not just because we would supposedly be victims.
The case of Saban B., which got exploited by the city of Amsterdam as an excuse to close down window brothels, has led to a witch hunt. A witch hunt on trafficking victims, which in reality hasn't increased since 2007, but people think is happening a lot more since that time. This whitch hunt has created a 'human trafficking' hype, which abolisionists like Renaten van der Zee, Gert-Jan Segers, Dick Pels, Jojanneke van den Berge and Elma Verheij gladly use for their war on sex work. Human trafficking organisations have used this hype to increase their donations and subsidizing, using these incorrect suspicions. Meanwhile the real victims of trafficking have become a victim of this witch hunt. Because more and more sex workers that aren't victims at all get reported as victims, police and other authorities waste a lot of their time on them, while that time would be better spend on the real victims of trafficking.
Dutch version
Two years later, nothing has changed. Several corporations were founded, the Macha's and Freya, both never got a permit to run the brothels, because the city of Utrecht kept changing the rules of applying for a permit. In a recent court case the judge decided that the city government can no longer just refuse Freya a permit, and has to go in negotiations with them about it. This only strengthens the sex workers their believes that the city government of Utrecht had a hidden agenda, not really being interested in fighting crime in prostitution, but rather in real estate (sound familiar?), and that the refusal of permits was just a way to keep prostitution away. That, because the area in where most of these windows were situated, just happens to be the same place real estate companies want to built some new real estate buildings. And of course with prostitutes working only a couple of feet away from these brand new apartments, they needed to get rid of prostitution so the price of this real estate goes up. After all, nobody wants to life next to a prostitute.
Today scientists from the University of Utrecht presented their research on the closure of brothels in Utrecht. And their conclusion? The closure of windows have not improved the situation of sex workers, but made it much worse. The city government of Utrecht, which always claimed to keep track of where the women are now, have no idea what happened to the women or where they are now. In fact, the city government has hardly been interested in the well being of these sex workers at all, which is strange considering the reason for closing their workplaces. After all, didn't they close their workplaces down for their well being?
The report is devastating for the city government of Utrecht. And the report speaks about a 'human trafficking hype' that's being created purely based on 'gut feelings'. The supposed human trafficking was never found, and the supposed report of the city government of Utrecht which would prove so is 'confidential'. The sex workers interviewed for the research believe the reason the confidential report is 'confidential', is because there is no proof. It's again just people 'thinking' and 'feeling' stuff, but never based upon any actual proof. Yet again sex workers have become the victims of the stigma on sex workers as victims.
The parallels between what happened in Utrecht, with the closure of window brothels there, and Amsterdam, are remarkable. In my opinion not that strange. It looks like Amsterdam has become a proven model to get rid of prostitution in a successful way for other purposes, and Utrecht simply copied that to get rid of prostitution in their city. And just like in Amsterdam, also in Utrecht the motivations were never human trafficking and abuses, these were merely popular hypes used to justify their goals: profiting from real estate.
People who criticize this report, claim that the number of 30 sex workers that were interviewed for this report are not representable for a group of 300 women. Yet, exit polls used for predictions in politics, which are most of the times fairly accurate, are being held among about 3000 people, based on a population of 16 million people in Holland. That's only 0,02% of the total amount, while in this research about 10% of the total amount were being questioned. In short, the percentage of questioned sex workers for this report is much higher than those with exit polls, so why wouldn't they be representable? And above all, there is no other research done among more sex workers on this subject to proof otherwise.
The idea that 10% of the total amount of sex workers wouldn't be representable gets backed up by a claim made by authorities, like the city government of Utrecht, who claimed that there were 'many things wrong' in window prostitution in Utrecht, which according to them led to 600 signs of human trafficking and abuses. According to the city government of Utrecht, the situation was so bad, and there were so many things wrong, that the only responsible thing to do, was to close the entire area down. Yet, looking at a grand scale research done among 579 sex workers in Utrecht in 2012, concluded that they could only find with 13% of the women signs of trafficking. Not exactly the grand scale of 600 signs of human trafficking, unless each 'possible victim' was reported at least 12 times each.
The sex workers themselves however also don't recognize the image of human trafficking on large scale. In fact, most sex workers have not noticed anything, and the only sources they heard regarding human trafficking came from authorities themselves, and not their colleagues or themselves.
An interesting conclusion to this report seems to be the conclusion that if you as a person can't accept sex work as real work, it becomes much harder to believe that people are willing to voluntarily do this job, resulting in the assumption that most women would be forced into this job. Almost like a self fulfilling prophecy, something which is largely a myth becomes a reality because they believe this myth is true. A recognizable image I often see with police officers, who always assume you're a victim, simply because they can't imagine it themselves doing this job voluntarily, thus you must be a victim. Their inability to accept the idea of sex work as work, causes them to project their own ideas of victims on us.
The report about Utrecht shows us something we already know. Closing down windows doesn't help victims or sex workers, in fact, it makes their situation much worse. Many of the sex workers are now in a much more vulnerable position. Their situation has both in mental and physical aspect worsened, as well as their financial situation. Many are unemployed because of the closures, others work illegal, where there's little to no protection, and the chance of becoming victim is much higher, as also concluded by the ministry of Safety and Justice recently.
Many have started working illegal from hotels or their own homes, increasing illegal prostitution, which has already been growing in recent years in Holland. At the same time legal prostitution in Holland has decreased with 40%. In Amsterdam alone window prostitution has been decreased already with 33%, but according to the mayor of Amsterdam this has not resulted in an increase in illegal prostitution, even though there's no research at all available about what happened to the women who lost their legal workplaces, or who those women are that work illegal.
The report from Utrecht is very clear about things. The women have been punished for something nobody has any proof of. Human trafficking still hasn't been proven, and the only report which supposedly would proof, is a secret. More than 300 women have become a victim of these closures, which were meant to fight human trafficking and abuses, and improve these women their situation. While in reality their situation has only worsened, none of them ever noticed anything about human trafficking or abuses, and the proof is still missing. Most women are either unemployed or working illegal, since there are no more legal workplaces available. In short, the closures of window brothels has not improved the situation, but only worsened the situation for these women. And the women have become the victim of policies made by politicians.
You could almost copy the report for the situation in Amsterdam. The only difference between Amsterdam and Utrecht, is that in Amsterdam the time table is much longer, and they haven't closed down everything thing yet, they're just closing down in phases. The results however are much the same. The position of sex workers is not being improved, and not a single victim is being helped by closing down the window brothels. Closing down brothels is just closing your eyes.
The truth is out now in Utrecht, and I hope for their sake that those responsible for the closure of the window brothels will be punished, since they acted against the interest of sex workers, and not in their favor, unlike how they pretended. I hope one day the same thing will happen in Amsterdam, and those responsible will be taken down as well. But most of all I hope all windows to be re-opened that were closed on false suspicions to which the sex workers became victims of being seen as a victim.
Dutch version
Project Own Window in reality however, is nothing more than a distraction from the mayor's true goal: Project 1012, to close down 94 more windows in the Red Light District. In past years 117 windows have been closed down already as part of this project, and still 94 more windows are scheduled to close down. But criticism on this project has been growing ever since the start of this project, which was sold to the general public as a 'crime fighting project', claiming to fight human trafficking and forced prostitution, while in reality just kicking sex workers out on the streets without compensation or alternatives for their only legal and safe workplaces.
To stop the criticism on this project, which in reality is nothing more than a gentrification project involving real estate deals, they started Project Own Window, to distract the public from the remaining 94 windows they still want to close down. Sex workers however have no taken the bait, and went in huge numbers (more than 200 sex workers) onto the streets to demonstrate against Project 1012 to hand the mayor a petition signed by 414 sex workers, while the interest in Project Own Window from sex workers was very small (no more than 20 sex workers showed up in two meetings). And this is because sex workers know that 19 new windows cannot be used as leverage for the 117 windows that have already been closed down, or the 94 windows they mayor still wants to close down.
The mayor claimed after the protest to close down less windows, claiming the 'war is over'. What he however does not understand is the fact that we don't want lesser windows to close down, after all, he already took away the workplace of 250 sex workers, we want him to quit completely and we demand the windows back that were taking from us. It was only a couple of weeks later that the mayor closed down 18 more windows outside of the scheduled 94 windows, causing another protest from sex workers, proving how much his words were worth: nothing.
But the real interesting news today was the fact that the Triodos Bank, which earlier refused PROUD a bank account, is open to accept this future corporation of sex workers if they would like to open up a bank account with them. PROUD, the Dutch union of sex workers, consist out of a group of (ex)sex workers fighting for the rights of all sex workers in Holland. PROUD earlier got refused a bank account at Triodos Bank, because PROUD supports all sex workers, including those working in the porn industry. Triodos however claimed that they don't support the porn industry, because according to them 'many people are being exploited and abused in the porn industry'.
Funny thing is of course, that the point of having a union, is to fight exploitation and abuse, as is exactly what one of the things is what PROUD wants to do and stands for. After all, PROUD wants to improve the situation of all sex workers in Holland, and nobody's position is being improved with exploitation and abuse, so obviously PROUD is also against this. So why refuse a customer who has the same goals?
And also looking at Triodos bank their own criteria for accepting or refusing a customer, raises some serious questions to their refusal of PROUD as a client. After all, in their own criteria they write they don't accept organisations, people and businesses that produce or exploit pornography. But PROUD does neither. In fact, PROUD wants to improve the position of these people, thus fighting exploitation and abuse. But it even becomes funnier when you read that Triodos wants to 'support projects and initiatives that help people in society to develop themselves to be free citizens', as their own statement reads. Something you might say is exactly the point of having a union like PROUD,. And even funnier things became when people found out that Triodos Bank themselves invest in companies that produce and exploit porn.
But now all of the sudden a future corporation of sex workers is allowed to open up a bank account, while a union that fights for these people their rights is not. The Triodos bank defends this decision by claiming that a brothel is not porn related, which is of course true, but than why do they invest themselves in a company that produces porn. And wasn't the whole point of refusing PROUD a bank account, because Triodos does not want to be related to an industry in which a lot of people are being exploited and abused, as they stated? Than how come they can accept the prostitution industry, but not the porn industry? Are they claiming now that the prostitution industry is exploitation and abuse free, while the porn industry is not?
The Triodos bank responds to this with the answer that Triodos bank has no problem with people exploiting their own body, like prostitutes opening up their own bank account. But wait a second?! Isn't that exactly what PROUD is, sex workers themselves exploiting their own body who want to open up a bank account? Than what's the difference?
So how come that one group of prostitutes get refused a bank account, while another doesn't? Just because PROUD stands up for a larger group of sex workers, including people working in the porn industry? An industry Triodos themselves also invest in? And where the fuck does this nonsense argument come from that a lot of people would be exploited in the porn industry? We know this happens in the prostitution industry, although people are still arguing about the size of it. But since when is exploitation and abuse occurring on such a large scale in the porn industry, that it's reason to refuse people from this industry? And if that would be so, than why do they themselves invest in it?
And it's also weird. Triodos refuses bank accounts to people from the porn industry, because of alleged exploitation and abuse in that industry. But an industry which is constantly being accused of having a lot to do with exploitation and abuse is all of the sudden not a problem?
And why? Because this corporation is only about people exploiting their own body? Then what the hell is PROUD? Are they claiming that people in PROUD aren't only exploiting their own body? Are they claiming PROUD is exploiting other people? PROUD consists out of only sex workers and ex-sex workers, no other people are allowed to be member!
No, what's really going on of course is something else. PROUD was never refused a bank account because they are related to the porn industry. Triodos refused PROUD because they didn't want to be affiliated with the sex industry at all. But since they only wrote in their acceptance criteria about the porn industry, an not the prostitution industry, this was the only thing Triodos could pin the refusal of PROUD upon. And thus Triodos came up with a bullshit story, that they refused PROUD because they were related to the porn industry, and that according to them many people would be exploited in the porn industry. A very weak story of course, since everybody knows this is bullshit, but it was the only legit reason they could pin it on.
What they however never expected, was that it would become such a big thing in the media, and so many of their customers would be so upset about refusing PROUD. They burned their fingers on this, and are now trying to safe their face. And of course the insurance of a big politician, like the mayor of Amsterdam, has convinced them this will safe their face. Which again also proves the mayor can change the minds of banks if he wants to, which makes me wonder why still so many banks are refusing sex workers, except when the mayor needs something to succeed on his own account.
After all, the mayor has been claiming for years already to be working on the acceptance of sex workers at banks and improving the position of sex workers. Nothing however has changed in all those years, and many sex workers are still being refused at many banks. But now all of the sudden, when the mayor needs something to succeed for himself, he can arrange a bank to accept sex workers, that only months before still refused them. How come he didn't do this before also with other banks, if he has been claiming for years already to work on sex workers being accepted at banks?
Two things have become very clear on this matter. Triodos refused PROUD as customer, because they didn't want to be affiliated with the sex industry, and pinned it on a weak excuse of porn and exploitation, of which everyone knows this is bullshit. And so they are now trying to safe their face.
And the mayor of Amsterdam could have changed the minds of banks a long time ago, like he's been promising for years, but only does it when it is convenient for him, showing he really doesn't give a shit about sex workers, but only on his own projects to succeed.
We all know this Project Own Window is nothing but an diversion from the closure of more windows. We know the mayor doesn't really give a shit about sex workers. After all, he's been kicking out sex workers on the street since 2008, he's asked the Minister of Justice and Safety to violate our privacy rights knowing this is illegal, he still wants to continue with closing down more windows, and in fact even has closed down more windows than he promised, and now he all of the sudden can arrange a bank account for sex workers, while he has been claiming to be working on this for years already.
Dutch version
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| All these women want to work, but how do you get in? |
The minister of Justice and Safety also claimed that sex workers need exit program because of the stigma (or taboo as he called it) on sex work, but the exit program doesn't fight the stigma itself, it only helps women exiting this industry deal with the stigma, while leaving the women who want to keep working in this industry with no help at all. In short, the exit program doesn't solve human trafficking or the stigma sex workers face. It helps a little bit with both, but it doesn't target the sources, meaning it never really does anything to change the situation. It doesn't stop trafficking, it doesn't prevent it, and it doesn't stop the stigma or prevent that either.
An entry program for prostitution however can achieve much more. After all, the entry point is where human trafficking first begins in prostitution, and thus the most logical place to attack it. So, in stead of mopping up the floor with an exit program with the water tap still running, we're gonna turn down the water tap, making sure human trafficking is being prevented before it ever takes place.
Because when dealing with crimes you can do two things. You can try to fight it, but than it's already too late, since it already happened. Or you can try to prevent them from ever happening, in which case you only need to mop up the water that spilled, making it much easier to get that floor dry and clean.
So in order to prevent human trafficking, we need to attack the source. And fact is that the source of most human trafficking cases, is the vulnerability of sex workers. The more vulnerable a sex worker is, the easier it is for a trafficker to get control over her and exploit her for money. So the question is: how do we make sex workers less vulnerable? How do we prevent women from falling into the hands of traffickers? And to understand this, you first need to understand the reasons why women got in touch with traffickers in the first place, and why they fall for their tricks, and what those tricks exactly are.
And this is where there's a huge misconception. Because most people believe that most victims are coerced into prostitution, while in reality this is only a small portion of the trafficking victims. This is a misconception brought forward by people and organisations who are either against prostitution itself, or because they benefit from telling these stories in one way or another. After all, if you can claim that most women didn't want to do a certain job because they were forced into it, you could claim that it shouldn't be legal, because nobody wants to do it. And this is exactly the claim they've been trying to make for years.
But reality is that victims of coercion are just a very small part of all the human trafficking cases that occur in the prostitution industry. In other words, most human trafficking cases that occur, are cases in which the sex worker herself agreed on working in prostitution, but after that gets stuck in a position in which she becomes exploited by traffickers. And this does not just come from my personal observations, but more importantly from attorneys specialized in human trafficking cases. They also claim that by far, the most cases they get, revolve around exploitation and not coercion. And this just confirmed my personal experiences. But more importantly, it also explains why victims often don't see themselves as victims, since they are not coerced into anything, which is how often the media portrays victims of trafficking.
So a small portion of the victims is being coerced, while a much larger group is not being coerced, but simply being exploited, despite the fact that they choose themselves to do this job. Nobody is forcing these women to work in prostitution, in fact, they choose it to do themselves, often because it simply pays good money. So how do these women end up being exploited? Well, because entering the prostitution industry in Holland, especially coming from another country, is so difficult (because policy makers believe it helps to fight trafficking), so they require assistance, which is exactly the point where the traffickers come into the story.
These traffickers basically play the role of the helping hand. Acting almost as an unemployment agency, helping sex workers out with paperwork, travelling arrangements, finances and housing. Sometimes the victims don't know the traffickers are really interested in exploiting them and are being deceived, but interestingly more often the sex workers themselves agree with it.
And this sounds kind of strange to outsiders. After all, why would a sex worker agree with being exploited? Who would want that? Well, fact is that nobody wants that, but they don't have much of a choice, since there isn't an alternative. After all, there is no legal organisation in Holland which helps these women with the problems they're facing when entering the prostitution business. In fact, the Dutch law even made it illegal and punishable to help anyone cross a border that wants to become a sex worker, under the human trafficking law. Under article 273f 1.3 it states that being guilty of human trafficking is:
"The person who recruits, takes along or abducts another person with the intention to make that person available in another country to carry out sexual acts with another person in exchange for payment;"
This means that anyone helping a (future) prostitute, knowing she wants to work here in prostitution, is a criminal and a human trafficker. It doesn't state anything about being coerced or exploited, simply taking someone with you is enough to be labeled a criminal when it regards a (future) sex worker.
"The person who recruits, takes along or abducts another person with the intention to make that person available in another country to carry out sexual acts with another person in exchange for payment;"
This means that anyone helping a (future) prostitute, knowing she wants to work here in prostitution, is a criminal and a human trafficker. It doesn't state anything about being coerced or exploited, simply taking someone with you is enough to be labeled a criminal when it regards a (future) sex worker.
So, we have a problem. These women need help, because they need paperwork, they don't know where to get it, how to get it. They need travel arrangements. They need a place to live, which is even difficult for Dutch sex workers, let alone if you come from another country. They need financial help before things are set up (since banks refuse sex workers loans, mortgages and even business accounts), and they can finally start with their own business (sex workers behind the windows are independent business owners). So a lot of help is needed.
But since the Dutch government thought they would fight human trafficking better if they would make it more difficult to enter prostitution as a whole, with the assumption that no right minded woman would want to do this job, they created a huge problem. And this problem is right now being solved by human traffickers. After all, these women need help to get into the prostitution, where they want to work to make a lot of money. But nobody wants to help them, because they would be considered a criminal by the Dutch human trafficking law.
But since the Dutch government thought they would fight human trafficking better if they would make it more difficult to enter prostitution as a whole, with the assumption that no right minded woman would want to do this job, they created a huge problem. And this problem is right now being solved by human traffickers. After all, these women need help to get into the prostitution, where they want to work to make a lot of money. But nobody wants to help them, because they would be considered a criminal by the Dutch human trafficking law.
And this is where the traffickers come into play. They gladly take on the role of an unemployment agency, in exchange for a big cut of the salary of sex workers. The sex workers are glad that someone is helping them, and the traffickers demand for that a portion of their income. And since the sex workers don't receive any help from others or the government, they are willing to give these people a portion of their income, with as a result that the sex workers is agreeing on her own exploitation. Often these deals are for a large percentage of the income, usually a 50/50 deal, meaning the sex worker gets to keep 50% of her income, while the trafficker gets the other 50%. Now sometimes these percentages may vary, but this is the most used construction by traffickers. It's easier than having to force someone into doing a job they don't want to do, which creates a lot more work to keep someone under control. Plus the sex worker herself will never give you in as a trafficker, since the trafficker helped her, and not the police or the government,
Just a short note here, outside of the sex industry similar constructions exist, with people getting a percentage of what they earn for their work, and the another percentage going to someone else. These constructions are called unemployment agencies, and there are many in Holland, who legally take in a large cut of what a company pays to have someone working for them. But then all of the sudden it's legal, while in prostitution it's all of the sudden called human trafficking. Talking about using double standards! And this is simply because of the false assumption that prostitution is done something not by choice. So where the Dutch government sees these women as victims, the victims themselves do not see themselves that way. After all, they agreed on it themselves. And what else do you expect when you don't receive any help from anyone else?
Just a short note here, outside of the sex industry similar constructions exist, with people getting a percentage of what they earn for their work, and the another percentage going to someone else. These constructions are called unemployment agencies, and there are many in Holland, who legally take in a large cut of what a company pays to have someone working for them. But then all of the sudden it's legal, while in prostitution it's all of the sudden called human trafficking. Talking about using double standards! And this is simply because of the false assumption that prostitution is done something not by choice. So where the Dutch government sees these women as victims, the victims themselves do not see themselves that way. After all, they agreed on it themselves. And what else do you expect when you don't receive any help from anyone else?
And this is precisely where an entry program for prostitution would be not just very useful, but could be a powerful tool in the fight against human trafficking. The entry program for prostitution is supposed to help sex workers who want to enter the industry, and helps them doing this in a safe and legal way, thus avoiding shady people who are trying to take advantage of them and turning them into trafficking victims. But more importantly, it gives sex workers an alternative from having to agree on a deal with traffickers who are only interested in profiting from it, asking way too high prices and percentages.
The entry program should focus on giving out good information about how to safely enter the industry. It should provide good information about addresses where you have to go, papers you need to have, and where you can get these papers. It is not by accident that I wrote a while back a blog post on how to get started in window prostitution in Amsterdam. I did this after I kept getting e-mails from girls, mostly from Romania, asking how to get started. It's one of the biggest problems for women from Eastern Europe who want to do this job. There's no information!
But it's not just for women from Eastern Europe. I even got repeatedly e-mails from Dutch women, asking how to get started to work behind the windows. This only proves how difficult it is to get started, and how little information is out there!
Besides providing good information, the entry program should also offer help with finances, since often sex workers from abroad need an advance in their finances before they can finally start to make money. After all, there's a big difference in living standards between Eastern Europe and Holland. This has nothing to do with poverty, which for sure is also a reason for some women to enter this industry, but by far most of the Eastern European girls don't come here because of poverty, but simply because the huge difference in living standards. Where in Romania for example you'll get 250 euro paid for an avarage job, and you can live fine for that amount of money. In Holland this is ten times more. And thus also the prices are much higher in Holland than in Romania, making it extremely expensive for Eastern European girls to come and live here.
But this is also what attracts them. After all, the costs may be much higher over here, so is the salary of a sex worker, and much more than any other job. So it's very interesting for women from Eastern Europe to come to Holland, and do this job, since averagely they get 100 times more the salary here with this job, than they would get doing any other job in their home country.
And besides the financial part, the entry program should also help sex workers find a place to live, preferably on very short notice, so that sex workers won't have to accept help from traffickers for this who want to take advantage of them.
But it's not just for women from Eastern Europe. I even got repeatedly e-mails from Dutch women, asking how to get started to work behind the windows. This only proves how difficult it is to get started, and how little information is out there!
Besides providing good information, the entry program should also offer help with finances, since often sex workers from abroad need an advance in their finances before they can finally start to make money. After all, there's a big difference in living standards between Eastern Europe and Holland. This has nothing to do with poverty, which for sure is also a reason for some women to enter this industry, but by far most of the Eastern European girls don't come here because of poverty, but simply because the huge difference in living standards. Where in Romania for example you'll get 250 euro paid for an avarage job, and you can live fine for that amount of money. In Holland this is ten times more. And thus also the prices are much higher in Holland than in Romania, making it extremely expensive for Eastern European girls to come and live here.
But this is also what attracts them. After all, the costs may be much higher over here, so is the salary of a sex worker, and much more than any other job. So it's very interesting for women from Eastern Europe to come to Holland, and do this job, since averagely they get 100 times more the salary here with this job, than they would get doing any other job in their home country.
And besides the financial part, the entry program should also help sex workers find a place to live, preferably on very short notice, so that sex workers won't have to accept help from traffickers for this who want to take advantage of them.
In short, the entry program for prostitution should play the role of an unemployment agency, just like how they do this in many other industries as well. An agency which helps foreign workers to come to this country, help them finding a place to live, giving them an advance so they have some money before they can go to work, and helping them with all the paperwork required.
Basically this entry program would take over many of the tasks a lot of human traffickers do at this moment, but of course with the difference that they don't exploit these women, but help these women. In this way, we can take away the demand that sex workers have for help, which attract human traffickers, thus resulting in fewer women becoming a victim of these traffickers. And at the same time you're helping these women enter the industry in a safe and legal way, making sure they have all the information and resources available making them less vulnerable.
But now of course we are still stuck with one problem. After all, this entry program focuses on women that do want to entry the prostitution industry, but require help. So it would take a huge bite out of the trafficking victims which are being exploited right now in the sex industry. But, it doesn't directly deal with the (much smaller) group of trafficking victims which are coerced into prostitution.
And that is indeed a valid point. However, if the amount of victims are being reduced heavily, targeting the largest vulnerable group of potential victims, it leaves a much smaller group of victims to target for the police. After all, the women that used to be exploited because they needed help for a large part don't exist anymore, leaving only the severe cases of coerced trafficking victims.
At this moment the police and other authorities are having huge difficulties to tell apart victims from non-victims in the sex industry. And this is because many of the women they see as victims, do not regard themselves as victims, since they choose to share a part of their income with the trafficker. While at the other hand there are also victims who are being coerced, and are in desperate need for help. But since these two different types of victims, the coerced ones and the exploited ones, look so much alike in behavior and circumstances, it's often difficult to tell for the police which is which, thus resulting in police reports with estimations that make no sense at all. They often think they're dealing with a victim of coercion, while in reality not dealing with a victim of coercion but with a sex worker that agreed on her own exploitation. For outsiders it's impossible to tell them apart, since they send out many of the same signals, while when asking an exploited sex worker if she's forced, she'll give you a very convincing answer that she's not. Which is not so weird, because she isn't being coerced.
But when the entry program for prostitution is in place, most of these exploited victims will disappear since they will be using the entry program, leaving only the heavy coerced victims. And since the contrast between coerced victims and free willing sex workers is so big, in behaviour and circumstances, it will become much easier to spot the victims. After all, the victims that were only being exploited before, have dropped out thanks to the entry program, leaving only the really severe cases of human trafficking, the coerced victims. And with less victims of exploitation to confuse them with coerced victims, it will become much easier for the police and authorities to spot these victims and help them.
The biggest problem however lies within the acceptance of sex work as work. After all, this entry program for prostitution could solve a huge portion of the human trafficking that exists in the prostitution industry. But it is because politicians and policy makers are reluctant to facilitate women entering this industry, that this problem still hasn't been solved. It is their moral opinions, which stands between accepting sex work as work, and providing good and safe way to do this, versus rejecting it and not solving the real problems of trafficking.
In one beat, we could cut human trafficking in half, taking out a large portion of the victims that are being exploited, by offering them an alternative besides having to give a portion of their salary in exchange for help. We could make it easier for the police to distinguish the difference between someone that's coerced or someone that's exploited, by preventing most of the exploitation, leaving only the coercion. But in that case politicians and policy makers would have to accept sex work as work and offer women a way into prostitution, and the real question is if they are willing to do that, in order to save lives.
So, the real question is: does the government rather want to keep buying more mops to clean the floor, or are they willing to turn down the water tap? Because in the end, the water will keep spilling over, as long as you don't close that tap, no matter how hard you mop the floor. But in the end it will never clean up until you stop the water tap. So are they prepared to set aside their judgement on sex work, to really fight human trafficking? Or are they gonna keep avoiding attacking the real problem, with fake solutions which doesn't help anyone? Sex workers need help, but not the help you'd expect, they want, but help to enter this industry, not just to exit it.
Dutch version
The biggest problem however lies within the acceptance of sex work as work. After all, this entry program for prostitution could solve a huge portion of the human trafficking that exists in the prostitution industry. But it is because politicians and policy makers are reluctant to facilitate women entering this industry, that this problem still hasn't been solved. It is their moral opinions, which stands between accepting sex work as work, and providing good and safe way to do this, versus rejecting it and not solving the real problems of trafficking.
In one beat, we could cut human trafficking in half, taking out a large portion of the victims that are being exploited, by offering them an alternative besides having to give a portion of their salary in exchange for help. We could make it easier for the police to distinguish the difference between someone that's coerced or someone that's exploited, by preventing most of the exploitation, leaving only the coercion. But in that case politicians and policy makers would have to accept sex work as work and offer women a way into prostitution, and the real question is if they are willing to do that, in order to save lives.
So, the real question is: does the government rather want to keep buying more mops to clean the floor, or are they willing to turn down the water tap? Because in the end, the water will keep spilling over, as long as you don't close that tap, no matter how hard you mop the floor. But in the end it will never clean up until you stop the water tap. So are they prepared to set aside their judgement on sex work, to really fight human trafficking? Or are they gonna keep avoiding attacking the real problem, with fake solutions which doesn't help anyone? Sex workers need help, but not the help you'd expect, they want, but help to enter this industry, not just to exit it.
Dutch version
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Unfortunately however not every tour guide is knowledgeable about the realities of the Red Light District in Amsterdam. Often I hear tour guides mentioning things which simply aren't true. For example they tell people that most, or sometimes even all, of the prostitutes are forced here. Or that organized crimes is running these brothels, using prostitution as a way to launder money. Some of these tour guides tell such complete bullshit, with all those tourists just believing it because the 'expert' it claiming it.
But fact is that most tour guides have no fucking clue what they're talking about. They're just repeating what they heard from others or from the media. Stories such as 'most women are forced here' or 'organized crime are running these brothels, or even 'money laundering is what keeps this business going', are all arguments the city government has used in the past to justify their gentrification project, to 'clean up' the Red Light District from 'organized crime', by kicking out sex workers on the street and closing down their only legal workplaces. And if you're wondering how many criminal organizations the city government has caught with this, well the answer is zero, nothing! It was just a lie they used so they could sell the buildings to companies with a lot of money.
Each day I see these groups wandering through the Red Light District, groups of 10, 20, 30 sometimes even 50 people(!), paying someone to tell absolute nonsense about us, while profiting from our existence. And while they're getting payed to tell bullshit about us, we get nothing from all of that money. But of course the worst thing is that these people are falsely informing hundreds of tourists a day, and there's little to nothing we as sex workers can do about it.
The groups are sometimes so large, that there's often not enough room for everyone, meaning they stand in front of our windows, blocking us from doing our job. They scare away the clients, who don't want to be seen by people going inside (especially not a large group of 50 people), because of the social stigma on clients of sex workers. And they make it impossible for us to make eye contact with our customers and to call them, making it impossible for us to do our job. Sometimes it's even the tour guide himself who's blocking us from doing our job. So while he's making money over our profession, he's blocking us from doing ours, plus he's telling bullshit about us. Thank's a lot!
Sometimes it also makes you feel like you're an animal in the zoo, with all those groups passing you. We don't mind people visiting the Red Light District, after all, it's part of our job. But when each day groups of 50 people are just coming to stare at you, and have no interest in you besides that, it starts to become annoying.
And it's not even the men that annoy us that much. After all, we understand that men like to see a beautiful sexy woman, it's only natural. No, the worst are the women, who are often without a complete lack of respect for us, stare at us, and make pictures of us. Some tour guides warn their groups before about taking pictures, but often they don't do anything about it when people take pictures, not showing a lot of respect for us. And from a man I can still understand why he would want to make a picture of a beautiful sexy woman, but a woman herself? What the hell does she need a picture of me for? She doesn't have a mirror at home to see how a woman looks like?
I don't mind the fact that they have tours being led around through the Red Light District, don't get me wrong. But the groups are getting too big, too much and are often being led around by people who lack any kind of respect for us or, despite the fact that we're the reason they have a job. And the worst part if that they're often talking complete bullshit about us and our job, because they simply lack the knowledge. They've never even talked with a single sex worker, they've never been inside, and they have no expertise whatsoever or any experience they're speaking from. They simply copy what they've read somewhere, or heard, without checking if it's actually true what they're talking about.
The groups are too big for the relatively small area and small alleys of the Red Light District, and too large for one tour guide to handle. And the tour guides also show a lack of respect towards us, by sometimes even blocking us from doing our jobs, by standing in front of us, and not acting when people are taking pictures of us.
There should be something like a permit. A permit for tour guides. Window brothels need permits, street artists need permits, so why not tour guides? After all, tour guides have a huge influence on how people think about the Red Light District, Amsterdam, sex work and more importantly, us! They influence the minds and opinions of hundreds of people each day by what they're telling them, and without the proper information, this could simply lead to a false image about a job which already suffers from a mostly false image which people have about it.
Without this permit it should be illegal to do any tours. And they should only allow a maximum amount of permits to tour guides, to ensure the area doesn't get overrun by tour groups like how it is right now. They should put a maximum on the amount of people a tour guide can lead around at a time. And they should do an exam about the Red Light District, the sex workers and the work itself, before being allowed to get a permit, to ensure that these people aren't going to tell complete bullshit like how some are doing right now.
Fortunately there are also some good tour guides. People who have knowledge about the area and the work, people who know what they are talking about. Probably the best place to take the tour, is from the PIC (Prostitution Information Center), run by former sex worker Mariska Majoor. Mariska is a former sex worker who used to work behind these windows, so she knows what she's talking about, and she knows the women that are currently working behind the windows. She's been running the PIC for more than 20 years in the heart of the Red Light District, and she's a personal good friend of mine. And more recently she founded the new Dutch union for sex workers, PROUD, of which I'm also a member.
And it's not because I'm friends with her that I'm saying this. It's simply because she's one of the few people who know the realities about the Red Light District, and personally knows the sex workers working here, that caused me to recommend her as a tour guide. And when you finally talk with people that truly understand your reality, with so few people around who know about it, it easily creates a bond.
Unfortunately however, there is no such thing as an exam or a permit for tour guides, and there are far too few people like Mariska Majoor who know about the realities of the Red Light District. And thus every idiot that wants to make some money, profiting from our existence and our job, is allowed to call him or herself a tour guide, and spout whatever nonsense they can about the Red Light District and the sex workers that work there. I have another word for profiting over the backs of people, while those people don't get anything in return for that, and that's called exploitation. Unfortunately there are many organisations and people who exploit us in this way, while telling bullshit about us. They lead people to believe things which are just incorrect, and they bring it home with them and talk with their friends about it, who in turn also believe it. And this is exactly how it comes there are so many bullshit stories out there about the Red Light District and sex workers in Amsterdam.
Mariska Majoor uses the income she generates from the tours she gives to run the PIC, to inform people correctly about the Red Light District and sex work in Holland. But at the PIC sex workers can also receive help if they have any problems with things, or can get information about their job, which makes it beneficial for both tourists and sex workers. Much more profitable than people who are just trying to profit from us, while talking bullshit, making our job more difficult and not giving us anything in return for it, just so they can make a lot of money for themselves.
Dutch version
