Amsterdam Councillor Lodewijk Asscher wants the minimum age of prostitutes raised from 18 to 23. Mr Asscher wants to clean up Amsterdam's Red Light district and is proposing a whole raft of measures. In addition to raising the minimum age, he also wants the red light district in the Wallen area to close down between 04:00 and 08:00 in the morning.
One of the councillor's aims is to strengthen the position of the women who work in the sex industry.
Speaking to Dutch daily De Telegraaf, the councillor denied that he wants to turn Amsterdam into a prudish bourgeois paradise. "Look, Amsterdam is a metropolis and prostitution is part of that," he said.
Mr Asscher's proposal will probably be presented to the local council after the 3 March municipal elections, so the plan is in the hands of the voters.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Amsterdam's Red Light District (Photo: FlickR/GaijinSeb)
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