Amsterdam’s red light district is not picturesque at all; it’s a hotbed of ruthless people trafficking. So says Lodewijk Asscher. For several years now, the young (37) Amsterdam alderman has been waging his own crusade against the world of abuse and exploitation he believes is concealed behind the prostitutes’ windows: “We have to abandon our romantic view of the red light district.”
For many tourists the red light district is a normal stop on their visit to Amsterdam, taking a look at the prostitutes posing in the windows to attract clients. For many visitors the red lights are a symbol of what is possible in the Netherlands, with its tolerant attitude to sex and drugs.
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A legal business
The Dutch government decided to lift the ban on prostitution in 2000. The introduction of licencing was intended to improve the position of prostitutes. Giving them legal status was supposed to make them more independent. Legalisation has had the effect, however, of pushing illegal sex workers further into the clutches of unscrupulous pimps.
Hard line
Alderman Asscher is politically responsible for the red light district. He regularly makes comments regarded as ‘un-Dutch’. He believes it is a national misconception that prostitution belongs in the compass of freedom and tolerance. The problems, he says, are grossly underestimated:
“Hard-line criminal behaviour is what is happening behind those windows. Women subjected to extremes of exploitation. They have a non-existent debt they have to pay to a pimp by prostituting themselves. They are physically abused if they don’t work hard enough.”
In 2005, councillor Lodewijk Asscher published a book called Nieuw Amsterdam in which he argued for a policy of discouraging window prostitution and tackling exploitation of women in the city. He has now been an alderman for five years and is an influential politician, often seen as potentially the next leader of the Dutch Labour Party in parliament.
Intractable
In his capacity as alderman, he has introduced a number of measures aimed at reducing window prostitution. Amsterdam has been buying up properties previously owned by the sex industry. In February this year more than 60 addresses lost their prostitution designations. The council is rezoning the whole area. In the future, brothels and coffeeshops will make way for cafes, restaurants and ‘ordinary’ shops.
Police in Amsterdam estimate that between 50 and 90 percent of window prostitutes are there against their will. This is also true of the legal brothels with a licence from the council. Asscher concedes that it’s an intractable problem.
“It’s very difficult to tackle effectively. Very frustrating for the police and the courts. The penalties are often minor. There is also an absence of public indignation. Recently we were dealing with a pimp who had used violent methods to force 110 women into work. The only sign of public anger was when the man escaped.”
Last chance
Over the next few weeks the Senate will be debating a new prostitution bill. Proposals include making the minimum age for registered prostitutes 21 instead of 18. Having sex with a prostitute living in the Netherlands illegally would become a criminal offence. It’s now or never, says Lodewijk Asscher. If it can’t be regulated, prostitution will have to be made illegal again.
“This is our last chance. Prostitution has been legal for ten years now. We have to clamp down hard on these abuses. In Sweden, a ban resulted in a reduction in people trafficking. After all, slavery was abolished a long time ago in the Netherlands.”
(imm/rk)
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RNW, your at it again.... one would think you have a monetary interest in your rabid goings on against pot and prostitution. How does a person like Lodewijk Asscher get in office.....“We have to abandon our romantic view of the red light district.” who has a romantic view of the red light area...it is a common sense logical approach to men wanting sex....can this man be voted out of office, he certainly is out of touch. I think he doth protest to much.
Don't confuse people's right to be prostitutes or the need to provide a service for "men wanting sex" with the activity of forcing women to be prostitutes and have sex. The first is an issue of morality and up for discussion - the latter is crime, pure and simple. Would you have accepted slavery because people needed someone to harvest the sugar cane?
I find it somewhat amusing that people of other countries (read America) try to lay claim to the moral "high ground." I live in Amsterdam - I'm an American citizen and I much prefer Amsterdam to anywhere in the US, period. Are there problems with legalised prostitution in The Netherlands? Possibly. Although Mr. Asscher doesn't cite any specific examples where a woman was forced into prostitution here in Amsterdam. Most people assume that a woman simply wouldn't choose to become a prostitute and therefore the women who do do so because they are forced to. I have known many woman who have worked as a prostitute and they all did it because they made very good money and they actually enjoyed it. That isn't to say that the occupation is without problems. But the Dutch don't accept that criminalisation and a prison cell is the solution to every problem like the US does. It would be a great service to Europe, and indeed the rest of the world, if America would simply f*** off.
Neither the Dutch nor the Americans are of a single mind as you imply with your monochromatic comment. I don't think anyone will be f***ing off in the next little while. Suck it up.
I disagree. I think it's quite possible that you might see quite a lot of american influence "f***ing off in the next little while." These "Occupy" protests that we're seeing the world over is really a repudiation of the corporatist/capitalist system refined and exported by america. The world also sees america's hypocrisy when it comes to human rights (Guantánamo Bay, capitol punishment, extrajudicial killing of its own citizens) and realizes that america is not the beacon of "liberty and justice for all" as it would have others believe. I suggest it is you who should be "sucking it up."
Oh yes, that scary “Occupy” movement. Unfortunately it is already being diluted into a ‘leftwing mirror image of the Tea Party's smorgasbord of dissent’. Too bad they can’t keep it focused on one thing.
While a postgraduate student at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (University of Amsterdam) in 2005 I lived in the university apartment on the Geldersekade street -- the same street as the Red Light District. It was a sad sight each time I went shopping--women behind windows even during daytime, drug addicts hanging around the corner, pimps and all sorts of junkies. It all looked inhuman. The Netherlands should follow Sweden and criminalise sleeping with prostitutes. Really, these women deserve much more. They deserve to have partners and families who love and care for them, like I do. I cannot be hypocritical while having a lovnig family to claim that others do not deserve the same. Prostitution in the Netherlands--like everywhere else--is controlled by an evil underworld. There is nothing liberal or accommodating about it. It is barbaric and shameful.
Your name tells us all we need to know....
The downside is; if you ban RLD's, they will only turn to the streets.....
It's about time someone stood up and said this on an international level about Amsterdam. I am a professional musician who was appalled when I played a concert in Amsterdam. It was by far the seediest, most violent place out of all the European cities I visited on that tour. As a woman, I find the idea that adults with brains can defend keeping other women in windows like Walt Disney charcters or toy animals absolutely offsensive. It displays a level of idiocy unbecoming for an educated European capital. The seediness of the red light district draws the worst type of people to the city. Thugs who want to brawl, addicts and criminals. I choose to visit other cities on vacation and avoid Amsterdam.
I'm so glad you let us know that you are a "professional musician" and "played a concert in Amsterdam".....those shared items says more about you than the rest of the post..... I guess its just too seedy for a "professional musician".
Anonymous, you are right. It is the Sodom and Gomorrah of Europe! When leaving Amsterdam, do not look back. It nothing more than a "Black Hole" and it will not stop until it has completely drawn each and every visitor into it's cesspool of sin. It is a morally corrupt city!
Haram, not you again! Please don't look back when YOU leave.
Good alderman! Thank God, there is a sane voice against prostitution that has the power to bring a change. Prostitution can never be romantic, it is pure exploitation and violence against hapless women.
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