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Canada Considers Further Legalizing Prostitution While Amsterdam Mayor Admits Legalization's Failure

OTTAWA/AMSTERDAM, October 5, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Liberal dominated government committee looking into prostitution is recommending the Canadian government legalize solicitation so that prostitutes may legally offer sex for money.  Meanwhile the mayor of Amsterdam has for the first time admitted that the Dutch experiment to curb abuse by legalizing prostitution has failed miserably.

Policemen in Amsterdam's infamous red light district were quoted by Dutch media Friday as saying, "We are in the midst of modern slavery."  Due to the legalization of prostitution in the Netherlands in 2000, police are hampered in confronting the horrors that are characteristic of the sex trade.

Even Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen, who as recently as four months ago was quoted in the media as praising the legalization of prostitution has been forced to admit the scheme's failure.  "Almost five years after the lifting of the brothel ban, we have to acknowledge that the aims of the law have not been reached", said Cohen, as quoted by NCR. "Lately we've received more and more signals that abuse still continues."

Nonetheless, the Canadian politicians who took part in a committee on solicitation in the sex industry are ready to call on the government to legalize solicitation.  "It should be legalized and regulated for the sake of people who are working in the industry," said Liberal MP Keith Martin who sat on the committee. 

The only Conservative MP on the committee, Art Hangar, expressed grave reservations about the committee decision.  "These girls should be given every opportunity to get out of this high-risk activity and take the money out of it," he said. "There's too much organized crime, and there's a potential for even greater involvement of organized crime if you go the other (legalization) way."

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, the Red Light District has become a multi million dollar business, with a yearly turnover of 83 million Euros, according to NCR.  Police are so hampered by prostitution's legalization that policemen report criminal reports by women "are gathering dust everywhere in the Netherlands."

jhw

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