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FROM 1 JANUARY 2020, it will no longer be permitted for guided tours in the city of Amsterdam to go through the Red Light District, local authorities have said.
Authorities said that tours along the windows cause “a lot of bustle in the Red Light District and are not respectful towards sex workers”.
“That is why they are no longer allowed from next year,” the city said.
This measure forms part of strict new measures on guided tours in the city that will take effect next year.
This includes the prohibition of free tours and recruiting participants, imposing a tax on tourists who participate in a tour, and a maximum of 15-20 on these tours.
Currently, those offering tours in the Red Light District must apply for a special exemption and abide by certain rules. From next year, guided tours throughout the city will need to apply for these exemptions.
In evaluating the current exemption system, the city said that tours were still causing a nuisance for locals in Amsterdam.
A survey found that 80% of sex workers say the tourists being given the guided tours “have a negative impact” on their business, while a number of the workers are still experiencing abusive behaviour and unwanted photography.
More than 1,000 groups pass through the Oudekerksplein square in the Red Light district every week, and anyone who offer tours illegally will liable for a fine of €190, with fines rising as high as €2,500 for companies who repeatedly break the rules.
This is the latest of a series of steps from the Dutch capital to ease the pressure from tourism. Some 18 million tourists flock to Amsterdam every year – more than the entire population of the Netherlands.
The city has taken major steps to push back against unruly visitors, mainly groups of young men who roam the Wallen at weekends, on pub crawls or to celebrate stag parties drawn by easy access to drugs and prostitution.
It has instituted stiff fines and penalties for breaking public disturbance laws, while in August 2017 it announced compulsory clean-up breaks in streets and monitoring of crowds.
With reporting from AFP
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Holland, doing it right. As it should be.
@The Thinker: good point, as a country they always seem to get it right…
@The Thinker: no they not !! They have let woman be abused for years
@Sean Leonard: little do you know
@goliathof1: do you have a Dutch passport like me ? U n o b
@goliathof1: You are asking yourself questions? Multiple accounts perhaps.
@The Thinker:
The Dutch authorities have admitted publically that decriminalisation of all aspects of the sex industry including pimping and buying has been an abject failure.
They say ( source europarl) that over 65% of prostitution there is now run by criminal gangs and it has become, in the words of the annual US GOV State report ” a leading destination for human trafficking for prostitution”.
127 murders of prostituted women and girls at the hands of said pimps and johns at their place of ‘work’ says it all. It appears that you do more talking than research mister thinker.
#sexindustrykills
‘Stiff fines’… ok, I’ll get my coat. I’ll get ALL the coats…
@jamesdecay: at least we now know where you hang it.
@Etherman: ya have me well-pegged ;-)
In these days of enlightenment, why is there no red light districts in all major cities in Ireland, and why is prostitution not legalise, and why are sex workers not treated as being employed so that they pay their fair share of income tax and prsi like other workers do for their pensions in their old age.
@James Moore: because none of what you’re describing happens in real life.
What you’re describing is some sort of fairy tale. The reality is that when prostitution is legalised human trafficking skyrockets and virtually no prostituted person registers to pay tax. What pimp wants to lose profit to the government?
The Pimping of Prostitution is a great read if you’re interested in the facts of the matter.
@Veronica: Is the red light district in the article fairytale?
@Roy Dowling: what? The article doesn’t describe that red light district as an area where women pay taxes and everybody is using PPE because of exposure to bodily fluids and the women don’t experience violence or abuse?
Unless you thought that by “fairy tale” I meant “nonexistent”. Which I didn’t.
@Veronica: I would be interested to know where you get that information from, when you say that human trafficking skyrockets when pain prostitution is legalised. Sex workers I know seem to be for it being legalised and regulated, for better and safer working conditions.
@The Thinker: ‘pain’ = typo
@The Thinker: do you actually know any “sex workers” outside a punter-puntee relationship?
A quick and simple google will reveal all you need to know.
However here are two articles to get you started:
https://digitalcommons.law.msu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1229&context=ilr
@Veronica: Yes, I do have male and female sex worker friends.
@Veronica: Do you?
@James Moore: because it’s disgusting and abusive and you possibly paid for it didn’t you
@Roy Dowling: yes the Dutch authorities have admitted that decriminalisation is an abject failure. They estimate over 65% of prostitution is now controlled by organised crime and have had to mount a campaign of closures to wrest de Wallen back from the criminal pimps and traffickers.
And yes, the Netherlands is now a leading destination for human trafficking for prostitution and the murder rate of the prostituted by pimps and johns is in the hundreds. In Sweden under during the same period there was one victim murdered but by her ex , the father of her child. That is the nordic model where only the prostituted are decriminalised.
The body count does not lie.
Women are not commodities, sex is not a right.
I’m not exactly shocked that most guys commenting think legalising prostitution would be a great thing, but the facts remain that more prostituted women suffer from PTSD than soldiers returning from war, the risk of violence and sexualised violence is absurd, the exposure to biohazards is outrageous, the average age of entry is 13.5.
Most prostituted women and girls do NOT want to be in the trade.
@Veronica: please believe that those comments do not reflect on the likes of me. As a 50 year old father I could never condone this. I’m an ex rugby playing man who has worked in an almost entirely male dominated career my entire life. I’ve never had the inclination to go near a brothel. This has always been a moral choice – I have no religion incidentally. I know those that have and have argued this point. I know way more men that haven’t and are like me. These women and men in the sex trade are at great risk. You’re right to raise the issue but please acknowledge that all men aren’t the same. We’re on the same side.
@Etherman: I’m absolutely delighted to read your comment, and I’m very glad you feel the way you do!
I know many men are abolitionists too, and we definitely need more men like you and them.
The part of my comment you’re addressing was to the men who actually comment here. I only ever see men on here agreeing with prostitution or trying to push for it to be legalised in Ireland. We need more men to speak up!
@Veronica: internet fist pump or whatever the kids do now!
@Veronica: pure propaganda in that link and is based on hysterical, emotionally damaged women and lacks a common sense view.
@Veronica: you have always come across and probably always will as all men are guilty untill proven innocent. We’re not all baying hounds
@Veronica: I’m somewhat on the fence on this as I don’t think either side of the argument is based on reality.
It’s insane to claim that legalised prostitution prevents trafficking and enforced prostitution. It may encourage those who enter to fund a drug habit or because they can’t support a child.
It’s also wrong to believe that banning it, or laws like we have introduced in Ireland, will prevent prostitution.
That leads to the question of what other effects get worse if it’s underground – are those involved at more risk (allowing that it may be a higher risk for fewer people)? What about efforts to prevent the spread of STDs etc? For wider society, does it prevent the possibility of controlling where activities happen?
It really is a choice of trying to select the least bad option with limited evidence to do so.
@Etherman: I think it’s a fist bump but close enough! :D I’ll also take an Internet hi five :)
@Chris Mansfield: there is quite a lot of info out there actually! Read up on the Nordic model, which is the best model to reduce harm to women and girls (and men and boys) who are prostituted.
@BreadBasketCase: be careful your respect for women is showing.
@Veronica: Thank you Veronica. The amount of men who think its an entitlement i imagine is depressingly high.
@Veronica: if a woman or man or a transgender person decides to have sex for money what business is it or yours?. what happened to my body my choice?
@Veronica: hey veronica I am all for sex workers rights and legalisation.. Triggered? Don’t care!
@Veronica: we need more people to speak up I don’t care if they are men or woman .. woman being silent is just as bad as men paying for it !
Websites targeting Irish blokes need to be blocked ASAP
Do some men even think that women who engage In prostitution are human beings with real feelings. Do they care that the girl could be trafficked and is being forced against her will to do this work.In my opinion it has to be the worst possible way to earn a living for any woman.
As regards legalizing it. Can anyone see a scenario where a Pimp will pay half their ill gotten income to Revenue. Don’t think so.
@Aine O Connor: “In my opinion” is the key qualification of the above comment. In my opinion, if a girl is not trafficked and wants to do it voluntarily then it should be allowed. I think this is generally the consensus in any event, if it was possible to ensure women are not forced into it (and I don’t mean “forced” in terms of economic necessity bú actually threatened).
@Aine O Connor: exactly..i mean if you decide to become a pimp for a living, then youre not exactly a straight arrow in society
@Aine O Connor: exactly pimps are the mid dysfunctional people in society who will never have a moral compass they are uneducated and happily step on someone else’s head if that means they survive.
Younger boys from impoverished backgrounds coming from places like Morocco/ Turkey / Algeria Serbia Albania, Somalia and living in Holland then aspire to do as they do and creates another breed of psycho to repeat the process over and over again
Who looses – innocent girls and woman being beaten raped killed and drugged
That will stop the tulip’s
@FlopFlipU: ye…it’s the tours that are disrespectful to the sex workers…not the people paying for sex.
@SFNutters: I seriously doubt if the men paying for it in such sleazy dives care much about the women or are respectful at all. The prevailing attitude is, youre here doing this, so give me whatever i want to pay for.
@SFNutters: they don’t want the tourists to have a bad opinion of the Dutch / Amsterdam (1) they don’t want to show the illegal trade so that it looks like they respect woman when actually they don’t (2) – The Dutch are hypocritical and the cops are WEAK like a milk whiskey !
If a woman can decide and have an abortion, then she is mentally capable of deciding to do sex work! My body my choice! Don’t agree with it? Then don’t approach them! I don’t care for gambling really but I don’t demand all bookies in Ireland to be banned! I for one support sex workers rights to work safely and legalisation protects them! Many sex workers are advocates themselves but many feminists ignore them as it does not suit agenda, nor want them to have a voice! Its never going away, oldest profession. Sick of people having to go full dictator because “Im Triggered” get over it ladies and gents!
@No One Important: 98% of all prostitutes are forced into a life of sex slave and can’t end their shift until they had a min of 20 clients per day. Do what you want but don’t hide the fact that millions of woman are trafficked into sex slavery and it’s a global billion dollar illegal business run by sick men
@goliathof1: I don’t know where you’re getting those figures from. Prostitution takes many forms and maybe in some places in the world your figures are correct, but it’s generalizing.
A bit of hypocrisy, the way to solve a problem , Hide it.
@DavidOReilly: there is no problem and they aren’t hiding anything. Still perfectly legal for customers. If you were at work and there was guided tours passing you every half hr pointing at you and talking about you, you might not be best pleased.
@DavidOReilly: The problem is mass tourism which is having a negative impact on business for prostitutes. Same thing in Cork with the English Market. Tours have been limited because big groups of people taking photos means that shoppers are going elsewhere. Very few tourists purchasing
@Anne Marie Devlin: ….so you’re suggesting that The English Market should become more like how the Amsterdam red light district will operate from now on? That would certainly be interesting. See what the queen makes of that if she’s ever back again…
@DavidOReilly: not even that … most of the gangsters own the properties there … it’s modern slavery and abuse it’s disgusting
Woman / prostitutes are abused it’s against human right.. people shout help the migrants help the migrants in the end while gangsters rape murder abuse woman in their own back yard it’s a world gone mad !
@DavidOReilly: Well said 1000% right
@deisecelt: or constantly talking photos of you naked / semi naked etc … and no doubt sharing then which is probably illegal in itself
I lived in Holland, worked in the illegal drugs trade, many years before I was a body guard bouncer for high class (expensive) prostitutes
Most of you are talking absolute c r a p
Woman don’t choose to be a prostitute
They are forced to be one If they are the very few who do they are given drugs to keep them in a habit that can only be supported by prostitution
Do any of you know how much the sick / dysfunctional gangsters get for a prostitute per year ?
It’s more than any of you will make a year.
The red light district is an “enslavement camp”
You want to free yazidi and people from Syria etc why don’t you start freeing the woman in Amsterdam. It’s sick MSF needs an office there no in the Med
A friends who’s own daughter was enslaved by her “Moroccan boyfriend” in Amsterdam
@goliathof1: look up the term “lover boys” it originated from Amsterdam – a term for turning girlfriends into prostitutes
@goliathof1: Question if you knew that these girsl were trafficked illegally and forced into prostitution why did you work there. seems to me your every bit as guilty and the gangsters and the men who’s used the girls ervice. You knew what was happening took payment and did nothing to stop it.
@Roy Dowling: let’s make it about me .. that’s way more interesting! You’re more messed to concern yourself with me than the many raped woman ! I guess you voted for woman’s equal pay !! Experience counts and your comments don’t
@goliathof1: seriously? Your calling me messed? When your a man who stood by a door knowing the women were being raped. you were happy enough to take and spend made in the back of women being raped. Your s€um. You actually give s€um a bad name
@Roy Dowling: I’m not going into my details but you are and you’re making an a$$ out of yourself for thinking this but hey it’s a lot better you think it’s evil and put me in the picture than you to carry on thinking this is some fkn fairytale son !
@goliathof1: I’m not putting you in the picture. You put yourself in the picture. You accepted money and stood by and let these women be raped. you are just as bad as the dysfunctional gangster you acted as security for. nothing stopping you waling away and finding a real job. But you stayed accepting money on the abuse of women.
@Roy Dowling: you had your coffee and stopped joking about the situation and said it “abused woman”
@goliathof1: who’s joking?. Have you woken up and realised you stood by and allowed those women to be abused?
Aaawwwe!!!(just joking)lol.
That’s a shame,I learned a lot from that tour.
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