Mayor Asks Banks for Credit for Prostitutes
THE HAGUE, 20/07/13 - Bank should adopt a favourable stance towards prostitutes who try to keep window prostitution going by uniting in a cooperative, Utrecht mayor Wolfsen said Friday in Trouw newspaper.
Wolfsen recently withdrew the licence of Wegra, the biggest operator of window prostitution, due to suspicions of human trafficking. Two Utrecht prostitutes then suggested the idea of becoming the operators themselves and want to set up a cooperative for this purpose. Wolfsen is prepared to recommend the initiative to banks if the financing of the cooperative threatens to run out. “Prostitution is a legal profession. Treat these women as ordinary, startup business people. Do not discriminate against them,” he says in Trouw. Gooiland Beveiliging, a security company recognised by the justice ministry, has meanwhile approached Wolfsen to take over the operation from Wegra. Owner Marc Kamer says he wants to banish abuses. In the Upper House, a number of political parties recently expressed praise on the facilitating of prostitution cooperatives by municipalities. Among others, Labour (PvdA), the Socialist Party (SP), centre-left D66 and the leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) believe that such organisations are good for the emancipation of the profession of prostitution and in this way can erect a barrier against abuses. |