Spanish PM vows to outlaw prostitution
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Sunday vowed to make prostitution illegal in the country.
Speaking at a three-day convention of his Socialist Party in Valencia, he said it was because of this that women remained slaves.
Prostitution was removed from the list of crimes in Spain in 1995, and in 2016 the industry was estimated at 3.7 billion euros. A 2009 service found that one in three Hispanic men had paid for sex at some point.
However, another report said that the rate could be as high as 39% and according to a 2011 UN study, Spain was the third largest country in the world for prostitution. Spain was followed by Thailand and Puerto Rico.
Prostitution is not illegal in Spain at the moment, but there are no laws against it. There is currently no penalty for voluntarily providing services for a fee if the work is not being done in a public space. However, it is illegal to act as an agent between a sex worker and a potential client.
The industry has flourished in Spain since it was removed from the list of crimes, and it is estimated that about 300,000 women are involved in prostitution in Spain.
In 2019, Prime Minister Sanchez's party promised in its election promises that it would make prostitution illegal. The move was seen as an attempt to gain popularity among women voters.
The party manifesto states that prostitution is the most oppressive form of female poverty. However, two years after the election, no law came before parliament.
Proponents of the current system say that the current system has greatly benefited women and made their lives safer.
But over the past few years, there have been growing concerns that women could be trafficked to become skyscrapers. In 2017, Spanish police rescued at least 13,000 women in anti-trafficking raids, saying 80 percent of them were being exploited against their will.