Dutch plan to bring in prostitution licences and raise legal age to 21

Photo: Depositphotos.com
Photo: Depositphotos.com

The government is planning to increase the legal age to become a prostitute from 18 to 21, and to introduce a new licencing system, the AD said on Friday, quoting sources in The Hague.

In addition, pimps who profit financially from prostitution will be committing a criminal offence unless they too have a licence, the paper said.

The aim is to both help combat human trafficking and exploitation and create a nationwide set of rules. The legal age in Amsterdam, for example, has been 21 since 2013.

The measures were included in the government’s coalition agreement and are a particular wish of Gert-Jan Segers, leader of the small Christian party ChristenUnie.

The introduction of licences is particularly controversial and prostitutes say it will drive them underground.

Previous efforts to bring in more rules to manage prostitution have floundered, the AD said.

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