[LINK] "Romanian prostitutes flee to Western EU to escape tough laws"

[rfmcdonald]

This Times story, while describing a story that's sad in its own right, also speaks directly to prostitution laws which target prostitutes and not their clients, even though the prostitutes themselves are much the most disadvantaged participants.

A survey by Tempep, an EU-funded network of sex industry health agencies, found that one in eight foreign prostitutes in Europe was Romanian, replacing Russians as the main nationality since the previous assessment in 2006.

Speaking from Bucharest, where she recently returned, Ana-Marie said: “The fine for prostitution in Romania is €120 \[£105\] and I would get one almost every night standing on the street. I had no chance of paying the fines and paying the rent and feeding my child. I would have ended up in prison ... In France I can get free condoms and methadone, I can also complain to the police if something happens instead of being harassed by them.”

This week Evenimentul zilei, a Bucharest newspaper, under the headline “Romania top exporter of prostitution”, wrote: “Barely three years after its accession to the EU, the country can lay claim to yet another lofty distinction.”

The newspaper called for a fresh debate on calls for prostitution to be legalised, in line with a proposal by a presidential commission four months ago. That was blocked by an alliance of civic and religious groups including the powerful Romanian Orthodox Church. The result of Europe’s strictest anti-prostitution laws, according to sex workers, is that prostitutes are regularly sent to prison while their clients are hardly punished.