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Switzerland denies being a “pimping state”, as a UN special rapporteur asserts. Monday before the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Swiss Ambassador Jürg Lauber said that this term was “not appropriate”.
In her report presented last Friday to the UN entity, the special rapporteur on violence against women Reem Alsalem targets Switzerland in particular. She believes that in several countries including this one, “the State legalizes, organizes and regulates the activity and profits from the prostitution of others as well as all commercial sexual establishments”.
The text emphasizes that “the decriminalization of the sex trade has prevented traffickers from being identified and prosecuted as actively as would have been necessary” in the country.
Discussions on a divisive issue “must be conducted without moral judgment,” Mr. Lauber said on Monday. He recalled that the fight against gender-based violence was a very important project for Switzerland.
And he said the legalization of prostitution helped protect sex workers. A ban can move the consequences “underground”, he also believes.
Register customers as delinquents
Ms Alsalem, who does not speak on behalf of the UN, calls for an end to the purchase of sexual acts worldwide. She also wants consumers to be mentioned in a register as delinquents.
The rapporteur calls for a legal framework with five components. From the protection of victims to the decriminalization of prostitutes, including the criminalization of the purchase of sexual acts and pimping and an explanation campaign for consumers.
In her report, Ms. Alsalem also calls for obstacles to the demand for the purchase of sexual acts. People who use it should be added to a sex offender register, according to her. The rapporteur calls for international law measures to put an end to pornography. Crimes against prostitutes should be considered femicide, she also insists.
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