Organization
Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, with the exception of street prostitution, but work permits are not issued for prostitution; therefore legally working in the trade is limited mostly to EU citizens. (A non-EU citizen can work legally in Netherlands without a work permit in certain circumstances, for instance, if they are the spouse of a local citizen.)
Whilst health and social services are readily available, sex workers are not required to undergo regular health checks. Brothel owners and room operators often require health certificates before employing or leasing rooms.
To counter negative publicity, Mariska Majoor, founder of the Prostitution Information Center, organized two "open days" in February 2006 and March 2007, allowing visitors access to some window brothels and peep shows and informing them about the working conditions there. Majoor was also instrumental in having the world's first monument to sex workers installed in the red light district. The bronze statue was unveiled on the Oudekerksplein in front of the Oude Kerk at the open day in March 2007 and shows a woman standing in a doorway.
Read more about this topic: De Wallen
Famous quotes containing the word organization:
“Prostitution is the most hideous of the afflictions produced by the unequal distribution of the world’s goods; this infamy stigmatizes the human species and bears witness against the social organization far more than does crime.”
—Flora Tristan (1803–1844)
“When a man’s partner’s killed, he’s supposed to do something about it. It doesn’t make any difference what you thought of him, he was your partner and you’re supposed to do something about it. As it happens, we’re in the detective business; well, when one of your organization gets killed, it’s, it’s bad business to let the killer get away with it. Bad all around. Bad for every detective everywhere.”
—John Huston (1906–1987)
“Democracy means the organization of society for the benefit and at the expense of everybody indiscriminately and not for the benefit of a privileged class.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)