Pirate party seeks to legalize sex work and add it to Trade Licensing Act

Sex workers would be classified as self-employed, if a proposal supported by the Pirates becomes law.

The Prague Assembly will vote on June 18 to call on the Czech Parliament to classify sexual services among the free trades in the Trade Licensing Act in order to complete the legalization.

According to Pirates, people who work in the sex business could legalize their income, which should bring up to 10 billion CZK to the state budget. In the Czech Republic, about 13,000 to 25,000 people work in sexual services.

“The largest club in Prague focused on providing these services has an annual attendance higher than Konopiště Castle. …The idea that it is possible to eradicate this oldest craft is completely misguided. It is necessary to stop closing our eyes to this topic,” Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates) said on the Pirate Party website.

In order to legalize sex work, the Czech Republic would need to withdraw from the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. The Pirates claim the document from 1951 does not address the social circumstances of such services, and doesn’t distinguish between forced sex work and voluntary sex work.

Prague Assemblywoman Eva Horáková (Pirates), chairwoman of the social policy committee, prepared the appeal. “I do not want these people to continue living in a threatening state of illegality, due to which out of fear for their privacy or their lives, they do not report a crime committed against them,” Horáková said.

“I believe that, if the profession were to be legalized, they would be self-employed and would therefore be entitled to state support, such as a child care services. … Most people who provide sexually paid services are mothers with two children under the age of 10,” she added.

City Councilor and Assemblyman Vít Šimral (Pirates), responsible for education, sports, business support and leisure, said the state of emergency due to the coronavirus has shown how many professions that lack a proper legal framework have a big problem. Sex workers were left without income, and unable to seek state aid.

“This applies to work in sexual services. It is currently not possible to carry out this on a contract or trade license. Most of these women and men are not properly protected from a work point of view and it often happens that they do not get paid from club owners, managers or clients. It is more difficult for them to have health or social insurance and a pension, they cannot get a loan or a mortgage and they live in the gray zone of the economy,” he said.

Legalizing sex work has been proposed before, usually with an emphasis on its potential the impact on the state coffers, public order and the protection of clients. However, it is also necessary to be interested in the protection of workers themselves from violence and illness, ensuring their employment relationships, reducing stigma and improving the living conditions of people working in the sex business, the Pirates claim.

The proposal has some support from opposition parties. City Assemblyman Bohuslav Svoboda (ODS), who was Prague mayor in 2010–13, also tried to legalize sex work. He said the convention from 1951 banning sex work corresponds to the time of its creation.

“After consulting with a lawyer, I found out that if we want to change their completely illegal existence with the absolute absence of any social security: insurance, pension, health care but also tax liability, it is necessary to repeal the Convention by law. I proposed this already in the period when I was the mayor of Prague, so I very much welcome the activity of the Pirates that they want to deal with this issue in legislation. They will have my support,” he said.

The head of the coalition of the United Force for Prague, Jiří Pospíšil, is against it. United Force for Prague is composed of TOP 09, Mayors and Independents (STAN) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), and is part of the current ruling coalition at City Hall.

“There has not yet been a successful model in the world that would effectively motivate prostitutes to register and pay taxes voluntarily. So we have to ask what the motivation should be. In addition, I believe that the state should not legalize something and make money on something that is ethically questionable for a part of society,” he said, according to daily Pražský deník.