The SPD politician Maria Noichl spoke out in favor of punishing clients in Germany as well. “The prostitution law has failed,” said the rapporteur for a report by the European Parliament on the subject of prostitution and chairwoman of the working group of social democratic women of the “Rheinische Post” (Monday), with a view to the law that came into force in 2002, with which the then red-green Coalition wanted to improve the legal and social situation of prostitutes.
With liberalization, the government at the time wanted to get women who worked in prostitution out of the sleazy corner of the milieu and help them get social security, said Noichl. “But now the opposite has happened. Liberalization has turned us into a country that sucks up everyone who makes money from prostitution like a sponge.” It is legal to sell women’s bodies, but the deep misery of women has remained. “I would like Germany to have the Nordic model that punishes clients,” she said.
The so-called Nordic model provides that only the person who pays money for sex can be held criminally responsible. It is practiced in Sweden, for example, where, in addition to the ban on buying sex, it also provides for sex education for young people, the decriminalization of prostitutes and exit programs. Prostitution has been legal in Germany for a long time. On the other hand, anyone who knowingly uses the services of a forced prostitute has been liable to prosecution since 2016.
