> Eliminate the demand
And how exactly do you propose to do that?
And how exactly do you propose to do that?
From what I've read so far enforcement seems to be aimed at deporting workers and not punishing the companies. Seems like a case for punishing the perpetrators and not the victims.
Most migrant workers are therefore from Eastern Europe, and can work there legally.
I don't know about Sweden, but here in Norway enforcement is pretty strict. Industries that the government considers especially prone to illegal activities, like construction, are inspected regularly. There is also a system of forced tariff (minimum pay, requirement to pay extra for overtime, and other standards), and companies can be hold collective responsible for what their subcontractors does. Employers that don't follow the rules face large fines, confiscations and prison. Every worker has the right to collective bargaining.
Illegal immigrants can of course be deported, but because there is no place to incarcerate them until they can be sent home, the government mainly focus on deporting criminals and thus with a known home address, not scooping up illegals where their may work. However we have a new government that may make changes to this now.
Berry picking is legal, but employing workers from eastern Europe is not.
Provide a legal channel by which cheap labor can be imported, and the scamsters will be out of business.
[0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_the_Netherlands...
Where it's illegal, no-one talks to the police.
I would also imagine the demand is much higher since it is illegal in surrounding areas and most of the world. If that weren't they case I'm guessing demand would be much lower. It's a problem that can't be solved in isolation.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/kenya_46571.html
http://www.iasociety.org/Abstracts/A2190151.aspx
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~jejackso/Poverty%20and%20Prostitut...
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2013/08/prostitution-and-pove...
This problem probably can be solved with technology - make Airbnb for amateur sex workers :)
They or the people they left behind to report the people running them will be beaten and possibly killed. People who are illegally importing sex workers aren't nice people who will just ask them not to go to the police again.
Not all sex slaves are legal age adults who would compete against a legal prostitution environment.
If we legalize a drug (say, alcohol), then the people who sell that particular drug will typically no longer be willing to sell that drug to minors, since minors represent a very small percentage of the market and (with the legalization of the larger segment of the market) carry a much greater risk that cannot be justified by the marginal profit gains they could see.
This is why it is easier for a teenager to buy marijuana than alcohol in significant quantities.
The years of campaigning and changing laws to prevent shops (and pubs) from selling alcohol and cigarettes to children show that actually they don't give a fuck who they sell to so long as they sell. Marketing tobacco products with youth friendly cartoon camels or with names like Skol Bandits is sleazy. Big tobacco had no problem targeting children even though they knew it was illegal.
{As always in these discussions: I am strongly in favour of legalising all drugs}
The fact is when the laws are enforced it becomes difficult for teenagers to buy liquor themselves and, absent people who make a living selling liquor illegally (these people still exist in some remote parts of Alaska, and in some very poor areas of the rural Appalachians, but not really elsewhere), teenagers will have a difficult time finding a reliable source of alcohol (Joe's older brother who goes to college may pick you up a keg once in a while for your parties, but Joe's older brother has better things to do than buy teenagers booze all the time, even if he's gouging them)
On the other hand, reliable sources of pot is easy for a teenager. The people who are willing to illegally sell pot to teenagers are already selling to a larger more affluent audience illegally as well (adults).
Basically:
Selling alcohol to everybody illegally:
Laws are enforced: profitable, and risky.
Laws are not enforced: profitable.
Selling alcohol to only adults legally: profitable.
Selling alcohol to only minors illegally:
Laws are enforced: not profitable, and risky.
Laws are not enforced: not profitable.
Selling alcohol to adults legally and minors illegally:
Laws are enforced: profitable, but needlessly risky
for what you gain.
Laws are not enforced: profitable.
Increasing the sales by several percent without any extra expenses is certainly profitable.
To sell alcohol to kids, they do not need to invent new 'kid friendly bottles' and dump millions into 'kid oriented marketing', they are already here to buy, just sell the damn same product and here is the profit.
Legalizing prostitution was floated as an instant fix for the human trafficking problem, when it...by very simple example...isn't.
1 - http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-07-13/news/bs-md-co-mc...
2 - http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/12/04/denver-mcdonalds-franc...
3 - http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/aug/01/childprotection.so...
4 - http://www.examiner.com/article/illegal-aliens-caught-workin...
Yes it still happens, but when it happens there's a mechanism to punish the perpetrators and help the victims (In most of the articles you linked the employee's received their back wages).
Why should sex workers not enjoy the same protection?
1) Do you think that the few times McD's was caught with underage or otherwise illegal workers represents all the times that underage and or otherwise illegal workers are used (that enforcement of the law is 100% effective)? My obvious assertion is that it probably wouldn't be reported in the news if it wasn't caught and that enforcement of labor laws is less than 100% effective.
2) Do you think we should have a legal framework that allows for underage sex workers? Because we already have one that doesn't allow for such an occupation by minors yet it's still a shockingly common part of human sex slave trafficking. It also caters to a type of client who wouldn't necessarily be affected by a prostitution legalization regime.
No, I think that we should have a legal framework which protects sex workers (including those whom it will remain illegal to employ as such, such as those who are underage ), and creates a clear, visible, and effective (compared to the current regime) protection for abused sex workers (including, but not limited to, those who it is illegal to employ as sex workers because of their age) by (among other means) making it clear that legal punishments will be directed at the abusers, not the abused (and not any party in the fully consensual, non-abusive interactions), which creates much stronger incentives for everyone but the abusers to report the abusers, rather than creating an apparent alignment of interests between the abusers and other market participants.
By making sex work illegal rather than only the abusive employment of sex workers, you reduce the marginal cost of abuses within sex work, and create an apparent alignment of interest between the abused and other market participants, on the one hand, and the abusers, on the other, since revealing the abusers exposes the abused and other market participants to punishment.
2) I'm not arguing for allowing underage sex workers. However, age of consent is very much a cultural issue, and I'm not comfortable insisting on a certain age, that should be up to each country.
I'm arguing that legalizing sex work would provide those who consent to do it with a modicum of safety, and instead of being a coercive act it can be a route to empowerment. Furthermore, I'm arguing that legalizing sex work would reduce the demand for illegally trafficked sex workers. Lastly, I'm arguing that providing a strong social safety net would reduce the number of people who engage in sex work out of necessity. The sad fact is that a lot of child sex workers are brought into the sex trade by their families because it is sometimes the only means of survival.
Prostitution being illegal only punishes the victim. Trafficking sex slaves, using sex workers who don't/can't consent, and any other practices that harm sex workers should be illegal and heavily enforced.