22. 05. 12. - 16:05
SPÖ demands legalised street prostitution
Integration spokesperson Anja Hagenauer (SPÖ) has suggested that "performance boxes" should be constructed in Salzburg to allow clients to park in them and carry out their business with a prostitute.
Harsh police controls on the streets of Salzburg have turned the problem of prostitution into one that cannot be seen, and Anja Hagenauer thinks that this is bad for the women selling their services.
She said: "Street prostitution is even more hidden now, and not as open. And the more hidden a thing is, the more dangerous it becomes for the people who frequent it – both prostitutes and their clients."
The idea with the box-shaped parking spaces is taken from Cologne, where the boxes have been a success for many years.
Controls and penalties are wrong approaches, according to Ursula Liebing of the Salzburg Platform for Human Rights. She said: "The punishment for buying street prostitutes is always discussed in Salzburg, as well as the safety and order. We need to look at the issue from the women’s perspective, and at what is important for them. How can we protect their rights in the best way?"
Hagenauer wants a new political discussion. She wants to legalise street prostitution and use certain areas for the purpose, like in Cologne – where there are entire car parks dedicated to it.
Robert Kilp, leader of the bureau of public order in Cologne, said: "We have reached our goal and decreased illegal prostitution. For eleven years we have had no problems with prostitution, and no major issues have been encountered."
The man in charge of public order in Salzburg, vice mayor Harald Preuner (ÖVP), does not agree.
He said: "It is almost preposterous when you criticise attacks on street prostitution so heavily and believe it to improve women’s rights."
Thirty-nine people were arrested in Salzburg last month for having bought street prostitutes. They had to pay a substantial fine. Preuner said: "That works. Quibbling about other cities ways to solve problems will not help, since it would be impossible to just transfer to Salzburg."
