In contrast to the recent Swedish decision making prostitution illegal, Denmark legalized the sale of sexual services last Thursday.
The new law voted in 81-27 by Danish parliament will go into effect on July 1. Sex purchased from anyone under the age of 18 will result in a maximum sentence of two years in prison, the law states.
"One shouldn't view prostitutes as criminals, but rather prostitution as a symptom of social problems," Minister of Social affairs Karen Jespersen was quoted as saying by the Jyllands Posten newspaper.
Prostitution is already widely tolerated in Denmark, and since the mid-1970s police rarely arrest women for selling sex. Along with this new law, Danes stepped up measures to prevent prostitution by minors, help women get out of the sex trade, and stop those who bring women in from Eastern Europe and Asia and then force them into prostitution.
Denmark has a growing problem of criminals bringing women from poor countries and forcing them into prostitution, a problem the government, said Danish Minister of Justice Frank Jensen, plans on attacking.
