Population:

16 million

Number of prostitutes:

25,000 – 50,000

Of which migrant:

17,000 – 25,000

Age of consent:

16

De Jure

Prostitution:

Fully legal

Trafficking:

Trafficking is a crime in Holland which carries a 5-8 year sentence.

The age of consent is 16.  This is also the minimum age for visiting a prostitute (not enforced) or acting in a 'soft' pornographic movie (enforced), whereas it is 18 for 'hard core' acting or prostitution work.  (More details are available)

In 1994 the Dutch penal code was revised to increase the maximum sentence for trafficking from 5 to 6 years of imprisonment. In cases involving trafficking in children, the sentence is now ten years.

De Facto

The Brothel Act is seldom enforced as brothels advertise openly. Cities can regulate prostitution as they see fit and in practice often confine street prostitution to certain parts of town and impose conditions on brothels.

Women work in 'window brothels', on the streets and in clubs. Near the borders with Germany and Belgium there is street prostitution. In rural areas there are so-called 'sex farms', brothels which provides living quarters for the prostitutes. In urban areas window prostitution is the most frequent form. For example, in Amsterdam 75% of the 50 000 women in the sex industry work in the window brothels located in the red-light district known as the Wallen. In Rotterdam too, trafficked women work mostly in clubs and windows.