Police Action: Prostitute Numbers Reduced in Norway

From the Aftenposten:

There's been a marked decline in the number of prostitutes on the streets of Oslo this week. The decline follows two waves of arrests aimed at cracking down on human trafficking.

Police in Oslo arrested nearly 70 persons earlier this week, all of them tied to the Nigerian circles of prostitutes who have been aggressively going after customers on downtown streets during the past year.

Of the 66 persons rounded up, 18 have been charged with offenses including human trafficking, pimping and dealing in stolen property. Prostitution itself is not illegal in Norway, but pimping is. Anyone considered to have organized prostitutes' activities is subject to prosecution, and a new law also opens for prosecution of persons buying sexual services.
All the persons arrested were women, except one. Most were held pending examination of their identity papers and proof of resident status.

It's believed that most of the active foreign prostitutes in Oslo have obtained resident status in another European country, thus giving them permission to live and work in Norway. Even athough Norway is not a member of the European Union, it is part of economic trade and cooperation agreements that allow EU residents to freely move across borders.

The 18 charged with serious offenses are aged 25 to 40 years. Those charged with human trafficking are suspected of transporting large sums of money out of Norway, believed to be individual prostitutes' revenues.

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Norway Proposes Jail, Fines for Buying Sex

From Reuters:

OSLO- The Norwegian government proposed on Friday to fine or jail clients of prostitutes for up to six months in a bid to stamp out human trafficking, and said the law would also apply to its citizens abroad. Norway signalled in mid-2007 that it would make it a criminal offence to buy services from prostitutes, following the example of Scandinavian neighbour Sweden which introduced a similar ban in 1999.

The amendment will now be put to parliament for approval and if passed will take effect in January 2008, officials said. "People are not merchandise, and criminalising the purchase of sexual services will make it less attractive for human traffickers to look to Norway," Justice Minister Knut Storberget said in a statement.

Prostitution is allowed in Norway although procuring, or "pimping," is illegal. A rise in street prostitution in the capital, Oslo, in recent years has triggered calls for a ban.

Proponents of the measure say it makes sense to try to stop prostitution by punishing those who use the service rather than the women themselves, who are often poor, young immigrants. "The goal is that the ban should contribute to ... reducing demand and thereby give a lesser market for human trafficking," Storberget said.

Opponents of the ban say it will jeopardise women in the trade by driving prostitution underground where they will be even more vulnerable.

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