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<p class="MsoNormal">Amsterdam brothel owners must speak sex workers' language<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34423322<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Image caption It is estimated that around three-quarters of the women who work in Amsterdam's sex industry are foreign<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dutch brothel owners must be able to communicate with sex workers in their own language to protect them from abuse, the EU's top court has ruled.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The authorities in Amsterdam were right to refuse a brothel owner permission to operate because he could not speak Hungarian or Bulgarian, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Brothels are legal in the Netherlands and must be licensed locally.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the authorities are trying to tackle human trafficking and abuse.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">ECJ rulings are binding throughout the 28-member EU.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"The court considers it is possible to require that a brothel owner be able to communicate in the same language with the prostitutes who work there," the ECJ said in a statement.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Only then could a brothel, including Amsterdam's famous "shop windows", be organised to prevent abuses and criminal offences against the sex workers, it said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Image copyright Getty Images<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Image caption Sex workers and sympathisers protested in Amsterdam in April against plans to limit window prostitution in an anti-crime push<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday's ruling comes after the authorities in Amsterdam refused to grant new permits to a brothel owner who rents windows to prostitutes in the city's red light district.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The court said the decision was justified because he could not speak Hungarian or Bulgarian - the prostitutes' languages - to ask them whether they had been trafficked or forced to sell sex.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">'Public interest'<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The brothel owner said he could use interpreters or online translation software instead.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He invoked EU single market rules, saying Amsterdam's mayor, who is not named in the case, was being "discriminatory" and "disproportionate".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the ECJ rejected this, citing "overriding reasons relating to the public interest".<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Prostitution was legalised in the Netherlands and in Germany in 2002.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Under Dutch law, those working in the trade have to register at the chamber of commerce and pay tax.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But officials have tried to tighten up practices in Amsterdam in recent years, in an effort to combat human trafficking and organised crime.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It has been reported that around three-quarters of the women who work in the city's sex industry are foreign, arriving mainly from Eastern Europe, Africa or Asia.<o:p></o:p></p>
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