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PROSTITUTION

Taekwondo champs held over prostitute ring

Police arrested 16 people, two of whom are national Taekwondo champions, in relation to an underage prostitution ring in the Rhône-Alpes and Savoie region yesterday.

Published: 2 October 2012 11:26 CEST

The arrests were made in relation to an inquiry into the prostitution of seven girls aged between 14 and 18, which started in Annecy in April this year.

Two of those arrested are known to be Taekwondo champions.

“Obviously these individuals were in charge of the ring or profited from the prostitution of these girls,” said Jean-Yves Coquillat, the Grenoble prosecutor.

Coquillat also confirmed the suspects are still being questioned.

The presumed head of the ring has not yet been arrested, and is thought to be based in Isere.

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PROSTITUTION

Spain’s top court reinstates first sex workers’ union

Spanish sex workers have the right to form their own union, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, overturning an earlier court decision ordering the dissolution of Spain's first such labour organisation.

Published: 2 June 2021 16:34 CEST
Spain's top court reinstates first sex workers' union
Photo: Oscar del Pozo/AFP

Known as OTRAS (or “the Sex Workers’ Organisation”), the union was discretely set up in August 2018 but was closed three months later by order of the National Court following an appeal by the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

But following an appeal, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of OTRAS, saying that its statutes, which had triggered the initial legal challenge, were “in line with the law” and that sex workers “have the fundamental right to freedom of association and the right to form a union”.

In its November 2018 ruling, the National Court had argued that allowing the union to exist amounted to “recognising the act of procurement as lawful”.

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Contacted by AFP, the union did not wish to comment.

When it was founded, OTRAS received the green light from the labour ministry and its statutes were publicly registered in the official gazette the day before the government went into a summer recess.

But three weeks later, the government — which portrays itself as “feminist and in favour of the abolition of prostitution” according to Sanchez’s Twitter feed at the time — started legal moves against it.

In Spain, prostitution is neither legal nor illegal but it is tolerated.

Although it is not recognised as employment, there is a large number of licensed brothels throughout the country.

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