A publicly recognized prostitution zone with health-controlled bordellos, with taxed income, economic checks and social rights along the lines of Amsterdam's famed Red Light District is what Labour Party MPs Eirin Sund and Marianne Agdestein see as an alternative to Oslo's sex trade along certain streets.
The government alliance parties are drafting the possibility of criminalizing the purchase of sex, and the dominant Labour Party, which heads the majority coalition government with partners the Socialist Left and Center parties, will debate the issue at their national congress.
Agdestein told newspaper Dagbladet that she has gradually come to favor criminalization, but sees the red light district model as an alternative in the event that the party votes against criminalization. Sund opposes the criminalization proposal, fearing it will lead to worse conditions for prostitutes.
According to a new survey carried out by InFact for newspaper VG, 55 percent of Labour voters favor the criminalization of buying sex, with twice as many favoring criminalization if the undecideds are removed from the equation.
The national party congresses for the Socialist Left and Center parties voted in favor of criminalizing the purchase of sex, so a Labour Party yes would pave the way for a majority backed change of legislation.
VG reports that none of Labour's ten cabinet ministers favor the criminalization line.
