Prostitution in Austria
In principle, prostitution - adults offering sexual services - is legal in Austria, but the legal and social approach to this issue has remained ambiguous. Prostitutes are subject to numerous duties: they must register, undergo weekly medical checkups, pay taxes and comply with a great number of restrictions as specified in the laws of the federal states. Yet their rights are few: their activities are considered immoral, contracts concerning their services are null and void, they cannot sue for their fees, and they frequently lack social protection. Above all, prostitutes suffer social stigmatisation.
Since women account for the vast majority of prostitutes - far over 90% - these are predominantly women's problems.
So if we want to ensure sustained protection against exploitation for female (and male) prostitutes, we need a clear concept for dealing with the voluntary performance of sexual services. Primary goals are protection through social and labour legislation and the creation of alternative means of earning their livelihood to enable them to change jobs at any time.
Besides, we need a clear divide between voluntary performance of sexual services and trafficking in women (as well as other forms of sexual violence and coercion) in order to be able to better identify and support victims.
Policy package
In June 2007, the Human Trafficking Task Force responded to this challenge by appointing an interdisciplinary group of experts chaired by the Women's Division in the Federal Chancellery which was commissioned to develop comprehensive policies for improving the situation of prostitutes in Austria.
The experts spent one year dealing with the subject of prostitution in Austria, summarising their findings in a report. Apart from a detailed description of the relevant legal situation and its implications, this report includes a wide-ranging policy package that fully measures up to the complexity of the problems.
Publication (in German)
The work report "Prostitution in Österreich. Rechtslage, Auswirkungen, Empfehlungen" gives a detailed description of the relevant legal situation and its implications and includes wide-ranging recommendations. The document is provided in the web page in German: .
Links