LONDON (AP):
AN ARTICLE and editorial in Britain's leading medical journal said yesterday that legalising prostitution is the best way to protect the safety of sex workers.
The new issue of the British Medical Journal also criticised a proposal by the British Government to legalise mini-brothels and crack down on men seeking prostitutes, saying the changes could increase violence against sex workers.
The journal said such a crackdown could displace many sex workers from established "red-light" areas and reduce their power to demand the use of condoms.
Editor Fiona Godlee urged the government to legalise prostitution: "It is surely time for an end to the arguments of moral opprobrium and for some bolder steps toward legalisation, if we are to improve public health and human rights."
Licensing brothels would help authorities ensure that children and illegal immigrants were not working at them, or using illegal drugs, the article said.
Last week, the British government moved toward legalising mini-brothels after it proposed changing the law to allow up to three prostitutes to work together in a single dwelling.
Home Office Minister Fiona Mactaggart said current law, which bars more than one prostitute working in a premises, puts women at risk, while working alone. She said the government also wants to tackle street prostitution and crack down on so-called "curb crawlers," the men who trawl sidewalks in their cars looking for sex.
Mactaggart said the legal change would not encourage the sale of women's bodies, but reduce the risks prostitutes face of being mistreated or attacked while working.
