Alex Trelinski
TOUGHER sanctions against street and public prostitutes come into force in Elche on Tuesday with fines as high as €3,000 per infraction.
Elche council is also working on an action plan to help women move on from using prostitution to make a living.
Anybody found in a public area soliciting clients faces a penalty of between €500 and €3,000, but with a 20% for a prompt payment of the fine.
Customers and pimps also face being fined if caught by the police.
Minors aged between 14 and 18 years who are denounced would be able to do social work rather than paying a financial sanction.
The local ordnance also talks of eradicating prostitution and aiming to protect the rights of women, and to defend and protect victims of prostitution.
Besides fines, the ordnance says it is a minor infraction to place, distribute or disseminate advertising that promotes or encourages prostitution as well as sex tourism.
More serious infractions are requesting or negotiating paid sexual services as well as monitoring and alerting prostitutes about any local police presence.
Very serious offences are deemed to be carried out less than 200 metres from centres with an influx of children, sports centres, or ‘isolated, badly-lit’ areas closed to roads and spaces.
The action plan will be created for women in prostitution so that they can integrate socially, economically and professionally,
Though yet to be announced, it will list options and available resources including psychological and health care, legal assistance, training, career guidance and ways of finding housing.
READ MORE:
- New measures to clamp down on exploitation of prostitutes in Costa Blanca and Valencia areas of Spain
- Women liberated from highly organised Andalucian prostitute ring
