Spanish Prime Minister Vows to Abolish Prostitution in Spain

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. (Flickr)

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez reiterated his 2019 pledge to outlaw prostitution during the 40th Federal Congress, held by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) over the weekend of October 16. 

Sanchez’s original endorsement of criminalizing prostitution came in his party’s 2019 election manifesto. It was included as a means to appease feminist groups already supporting the party, as well as to cultivate further support among a wider feminist base. PSOE’s anti-prostitution proposal followed the party’s stance against surrogacy and its promise to enforce positive consent for sexual contact, as well as its vow to support equal parental leave. However, after two years, PSOE’s promises remain unfulfilled.

Although pimping and sexual exploitation are both illegal in Spain, the trade of prostitution itself is not outlawed. Spain decriminalized the ‘oldest profession’ in 1995, leading the country to attain the estimated third-largest prostitution economy in the world at €3.7 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2016, behind only Thailand and Puerto Rico. Alternative sources estimate the current revenue generated by prostitution in Spain to be $26.5 billion, placing it as the second-largest economy in the world behind China. A survey by Spain’s Social Investigations Center reported in 2009 that one in three Spanish men has paid for sex at least once, with around 300,000 women working in the sex-for-profit industry in Spain. 

PSOE drafted a bill that looked to imitate the ‘Swedish model’ for fighting prostitution in 2018. The bill attempted to disincentivize clients and anyone providing accommodations for the sex trade. Sanchez has yet to provide a second iteration of the 2018 bill, the enactment of which would necessitate agreement on the part of Podemos, PSOE’s coalition partner. Speaking to Vice News, a spokesperson for the European Sex Workers Rights Alliance cautioned against any such legislation, particularly in the wake of COVID-19: “Pedro Sánchez’s priorities should be to meet representatives of sex workers communities, discuss their needs and develop joint programs and policies that would protect them. This call for abolition and criminalization will only endanger sex workers, in particular those most vulnerable to violence and exploitation.”

Sanchez’s support for the criminalization of prostitution rests upon the belief that the trade “enslaves women.” Indeed, César Jara, a Spanish journalist speaking to EFE News Agency, noted that “95 percent of prostitution in Spain is not free, it's forced in one way or another, whether because of socio-economic conditions, threats or other pressures.” Spain has witnessed a disturbing rise of migrant sex workers since the 1980s, many having come to Spain illegally. Spanish prostitutes do not enjoy the same protections as other workers, since they must rent the rooms in which they work due to the illegal status of brothels. 

Despite the prescriptive intent of Sanchez’s pledge, concerns remain that any further criminalization of sex work will only render the trade more secretive, thereby leading to a greater potential for exploitation.