PSPV and Compromís agree not to fine (for the time being) the whores in Valencia

The differences that prostitution has caused in the Govern del Botànic, especially between the Minister of Justice, Gabriela Bravo (PSPV), and the Minister of Equality, Mónica Oltra (Compromís), have not been seen in the plenary session of the Valencia City Council.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
26 May 2022 Thursday 09:38
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PSPV and Compromís agree not to fine (for the time being) the whores in Valencia

The differences that prostitution has caused in the Govern del Botànic, especially between the Minister of Justice, Gabriela Bravo (PSPV), and the Minister of Equality, Mónica Oltra (Compromís), have not been seen in the plenary session of the Valencia City Council. After the socialist deputy mayor Sandra Gómez presented a motion for the abolition of prostitution, this has been replaced by an alternative agreed upon and approved with her government partners, the Valencian coalition.

Ciudadanos has voted against and PP and Vox have abstained. The government team, for its part, has given a lesson in dialogue and consensus on the issue that has not been seen between their respective parties in the Autonomous Council.

The initial motion that the PSPV had presented alone contemplated urging the General Courts to support the draft Comprehensive Law for the Abolition of Prostitution, support the modification of the Penal Code to prohibit pimping in all its forms; and initiate the procedures for the approval of the Municipal Ordinance for the Abolition of Prostitution proposed by the Generalitat and that contemplates fines of up to 3,000 euros for the whoremongers.

The alternative motion that has been approved with the votes in favor of the government team (PSPV and Compromís) shares the first two proposals and converts the third into a Comprehensive Plan for the prevention and care of women in situations of prostitution and/or exploitation which analyzes the current context and establishes the actions to be carried out by the Municipal Services in coordination with other administrations and associations, for the analysis and modification of the prostitution ordinance in Valencia.

Likewise, the approved alternative urges the Government of Spain to “abolish the structural causes behind the impossibility of choosing alternatives to prostitution with urgent measures and with a real impact on the patriarchal, racist and impoverishing structure, such as the repeal of the Organic Law 4/2000 on the rights and freedoms of foreigners in Spain”.

Also urge the State Executive to “urgently” repeal Organic Law 4/2015 on the protection of citizen security because “it is used to punish women in a situation of prostitution” and calls for “the creation of a special body to persecute and fight police of the mafias and the pimping that is behind the sexual exploitation and trafficking of human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation”.

In the debate, Sandra Gómez has argued that it is a "very important issue for socialists" and has urged to address it "without hesitation": "We must end the false debate that prostituted women do sex work. It is sexual slavery It is a fiction to speak of a sexual contract as if it were an employment contract."

"Telling him work is legitimizing that the consent of women is a market product that can be bought and sold, that the lobby of the punters are consumers and that of the pimps are entrepreneurs. We cannot allow one to do what he gives the win with a woman to pay", he warned, and added: "The time has come to get wet. We ask for the support of all political groups to include pimping in the Penal Code and fines for whoremongers".

For her part, the Councilor for Equality, Lucía Beamud, has argued that trafficking and sexual exploitation "is one of the most extreme forms of violence against women". However, she has stressed that it is a "multifaceted" issue and has aimed to fight the problem "from the root", from the inequality between men and women and positioning herself "next to prostituted women and protect them".

"Things are not black or white, we need a broad vision. It is an issue that we do not have to politicize. We must end pimping and give the necessary tools to women so that they can make their life project autonomous. If not, they will be more penalized", he added, referring to the abolition.

In this sense, Beamud has highlighted the 35% increase in nominative subsidies granted to Doctors of the World and Caritas for attention to prostituted women, the València Inserta program for social and labor insertion that has benefited 119 women or the increase in the budget for educational workshops in educational centers from 15,000 euros in 2015 to more than 10,000 and "they will continue to rise".

For her part, Councilor Marta Torrado (PP) stressed that prostitution "cannot be legalized because it is not a job" and the State "cannot profit from sexual exploitation that violates the dignity of women and the money that pays them hides the violence that is exercised against them". Likewise, she has criticized the discrepancies between Bravo and Oltra and that, in seven years, they have not criminalized prostitution.

On the other hand, Rocío Gil (Cs) has marked the position of her group regarding prostitution: "Rights, freedoms, guarantees and regulation". And she has urged the Government to convene "a table" in which "all political forces are heard and the social sector is heard" and it ends up being reflected in an ordinance.

Sandra Gómez replied: "If prostitution is a job like any other... then, if you received a job offer from LABORA to practice prostitution, would you say yes or no? You can say no up to three times without losing the benefit". "What I don't want for myself or for my daughter, I don't want for any other woman in the world," she said.

The deputy mayor has highlighted that "the abolitionist agenda" goes through "modifying the Immigration Law" and "incorporating the locative third party" in order to "persecute people who rent their premises so that prostitution is practiced."

The Vice Presidency and Ministry of Equality and Inclusive Policies directed by Mónica Oltra presented this week allegations against the draft bill with which the Minister of Justice, Gabriela Bravo, intends to "abolish" prostitution in the Valencian Community.

The Regional Secretariat for Equality and Diversity understands that it invades its powers in matters of gender equality, as well as those of the Spanish government. On the other hand, they differentiate between prostitution and sexual exploitation or trafficking.

In any case, the main stumbling block is that the "main instrument" presented by the Conselleria de Bravo to achieve the abolition of prostitution is sanctions against the whoremongers.

The Department of Oltra believes that these fines are transmitted indirectly to women who practice prostitution, since they understand that the closure of roadside brothels and similar spaces will not end prostitution, but will move it from one site, presumably to places more opaque and where the situation of women is more vulnerable and more attacks and violations can occur.

For this reason, from the Ministry of Equality they advocate "an open and broad debate, listening to all realities" and protecting women with plans such as the Alba Program, of itinerant care and resources for the exit of women victims of sexual exploitation of areas of prostitution and/or trafficking.

They also recalled LABORA's plan with the Alanna Association for training and insertion for women victims of gender violence or trafficking and sexual exploitation with a contract commitment; or an income similar to the minimum interprofessional salary for women who leave prostitution (adding the Valencian Inclusion Income, the Minimum Vital Income and a supplement).

The prostitution debate does not have a unanimous position within the feminist movement either. The delegate of the Valencian Community of the Sex Workers - Others union, Martina Salander, maintains that "prostitution can be prohibited, not abolished", since "abolitionism has not ended prostitution or trafficking" in the countries where it has been applied.

Salander fears that the fines to the punters will lead "to very precarious working conditions" and more "dangerous": "It has been seen in France. If a client used to come to your room, now he asks you to go to him. The girl exposes herself more by going to the client room and, in addition, they lower the price and force you to do certain practices".

And she warns that the locative third party "eliminates work spaces", which in many cases are also the women's homes: "Since we do not have a contract, it is very difficult for us to access a home, many live in clubs and in hotels There would be a very big housing problem that has not been taken into account."

On the other hand, from the PV Abolitionist Front they have harshly criticized Oltra's position, which they see "closer to the pimp lobby than to protecting women in prostitution".

And they maintain that saying that the sanctions against the whoremongers will be a penalty for women "is a manipulation to hide the lack of commitment to real policies of equality, which allow prostitutes to integrate into society and offer alternatives to get out of that spiral of marginality".

"The allegations of the Ministry of Equality are based on the argument of the pimp lobby that makes this brutal form of sexual violence invisible, calling it 'sex work', to enslave and exploit with total impunity," they add.