Русская версияThe fall of communism and the arrival of the free market produced a boom in a number of sectors of the Czech economy, but one area thatâs enjoyed unparalleled growth is whatâs sometimes called the worldâs oldest profession.
Prostitution â much of it street prostitution run by criminal gangs â is commonplace in towns close to the Austrian and German borders. One of them is the industrial city of Chomutov, in northwest Bohemia. There the local authorities have come up with a novel plan to push prostitution out of the city limits. But as Rob Cameron reports, the plan could run into legal difficulties.
Prostitution in the Czech Republic exists in a legal grey area. Offering sex for money is not a crime. But neither is offering such a service a legally recognised trade. What is illegal is forcing other people into prostitution or profiting from doing so.
This legal vacuum means local authorities and the police are more or less powerless to stop it, resorting instead to harassing street prostitutes for breaking minor regulations in the hope theyâll move on. Chomutov has actually issued a local decree banning street prostitution, but police have problems enforcing the ban because all they can do is issue fines. So in Chomutov, a town with economic problems and a steady stream of German sex tourists, the problem persists. Jan ĹehĂĄk is Chomutovâs deputy mayor:
âUnfortunately our efforts at cracking down on street prostitution have had almost no effect. The fines are meaningless - the women donât pay them, and they arenât registered with the local Labour Office so the police are effectively powerless to stop them plying their trade on the streets. Itâs a game of cat and mouse. As soon as the police drive by, the women nip into a bar or a restaurant and as soon as the police are gone, theyâre back out on the street. So thatâs why we looked for different approaches that would be more effective than the ones weâre using at present. And one of them is the principle of - âif thereâs no demand, thereâs no supplyâ.â
That approach â still being examined by the lawyers â is controversial. Mr ĹehĂĄk and his colleagues want to install closed-circuit cameras in areas frequented by prostitutes. When a man stops to pick up a prostitute, a police unit will be despatched to flag down his car. He will be questioned and a photograph taken including the carâs licence plate. The photograph will then be sent to the manâs address with an explanatory note that it was taken in an area popular with prostitutes. The idea is that the manâs wife or partner will receive the letter, and thereafter he will be shamed into visiting Chomutov for the purposes of tourism or shopping and nothing else. Itâs an unorthodox proposal, but Jan ĹehĂĄk says desperate times call for desperate measures:
âI agree that the idea is on the fringes of the law, but you have to realise that the people who live in the area are really going through hell. The prostitutesâ behaviour is really beyond the limits of decency. A lot of them are on drugs, a lot of them are drunk, and the things they do to attract clientsâŚwell. So the people who live there â and they own property there remember â have to watch this going on all day long, from morning to night. The women shout disgusting things at them when they walk by with their kids. So this is why weâve been looking for an approach that would actually work, even it is an extreme one.â
But itâs too extreme for some. Several official bodies, including the Interior Ministry and the Office for the Protection of Personal Data, say the scheme would see Chomutov tiptoeing into a legal minefield. Lawyer Svatopluk Bunda, from the nearby city of Usti nad Labem, says Mr ĹehĂĄkâs proposal is legally indefensible:
âWhat Mr Rehak is proposing is on the fringes of the law. In fact it goes beyond that, itâs a crime â defamation of character, paragraph 206 of the Czech legal code. Because not every photograph, and not all the information contained in a photograph, is necessarily accurate. And if itâs not accurate, then itâs defamatory. It would defame the manâs character in the eyes of his fellow citizens or co-workers, and most of all â and this is something protected under Czech law â it would damage the relationship with his family. It could lead to divorce. It could lead to the break-up of his family or the loss of his children. This proposal truly contravenes Czech law, and therefore I as a lawyer cannot agree with it.â
Even Mr ĹehĂĄk from Chomutov city council points out this is just a proposal, and is still being consulted with the authorities in Prague and the cityâs own lawyers. If it is introduced, itâs likely to be challenged immediately. If it is ruled unlawful, Chomutov will have to go back to the drawing board.
(radio-Prague)
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