NEGOSYONG KARNE NGA KINILO SA SURICH, SWITZERLAND GIBULIGAN SA GOBERNO

Summertime and the livin’ is easy – especially in the Altstetten area of Zurich where, starting Aug. 26, the city’s prostitutes will have brand new, government-sponsored digs to ply their trade.

Switzerland has a unique system of direct democracy, and issues big and small are frequently decided at the ballot box. Last year, 52% of Zurich voters approved the proposal of municipal authorities to earmark $2 million of taxpayer money towards building nine drive-in structures to provide a safe and discreet environment for sex workers. And on August 26, the “sex boxes,” as these premises are called, will be put into service, welcoming dozens of prostitutes and their clients.

While most of Zurich’s political parties have backed the plan, not everyone in the city is happy about these facilities – like Switzerland’s rightwing party, SVP, which has argued that prostitution is a private matter and no public funds should be spent on sex workers.

The law in Switzerland on prostitution is clear: selling sex is legal as long as you pay the nightly tax, but the prices of the trade are not explicitly covered by the law. Black market prostitutes often find themselves underpaid and risking their lives without the protection of the pimp, who determines how much sex with a prostitute will cost and often takes most of the money.

“It was the pimps who decided the prices,” Herzig said of the problem. “We are trying to reach a situation which is better for the prostitutes themselves, for their health and security and also for people who live in Zurich.”

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