Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has pledged to abolish prostitution in the country, noting that it "enslaves" women.
Speaking at a conference of the ruling Socialist Workers' Party, he promised to ban prostitution, which he described in his 2019 election manifesto as "one of the harshest aspects of the feminization of poverty and one of the worst forms of violence against women," according to a report in The Washington Post.
Prostitution has flourished in Spain since its decriminalization in 1995. A United Nations report issued in 2011 indicates that Spain has the third largest prostitution capital in the world, after Thailand and Puerto Rico, to the extent that it is considered a "brothel of Europe", according to what the American newspaper reported.
It is estimated that the sex trade in Spain generates revenues of $27 billion annually and employs 300,000 people.
Prostitution is legal in several European countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Greece.
Supporters of decriminalization say it will bring significant benefits to women in the trade, and make life safer for them.
In the 1980s most sex workers in Spain were of Hispanic origin, but then most were immigrants from poor European countries, Latin America and Africa, making it a political issue linked to fears of illegal immigration.
Prostitution is largely unregulated in Spain, and there are no penalties for those offering paid sexual services, as long as it occurs of their own volition and does not occur in public places.
Although prostitution is not criminalized, the practice of being an agent between a sex worker and a potential client is illegal.
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