Last year, the mayor and city council agreed to plans to relocate and redevelop Amsterdam’s notorious red-light district after years of worsening nuisance, crime and dangerous crowding levels in the ancient centre. An architect was paid to design a beautiful building that would house 100 rooms for sex workers, bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and a health centre, while the city announced eight possible sites, from the RAI convention and business district to a port development Haven-Stad. But there is a problem: strong opposition from local residents, as well as from sex workers who do not want to leave the windows of their brothel in one of the most beautiful parts of the city. Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, returned to the plan to find three new potential sites for the love center because of fierce local opposition. Halsema told the Observer that – while acknowledging the concerns – she is determined to improve the quality of life in the city, reduce the influence of organized crime on sex work and improve the rights of sex workers. Her solution is a luxury love center inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema envisions a new center that looks like Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. Photo: Judith Jockel/The Guardian “I hope that it is possible to create a love center that has some order and distinction and is not a place where only petty criminals and the most vulnerable women gather,” he said. “But I also realize that there is a long way to go because most people associate sex work with crime and with the vulnerability of women, with the violation of human rights. So in most neighborhoods, most people aren’t very enthusiastic about the love center.” Councilors are also determined that the sex trade, which is legal in the Netherlands, must change to combat the ever-present human trafficking, improve the safety of sex workers and reduce nuisance in a city center that is and again an “urban jungle” suffering from the return of mass tourism. “The red-light district is one of the oldest and smallest parts of our city, but right now it’s overflowing with bachelor parties and tourists dressed in penis costumes, harassing sex workers,” said Ilana Rooderkerk, head of the local party. D66. “We want men and women who work as sex workers to be able to do their jobs safely, but we also want ‘monkey watching’ to be a thing of the past. The love center needs to put an end to the nuisance in the red light district… without causing a nuisance somewhere else.” This, however, is feared by other regions. Some of the strongest objections are from east Amsterdam, where Mireille Westfa, a strength coach, co-organized a mass petition against the selection of Amstel or Arena Poort from the original longlist. “There are vulnerable young men who can easily be lured into recruiting young girls, there are vulnerable young women without money,” he said. “We see what’s happening in the city and women being forced into prostitution. We have absolute respect for women: that’s what happens around it and things are quite difficult here.” An estimated 200,000 people frequent sex workers each year in Amsterdam, some visiting the city for other purposes. However, there is also concern about the idea of opening a sex center near the RAI convention center. 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Bart Vink, chairman of the Zuid regional council, is concerned that it will increase the size of the prostitution sector by attracting more visitors by car and harming the existing economy. “If one has a conference like IBC [International Broadcasting Convention] and can choose from Berlin, Barcelona and Amsterdam, that doesn’t help attract it,” he said. “This is the function of the RAI and you must not undermine it.” A proposed site in the family’s Eenhoorngebied neighborhood has drawn strong opposition from residents, while in Nieuw-West, the local Labor Party PvdA told the Observer that a center would increase “petty criminal activity”, exacerbated by inadequate street policing. Map It is estimated that nine out of 10 sex workers do not even want to move. Violet, a sex worker and spokeswoman for the Prostitution Information Centre, said: “We’re not against the sex centre: more places for sex workers would be great. The problem is the closing of the windows: the sex center would only have 100 seats instead of 250, in our opinion, making sex work even less safe. “THE [first eight] Recommended locations are in places where there are no tourists around and it is commercially dead after 6pm. For many years we have had sex work in conjunction with other businesses in De Wallen. We are very much against the proposed format.” Vink pointed out that similar plans in the Dutch city of Utrecht stalled after prostitution boats were shut down in 2013 for human trafficking, but no other location has been found. Halsema, however, said she remains optimistic. “I’m hoping before Christmas to choose the final location and announce it – the shortlist is three but hopefully we can narrow it down to one,” he said. And how much will it cost the city? “No, no, no, we’re not going to pay for a sex center,” he said. “It is a private initiative. Tolerance has its limits.”
