US embassy cable - 05PRAGUE474

UNCLAS PRAGUE 000474 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KCRM, EZ 
SUBJECT: Czechs vote to keep UN treaty; prostitution 
regulation bill stalled 
 
 
1. This cable is Sensitive but Unclassified - not for 
internet distribution. 
 
2.  Summary:  The Czech Parliament has refused to permit the 
government from withdrawing from a UN Convention on 
trafficking in persons, effectively stalling the country's 
prior efforts to pass a prostitution regulation bill. 
Unless the Czechs withdraw from the Convention, no 
legislation regulating prostitution may be passed.  Given 
the bill's controversial nature and current fragile state of 
the Czech government, Convention withdrawal and bill passage 
seem unlikely.  The Czechs meanwhile continue to bolster 
their national anti-TIP efforts and legislation.  End 
summary. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Efforts in the Czech Republic to pass a law 
regulating prostitution in the country were dealt a blow 
last week when Parliament voted not to withdraw from a 
United Nations treaty key to the issue.  The 1950 UN 
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and 
Children, ratified by the Czech Republic, prohibits the 
country from passing any law regulating prostitution.  In 
order to pass the prostitution bill currently being proposed 
by the Interior Ministry, the Czechs would have had to first 
vote to withdraw from the UN Convention.  Parliament's March 
29 decision not to take this step makes the current attempt 
to pass the bill, like three earlier tries at similar 
legislation, a non-starter. 
 
4. (SBU) The government's motion failed when 103 deputies 
(in the 200-member lower house) voted against.  Two female 
MPs who attended a one-day trafficking seminar shortly 
before the vote on the Convention were particularly 
impressed by a speaker from the Coalition Against 
Trafficking in Women who examined the prostitution situation 
in countries where it has been legalized.  The MPs suggested 
that, given the statistics about the increase in 
prostitution and trafficking in countries where it has been 
made legal, the measure to withdraw from the Convention was 
being hastily proposed without enough discussion in 
Parliament. 
 
5.  (SBU)  The Czech Republic currently has no laws 
specifically dealing with prostitution, effectively making 
it a legal grey area.  This lack of criminality, together 
with the sudden opening of borders after the fall of 
communism and the country's location in the heart of Europe, 
have led it to becoming a source, transit, and finally 
destination country for trafficking victims.  Brothels have 
sprung up in Prague and around the country's border areas 
with its richer Western European neighbors, where foreigners 
come for cheaper sex tourism. 
 
6.  (SBU)  As the sex trade is not currently illegal, the 
Security Policy Department of the Interior Ministry, who 
have responsibility for combating trafficking in the 
country, have struggled to come up with a way to give police 
more authority in dealing with traffickers.  In April 2004, 
Cabinet approved the legal intent for plans to draft a law 
that would regulate prostitution in the country, the theory 
being that this would allow police to check the documents of 
brothel owners and sex workers and prosecute those not in 
compliance.  The Interior Ministry drafted a proposed law, 
which then was sent to other ministries involved for 
approval and proposed changes. 
 
7.  (SBU)  The proposed law has been criticized even by some 
NGOs involved in trafficking support and prevention who 
otherwise welcome some form of legislation giving police 
tools to crack down on traffickers.  They point out that the 
bill has many holes, such as the fact that only women from 
EU countries would be able to register as prostitutes 
(whereas most prostitutes currently in the country are non- 
EU in origin), and that women who work part-time as 
prostitutes are unlikely to wish to register themselves and 
face possible public stigma.  They claim that police 
corruption in carrying out checks would also likely present 
problems. 
 
8. (SBU)  Interior Ministry officials responsible for the 
prostitution regulation bill intend to continue technical 
work on the bill, and it will be up to Interior Minister 
Bublan as to whether or not he chooses to propose the 
legislation to the Cabinet.  However, given the current 
government situation and fact that Parliament has already 
voted down Convention withdrawal, the bill would be unlikely 
to even make it from Cabinet to Parliament.  Post will 
continue to monitor this issue closely, but we remain 
skeptical about the GOCR's ability to pass such legislation 
in the near future. 
 
CABANISS