Country held up as model for reform across Europe after targeting the men who pay for sexKajsa Wahlberg remembers well the reaction when she helped lead efforts to introduce Sweden's now-illustrious laws criminalising the purchase of sex. "It had enormous interest. People were laughing in 1999 at Sweden and saying it can't be done. A German police officer told me,'You're crazy sweetie, you can't effect that, or you cannot prohibit men from buying sex,it's totally impossible.' But he said whether you can reduce the amount of trafficking cases with your legislation I wish you good luck, because in Germany it's grown out of proportion."Nearly 15 years on, or Sweden believes it has. Police say the number of prostitutes has dropped by two-thirds. A report by a Swedish academic says that by tackling demand,Sweden provides some of the best protection to trafficking victims.
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Source: theguardian.com