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Prostitution in Finland
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Prostitution in Finland
Prostitution in Finland (the exchange of sexual acts for money) is legal, but soliciting in a public place and organised prostitution (operating a brothel or a prostitution ring, and other forms of pimping) are illegal. According to a 2010 TAMPEP study, 69% of prostitutes working in Finland are migrants. As of 2009, there was little "visible" prostitution in Finland as it was mostly limited to private residences and nightclubs in larger metropolitan areas.
The socio-legal history of prostitution in Finland is similar to that of other European and Western countries, with various periods of tolerance, regulation and abolition.
The passing of the Civil Code of 1734 was the first nation-wide law for all of Sweden, as well as Finland, that prohibited prostitution. The historical position of sexual morality was based on the Christian standard of condemning both premarital and extramarital sexual relations. These religious values were reflected in the common law across Europe and most Western societies throughout this period. In 1847, the Regulation system was introduced in Finland and became the target of a campaign from the Finska Federationen until it was abolished in 1907.
The next major development came in the form of the 1889 Penal Code of Finland, which prohibited both pandering and prostitution. The code extended the prohibition to cover "any professional fornication", meaning the law would not tolerate prostitution no matter where it was taking place. International activism concerning prostitution at the end of the 19th century transformed the societal view of prostitution as an aspect of urban life to one which perceived the labour as a social problem. This evolution demanded the removal of prostitutes from the public eye through criminalisation of the female prostitutes as delinquents.
From 1937 to 1986 the Vagrancy Act was also in effect in Finland. In accordance with the legislation prostitutes could be taken under control and given orders by the police and social and health care authorities. This could include interrogations, sending to institutions, arrests, obligations to undergo health examinations and various other regulatory requests.
Activism after World War II and the gradual 20th century abandoning of the standard of absolute sexual morality again shifted social perceptions of prostitution. The economic depression, alongside other structural and political reasons, contributed to an increase in the sex trade after the Second World War. The universal human rights movement of the time pushed for the decriminalisation of prostitution so as not to punish women who were victims of poverty or exploitation.
The geopolitical position of Finland, and its position in the European Union as of 1995, had a significant influence on the sex trade in the 1990s. Access to sex services became increasingly easier across most cities and rural areas in Finland during this time. The established political connection with Western Europe allowed people to move more freely across borders, and hence engage in the sex services market in Finland. Authorities estimated that in the 1990s the number of prostitutes working in Finland was approximately 2000, with 200 of these being of foreign origin. The effects of economic depression, mass unemployment and the resulting economic position of women also contributed to the intensification in the volume and forms of national prostitution. The increased trend of transnational organised crime in pandering and human trafficking operations shifted public concern from the protection of public morality to protection of public order and security.
The UN Trafficking Protocol, adopted in Finland in 2000, and the European Union Council Framework Decision on combating trafficking in human beings, adopted in 2002, both obligated cooperating states to criminalise trafficking and increase border control to prevent transnational organised crime. These international obligations acted as the starting point for the restructuring of prostitution legislation in Finland. In 2003, both the purchasing and selling of sexual acts were prohibited under Finnish law where either occurred in a public place.
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Prostitution in Finland
Prostitution in Finland (the exchange of sexual acts for money) is legal, but soliciting in a public place and organised prostitution (operating a brothel or a prostitution ring, and other forms of pimping) are illegal. According to a 2010 TAMPEP study, 69% of prostitutes working in Finland are migrants. As of 2009, there was little "visible" prostitution in Finland as it was mostly limited to private residences and nightclubs in larger metropolitan areas.
The socio-legal history of prostitution in Finland is similar to that of other European and Western countries, with various periods of tolerance, regulation and abolition.
The passing of the Civil Code of 1734 was the first nation-wide law for all of Sweden, as well as Finland, that prohibited prostitution. The historical position of sexual morality was based on the Christian standard of condemning both premarital and extramarital sexual relations. These religious values were reflected in the common law across Europe and most Western societies throughout this period. In 1847, the Regulation system was introduced in Finland and became the target of a campaign from the Finska Federationen until it was abolished in 1907.
The next major development came in the form of the 1889 Penal Code of Finland, which prohibited both pandering and prostitution. The code extended the prohibition to cover "any professional fornication", meaning the law would not tolerate prostitution no matter where it was taking place. International activism concerning prostitution at the end of the 19th century transformed the societal view of prostitution as an aspect of urban life to one which perceived the labour as a social problem. This evolution demanded the removal of prostitutes from the public eye through criminalisation of the female prostitutes as delinquents.
From 1937 to 1986 the Vagrancy Act was also in effect in Finland. In accordance with the legislation prostitutes could be taken under control and given orders by the police and social and health care authorities. This could include interrogations, sending to institutions, arrests, obligations to undergo health examinations and various other regulatory requests.
Activism after World War II and the gradual 20th century abandoning of the standard of absolute sexual morality again shifted social perceptions of prostitution. The economic depression, alongside other structural and political reasons, contributed to an increase in the sex trade after the Second World War. The universal human rights movement of the time pushed for the decriminalisation of prostitution so as not to punish women who were victims of poverty or exploitation.
The geopolitical position of Finland, and its position in the European Union as of 1995, had a significant influence on the sex trade in the 1990s. Access to sex services became increasingly easier across most cities and rural areas in Finland during this time. The established political connection with Western Europe allowed people to move more freely across borders, and hence engage in the sex services market in Finland. Authorities estimated that in the 1990s the number of prostitutes working in Finland was approximately 2000, with 200 of these being of foreign origin. The effects of economic depression, mass unemployment and the resulting economic position of women also contributed to the intensification in the volume and forms of national prostitution. The increased trend of transnational organised crime in pandering and human trafficking operations shifted public concern from the protection of public morality to protection of public order and security.
The UN Trafficking Protocol, adopted in Finland in 2000, and the European Union Council Framework Decision on combating trafficking in human beings, adopted in 2002, both obligated cooperating states to criminalise trafficking and increase border control to prevent transnational organised crime. These international obligations acted as the starting point for the restructuring of prostitution legislation in Finland. In 2003, both the purchasing and selling of sexual acts were prohibited under Finnish law where either occurred in a public place.