Glad to see the report. I've been in a state of shock about this since Christmas when my otherwise lovely dad lost his temper after I made a throwaway remark regarding prostitution in Germany. Turns out my dad had watched a recent documentary about the horrific situation prostitutes in Germany now find themselves in.
I've supported decriminalisation, legalisation and regulation all my life. Over 25 years ago when this was lobbied hard for in Germany, there was a large number of fantastic (as in brilliant, not fantastical) proposals for brothel enterprises and licencing and training for prostitutes - at the time a considerable number of German prostitutes had confidently managed their business, their punters and spoken of their work (almost none of these women had pimps however). They looked like they knew their stuff, they made a lot of sense and in the end they achieved their aim.
Now it's a quarter of a century later and many of those campaigners have openly admitted it was the wrong step to take. The number of prostitutes has tripled, almost all of the additional prostitutes are trafficked in from Eastern Europe, most are underage and forced.
Prices have dropped by 95% in some places (before that German men crossed the border into Poland or the Czech Republic for cheap sex, but now they don't have to anymore).
Crime has not fallen as projected by the lobbyists - on the contrary, prostitutes are less safe, less healthy and shockingly most cannot even afford a place to live anymore - they live and work in the brothels and are regularly rotated (against their will I might add) between cities coz the men using them get bored and want variety.
Drug abuse has also increased sharply and sexual diseases are on the rise - as is always the case when prices fall, risky behaviour results in higher pay.
Germany also has very strict laws about when the police can enter a business, when they can search premises etc, so the police is essentially powerless to do anything about this - few of the trafficked women dare to speak out. Their frustration is palpable, but without due cause they cannot do a thing.
The number of women who successfully sue their pimps or customers for withholding their pay has also fallen by about 90% (can't remember what the reason was, the documentary was long and distressing), so fewer prostitutes get the pay they are owed.
The only people who have benefited from this well thought out and properly planned legalisation, decriminalisation and regulation of prostitution in Germany are the pimps and the punters.
It's almost impossible now to find any of the proud whores from a quarter of a century ago (as the German prostitutes confidently called themselves back then). There's just broken minds and bodies wherever you look.
Germany definitely wasn't a "sex workers paradise" before legalisation but it's hell on earth for them now.