A campaign to make prostitution illegal in Switzerland is being met with stiff resistance from human rights group. The Swiss Aids Federation, Amnesty International, the Equality Office of the city of Zurich, are among several advocacy groups rallying against the initiative. The campaign “Stop Prostitution” was launched by the Women’s Centre in Zurich at the end of June and calls for a Swedish-style ban on prostitution, which penalizes the client rather than the sex worker. Andrea Gisler, the president of the centre, said that she wants Switzerland to become a country without prostitution because the practice constituted “a violation of human dignity”. It was a form of sexual violence and an obstacle to achieving equality between the sexes, she added. But the campaign does not have the backing of various human rights organisations, reported Swiss public television, SRF, on Saturday. The FIZ Advocacy and Support for Migrant Women and Victims of Trafficking is also against the ban.
