The bill is formulated as an amendment to Legge Merlin No. 75 of 20 February 1958, which provides for penalties for prostitution, solicitation or use of sexual services in a place open to the public (art. 1). Article 2 amends article 600 bis of the Criminal Code to punish the recruitment, incitement, promotion, use, management, organization, control or use of sexual services of a person under the age of 18 or persons promising any reward for a sexual act with a person between the ages of 14 and 18. It also provides for the repatriation of foreign minors engaged in prostitution. Article 3 deals with organized crime and punishes conspiracy to exploit prostitution under article 416 of the Criminal Code. Article 4 does not provide for new means and repeals Article 5 of the Merlin Act, which it replaces, and prohibits libertinaggio (incitement as a criminal offence or harassment) with a prison sentence of up to 15 days. Spilabotte`s pro-sex workers bill has been stalled in parliament for years, along with other similar laws sponsored by policymakers from various political parties, many of whom favor reopening brothels. Italy, however, is home to the Vatican, which opposes legalization, and devout Catholic politicians still follow what the Church preaches.

The women`s movement is divided between those who see prostitution as exploitation and those who see it as work. In general, the movement does not prioritize prostitution, attaches medium importance to it, considers it a cultural problem and does not trust the state as an intervention partner. On this issue, Catholic organizations were part of a hostile backlash against feminism, as was the fascist right. For example, the mayor of Bologna cut all funding for women`s shelters. The shift from workers to customers in 1994, when mayors ordered police to punish customers, was welcomed by Catholics and feminists alike. In Bologna, in 1998, the Case delle donne per non-subire violenze, the Comitato and the MIT, a transsexual organization, left the city`s Coordinating Committee for Prostitution in protest, believing that any repression worsens workers` working conditions. There was also a perception that criminalizing clients prevented them from reporting abuses against workers or cooperating with authorities. The Internal Security Ordinance of 24. July 2008 (L.125/08) gave mayors the power to declare an emergency anything that could endanger the security and decency of their cities. Under these powers, sex workers and clients have been subject to orders allowing municipal police to impose fines. The Public Safety Act allows chiefs of police to remove people from a city where they do not officially reside.

EU citizens face a fine, while non-EU citizens can be detained and deported. The Committee reports a breakdown in relations between NGOs and the authorities, as well as between NGOs and workers, avoidance of health services and an increase in criminal activity. Although enforcement varies by region and over time, the immediate effect has been the expected and desired clearing of roads (at least temporarily) and the displacement of workers to remote areas. Indoor work has increased and the overall quality of life has deteriorated. Unprotected sex has increased due to reduced negotiability. Stigma and vulnerability have increased, as has increased reliance on social services. As we have noted in other countries, older work patterns reappear as soon as police activity declines. [6] On 7 April 2011, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled in its judgment no. 115/2011 that this type of municipal ordinance must have temporal and spatial limits and urgent conditions.

The mere practice of street prostitution could therefore no longer be continued by such local bills. However, of the 558 workers who visited an STD clinic in Bologna between 1995 and 1999, only 1.6% tested positive for HIV. The authors concluded that “prostitutes do not play a leading role in the transmission and spread of sexually transmitted diseases.” [60] Nevertheless, opponents of prostitution continue to claim that they are sources of disease. [69] In 2008, Mara Carfagna[26][27][28] Minister of Equal Opportunities[29] introduced a new law banning street prostitution[25] and approved by the Consiglio dei ministri on September 11. [30] [31] [32] Now Rome`s mayor, Ignazio Marino, wants to lock street workers into red light zones where prostitution would be allowed in order to create a “balance” between residents and sex workers.