Prostitution / sex work
Prostitution or sex work means offering sex in exchange for money or goods.
Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands if both the sex worker and the client are over 18 or 21.
In the Netherlands, prostitution is legal if both the sex worker and the client are over 18 years old. Some municipalities in the Netherlands have set a minimum age of 21. The sex worker and client are not doing anything illegal. However, prostitution is bound by a number of rules.
It is a criminal offence to have a male or female prostitute aged younger than 21 work for you, or to persuade someone into prostitution.
Forced prostitution and human trafficking are a criminal offence. Teenage and child prostitution is also forbidden. ‘Lover boys’ who seduce girls, manipulate them, start a relationship with them under false pretences and then force them into prostitution, also commit a criminal offence.
A sex worker and a client are talking at the entrance of a brothel
Some minors (persons under the age of 18) engage in prostitution of their own free will. This is also forbidden.
All forms of violence or discrimination against a sex worker is forbidden by law.