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The case made headlines: about a month ago, the city of Zurich quarantined about 50 prostitutes, due to a corona case in the red light district on Langstrasse street in Zurich. The canton has not only extended its crown measures, but has also tightened the rules for the sex trade. “Prostitution providers are now required to collect and verify customer contact details.”
“Corona cases in the prostitution industry can hardly be traced,” security director Mario Fehr (62) tells VIEW. Because contact lists were only collected sporadically or improperly. Effective contact tracking is no longer possible. According to the Zurich Police Commander Bruno Keller, sanctions are also possible in the future: if contact details are not collected, the supplier, that is, the prostitute or the establishment, will be displayed. Customers will be fined if they knowingly give false information.
“Discriminatory and stigmatizing”
The specialized office in Zurich, FIZ, trafficking in women and migration, which among other things advises sex workers, strongly criticized the new practice. “With the new measures, the governing council is pushing sex workers into precariousness and, if necessary, illegality,” says Managing Director Lelia Hunziker. Because clients are still absent, while women depend on income.
It is important to collect the customer’s contact details, but these are only relevant in case of infection, Hunziker continues. She is particularly bothered by the fact that responsibility for contact details is distributed unilaterally: sex workers now have to verify both the client’s official identification and their mobile phone number. This produces legal inequality, since the duty of inspection does not apply in the restaurant sector, for example. “Therefore, sex workers are discriminated against and stigmatized”, criticizes Hunziker.
The sex trade has yet to be noted as a special hotspot: according to Hunziker, only two people tested positive in the case on Zurich’s Langstrasse. “However, it appears that the canton is now cracking down on sex work.” And that is dangerous for those affected, whose situation is deteriorating.
