MP Nancy Kemp-Arendt of the Christian Social People's Party asked Minister of the Interior Taina Bofferding about a programme aimed at supporting prostitutes.

In particular, Arendt wished to know how many prostitutes had successfully escaped their environment since the National Action Plan came into force last year, and this in the context of discussions pertaining to the Gare district in Luxembourg City.

Parlamentaresch Fro iwwer Prostitutioun / Claudia Kollwelter

In her response, Bofferding emphasised that the current issues at the Gare Centrale cannot be traced back to prostitution alone. The problems were varied and required cooperation between the city council, the police, the justice system and social services. She also pointed to the drop-in centre run by the Red Cross.

This service, in particular, was developed with the National Action Plan. Since the programme was launched in October 2015, 15 people have applied for leadership positions to get out of the community, of which three did not meet the criteria to join the programme. Five prostitutes have managed to leave the environment successfully, while five others returned to prostitution during the programme. Finally, two people are currently taking the EXIT program to help them find work and possibly housing.

The minister also pointed out it was only possible to extricate women from the situation if they were willing to take on a new direction. Bofferding also said that language or cultural issues could contribute to women experiencing difficulties entering the job market through the EXIT programme. Similar projects abroad, such as in France, have encountered problems of this manner.

The National Action Plan has, however, contributed to fewer prostitutes on the streets of the Gare district, through the "indoor" and "outdoor" Streetwork programme. In future the Streetwork programme will be restructured, in order to inform people more effectively about the drop-in centre.