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Amsterdam's Red-Light District to Remain Closed

Marthe van der Wolf

   AMSTERDAM - The red-light district is one of the main tourist
   attractions in Amsterdam. While coronavirus lockdown restrictions are
   starting to ease, sex work is not allowed to resume until September.
   Advocacy groups say the lack of support for sex workers has exposed how
   vulnerable they are under Dutch law.

   Hella Dee, not her real name, has been working in brothels in and
   around Amsterdam for the past 10 years, but she hasn't had any income
   since COVID-19 restrictions were enforced in March.

   She started a fundraising campaign when she realized how many of her
   colleagues were in financial distress.

   "We need to take bigger risks because there's hardly any clients out
   there and taking bigger risks leads to, you know, more people
   experiencing violence," Dee said. "So we've been raising funds and
   distributing emergency fees ... for people who need money today to pay
   for food, to pay for other basic expenses, medicine, transport."

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