In Croatia sex workers are punished as offenders and most such proceedings are conducted against street prostitutes, said Ivana Radacic of the Institute of Social Sciences "Ivo Pilar".
"A survey of the Zagreb Magistrates' Court's practice in 2014 and 2015 shows that the offenders were women with a difficult financial and social situation. Most of them were unemployed and poor, poorly educated and mothers (often single parents) to more than one child. In trials they often cited their financial status as the reason for their prostitution. They were arrested most frequently during police patrols and in undercover operations, and also when they sought police protection from client violence.
The survey showed that they were not legally represented in those proceedings and that their verdicts were based on their admission. In cases when a group of women was involved in prostitution, they were prosecuted in line with the Penal Code. In some cases, their rights as parents were violated and they did not have social and health protection," Radacic said.
In order to study violation of sex workers' rights and types of violence they are exposed to, researchers at the "Ivo Pilar" institute have been conducting a comparison of policies on prostitution in Croatia and in Slovenia, which in 2003 abolished provisions on the punishment of prostitution as a legal offence. They have called on prostitutes to join in their research.
Researchers have also called for putting an end to the punishment of sex workers and for establishing a system of support for those in need of help.