One of Spain’s top newspapers, El País, is to stop publishing classified ads for sexual services, acknowledging that the majority of women who offer sexual services are being enslaved.
Since July 15th, the newspaper has not published a single ‘contact’ ad, a decision based on the "defence of women's rights."
“The opinions of our readers have been of great importance, through the Letters to the Editor, the Ombudsman and the comments left in our news and social media networks which repeatedly have told us to stop these announcements," wrote El País.
With its decision, the Spanish newspaper intends to maintain editorial consistency as the newspaper is keen to expose sexual exploitation. In April, a series of reports on slavery in Spain were published which denounced the situation for thousands of people who are used as sex slaves in the country.
Therefore, the newspaper does not think it is consistent to continue to publish classified contact ads of a sexual nature.
El País reminds readers that prostitution is illegal in Spain, despite being the EU country with the most with the most demand for prostitutes.
Thanks to legal changes made in 2010 and 2015, which criminalises people traffickers, there have been positive effects in the level of prostitution - in the five years to 2016, more than 4,000 victims of sexual exploitation have been rescued.
“Several studies and as many experts argue that the majority of women who offer sexual services are being enslaved," reports the Spanish newspaper.
