Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. While the debate on regulating prostitution usually focuses on national policy, it is local policy measures that have the most impact on the ground. This book is the first to offer a detailed analysis of the design and implementation of prostitution policy at the local level and carefully situates local policy practices in national policy making and transnational trends in labour migration and exploitation. Based on detailed comparative research in Austria and the Netherlands, and bringing in experiences in countries such as New Zealand and Sweden, it analyses the policy instruments employed by local administrators to control prostitution and sex workers. Bridging the gap between theory and policy, emphasizing the multilevel nature of prostitution policy, while also highlighting more effective policies on prostitution, migration and labour exploitation, this unique book fills a gap in the literature on this contentious and important social issue.

"Dancers/Hostesses required for top cabaret nightclubs both here and overseas. No experience necessary. Mega bucks to be earned. Telephone. . . "Would you answer an ad like this? Thousands of women do and fall victim to the illegal trafficking in women by organized crime syndicates.Driven by the desire to start a career or escape poverty, women migrate in search of work and a better life for themselves and for their families. For some, this search is the beginning of a nightmare experience. From "hotel receptionist" to nightclub "dancer" to "domestic worker," Stolen Lives: Trading Women Into Sex and Slavery exposes how women are hired in their country of origin, transported, left without money, passports, or permits, and become trapped into prostitution or domestic slavery. Branded as illegal aliens and marooned in a culture they don't understand, they have nowhere to go and no one to help them.With personal testimony from women caught in the trafficking web, Stolen Lives reveals the violent inner workings of international crime networks, the routes and methods involved, and how trafficking gangs are able to circumvent the law.The trade in women is one of the most shameful abuses of human rights, yet it continues to be ignored by national governments. Stolen Lives confronts the hidden scandal of global trafficking which exploits women as they attempt to emancipate themselves.