Prostitution in Spain is not addressed by any specific law, but a number of activities related to it, such aspimping, are illegal. In 2016,UNAIDS estimated there to be 70,268 prostitutes in the country,[1] although other estimates put the number higher. Most prostitutes in the country are immigrants.[2][3][4] The sex industry inSpain is estimated to be worth €3.7 billion.[5][clarification needed]
Prostitution was decriminalized in 1995. Prostitution itself is not directly addressed in theCriminal Code of Spain, but exploitation such aspimping is illegal.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
The only article in the Code dealing specifically with adult prostitution is Artícle 188, which bans pimping:[13]
Whoever causes a person of legal age to engage in prostitution or to continue to do so, with the use of violence, intimidation or deception, or by abusing a position of power or the dependency or vulnerability of the victim, shall be punished with a prison sentence of two to four years and a fine from 12 to 24 months. Gaining profit from the prostitution of another shall incur the same penalty, even with the consent of that person.[note 1]
Owning an establishment where prostitution takes place is in itself legal, but the owner cannot derive financial gain from the prostitute orhire a person to sell sex because prostitution is not considered a job and thus has no legal recognition.
Prostitution in Spain is less regulated than in many European countries. However, the advertising of prostitution has been made illegal and in 2022 a bill was put forward in theSpanish Parliament proposing the criminalisation of brothel-owning and pimping regardless of whether exploitation or abuse is involved, as well as criminalising the customers of prostitutes. The maximum sentence proposed is four years. The bill is supported by the governingSpanish Socialist Workers' Party. Street protests against the bill took place in Madrid in September 2022.[14]
Local governments differ in their approaches to both indoor and outdoor prostitution, usually in response to community pressure groups, and based on "public safety".[15]Most places do not regulate prostitution, but the government ofCatalonia offers licenses for persons "to gather people to practice prostitution".[16] These licenses are used by brothel owners to open "clubs", where prostitution takes place (the women are theoretically only "gathered" to work on the premises not employed by the owner). Some places have implementedfines for street prostitution.[17][18]
As part of thestate of alarm due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Spain, all brothels and other places of entertainment were ordered to close.[19][failed verification]
Prostitution was tolerated in Spain throughout the mediaeval period, until the 17th century and the reign ofPhillip IV (1621–65) whose 1623 decree closed themancebías (brothels) forcing the women out into the street, a very unpopular decision, but one that remained in place till the 19th century. In the reign ofIsabel II (1843–1868) regulation was introduced, firstly in cities, theDisposiciones de Zaragoza (1845) and theReglamento para la represión de los excesos de la prostitución en Madrid (1847), followed by the 1848 Penal Code.[20][full citation needed]
In 1935 during theSecond Republic (1931–36) prostitution was prohibited. Once theDictatorship (1939–75) was established, this law was repealed (1941). Spain became officiallyabolitionist on 18 June 1962, when the1949 United Nations (UN) Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others was ratified by Spain, and the Decree 168 of 24 January 1963 modified the Penal Code (Código Penal) according to the convention. In theory, this policy, in accordance with the convention, regarded sex workers (trabajadores sexuales) as victims of sexual exploitation and advocated punishment of their exploiters rather than the workers themselves, and refused to distinguish between voluntary and coerced sex work.[21]However, there were inconsistencies, as the prostitutes were in fact treated more like criminals: under Act 16/1970 of 4 August on social menace and rehabilitation (Ley de peligrosidad y rehabilitación social) prostitutes were declared amongst those classes categorized as social evils, and could be confined to special centres or forbidden to live in specified areas. In practice however, prostitution was quietly ignored and tolerated.[22]
Althoughdemocracy was restored in 1975, it was not till the Penal Code revisions of 1995[23]that this policy was revisited, and most laws regarding prostitution were repealed, with the exception of those governing minors and those with mental health problems. This included the Act 16/1970. Further revisions in 1999 addressed trafficking, as did the 2000 Immigration Act which followed other European precedents by offering asylum to trafficked victims if they collaborated.[24][full citation needed]
Opinion remains deeply divided in Spain over prostitution, and law reform has been in a political impasse for a long time.[25]Consequently, it remains in rather a grey zone of unregulated but tolerated semi-legality. The standard debates exist as to whether it is work like any other work, or exploitation of women as espoused by groups likeMalostratos.[26]Meanwhile, it thrives, and has prompted headlines such asEl nuevo burdel de Europa (The New Brothel of Europe).[27][28]
The key instruments in order of importance are the Penal Code (Código penal) (1822–)[29]and the Immigration or Aliens Act (Ley de Extranjería de España) 2000.[30]
Plans:
In the 1980s, most of the sex workers in the country were Spanish,[3] but by 2006 70% of sex workers were migrants according to aTAMPEP study, with 70-80% of those migrants being from Latin America, (mainly fromEcuador,Colombia and theDominican Republic).[15][31][32] AfterBulgaria andRomania became EU members in 2007,[33] a large number travelled to Spain and engaged in sex work.TAMPEP carried out a further study in 2009 and found 90% of sex workers were migrants. Of all countries studied, only Italy had proportion of migrant workers at comparable level.[15][34] The 2009 study found the migrant sex workers were 49% were from Latin America, 24% from Central Europe (mainly Bulgaria and Romania) and 18% from Africa.
There was an influx of prostitutes fromChina in the early 2010s.[35] From 2012 to September 2013, 544 prostitutes were identified in 138 inspections in brothels of Asian prostitutes inBarcelona.[36] In the late 2010s a large number of Nigerian women have been trafficked into the country for prostitution.[37]
Some prostitution is present at small farms (cortijos) outside ofRoquetas de Mar. The prostitutes work in the service of organised criminal organisations linked tohuman trafficking. This, as they have a debt to pay to compensate the cost of being brought there. Many prostitutes are of Russian, Nigerian and Moroccan descent.[38] Some women have taken up the job as prostitute after not being able to work in theintensive farming industry.[39]
As in other countries in Western Europe, there are concern over the presence of migrant workers on the streets and claims that many of them were coerced. NGOs believe a large percentage of individuals in prostitution in Spain are trafficking victims. Various reports give figures of 80-90% of prostitutes in Spain being trafficked, but this is disputed.[40] Other studies show 10% trafficked.[41] In 2008 the Spanish Government announced plans to aid women who had been trafficked.[42]
There is also cross-border prostitution between Spain and Portugal, and between Spain and France.[15]
There are organisations working with migrant women, including Proyecto Esperanza[43] and shelters such as IPSSE (Instituto para la Promoción de Servicios Especializados).
Organisations working with sex workers in Spain includeAPRAMP (Associacion para la Prevención, Reinserción y Atención de la Mujer Prostituida)[44]whilesex workers' rights organisations include Hetaira (Madrid),[45]as well as regional organisations such as SICARAsturias,[46]AMTTTSE (Asociación de Mujeres, Transexuales y Travestis como Trabajadoras Sexuales en España,Málaga) and CATS (Comité de Apoyo a las Trabajadoras del Sexo,Murcia).
Spanish sex workers continue to be concerned about their lack of protection and in July 2011 petitioned theMinister of Health (Leire Pajín).[47]A demonstration is planned for 6 November 2011 in Madrid, and a communique has been released setting out sex workers' complaints and demands.[48]
TheOrganización de Trabajadoras Sexuales (OTRAS) was formed in August 2018[40] and registered with Spain'sLabour Ministry as atrade union. Feminists and activist opposed the formation of the union and instigated a campaign on social media against them using the hashtag #SoyAbolicionista (“I’m an Abolitionist”).[49] Abolitionist groups brought a court action against OTRAS,[40] which resulting on OTRAS's statutes being annulled on the grounds that there can be no employment contract for prostitutes and therefore they were not "workers" in terms of employment law, but the court did not dissolve the union.[50][51] However, in February 2019, theSuperior Court of Justice ofMadrid ruled that a prostitute working in a club in Barcelona had a valid employment relationship with the club owners.[52]
Prostitution in Spain was highly sectored, with at one end thedamas cortesanas of high society,[53]and the mistresses of the bourgeoisie andbarraganas, the concubines of the clergy. (Harrison)
Goya (1746–1828) frequently commented on the place of prostitution in Spanish high society and Catholic church. In his print seriesLos Caprichos, Goya specifically satirized the corruption and greed of the Church and the clergy. A print in the series namedA Young Woman Pulling Up Her Stocking satirized the clergy profiting off of (participating in) the sins which they punished the congregations for committing.[54] Other examples areMurillo'sFour Figures on a Step andPicasso'sLes Demoiselles d'Avignon (illustrated).
In literature,Miguel de Cervantes discusses prostitution in his early 17th century novelDon Quixote,[55] and the subject is found throughout 19th- and 20th-century Spanish literature.[56]
La señora Rius (see photograph) is a Barcelona celebrity and Madam who told her story in Julián Peiró'sLa Sra. Rius, de moral distraída.[57]
In 2006, 42 people were arrested following the discover of a prostitution ring operating out of nightclubs inLas Palmas andTelde. The prostitutes were from South American countries, mainly Brazil.[58] Five people were jailed as a result.[59]
In 2012, a councillor inSanta Cruz de Tenerife told theABC newspaper about the city's draft plan for prostitution. He said that, in cases examined byNGOs, all the prostitutes were women of which 9% weretranssexual women.[60]
A study is 2016 estimated there were around 3,000 prostitutes working on the islands, mainly in the tourist areas and the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas.[61]
Prostitution occurs in the Ceti (Temporary Reception Center) inCeuta. The prostitutes are mainly Nigerian women.[62]
LocalNGOMelilla Acoge, which provides medical and other assistance to prostitutes, report that there are about 1,000 Moroccan prostitutes inMelilla. Some cross over the border into Melilla in the mornings and leave at midday, other cross over the border in the afternoon and leave at night.[63]
Sex traffickers exploit foreign victims in Spain and, to a lesser extent, Spanish victims abroad. Women from Eastern Europe (particularly Romania and Bulgaria), South America (particularlyParaguay,Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador), Central America (particularly Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua),China, andNigeria are exploited insex trafficking. Authorities report Nigerian women now make up the largest demographic of sex trafficking victims. Sex traffickers exploitVenezuelan women fleeing the collapsing social and economic conditions at home.
Spanish law does not permit nor prohibit prostitution, and NGOs believe a large percentage of individuals in prostitution in Spain are trafficking victims. Various reports give figures of 80-90% of prostitutes in Spain being trafficked, but this is disputed.[40]
Sex traffickers are increasingly using online apartment rental platforms to make their illicit operations difficult to track. An increasing number of victims arrived in southern Spain by sea via Morocco. Nigerian criminal networks recruit victims in migrant reception centers in Italy for forced prostitution in Spain. Unaccompanied migrant children continue to be vulnerable to sex trafficking. The increased numbers of newly arrived refugees and asylum-seekers are vulnerable to trafficking.[37]
Law enforcement conducted targeted operations against 37 criminal organisations involved in sex trafficking in 2018. The judiciary initiated prosecutions of 63 defendants for sex trafficking. The government reported several cases in which convicted traffickers received significant penalties. In January 2019, anOviedo court sentenced four Romanians to 20 to 55 years in prison for forcing 12 Romanian women into prostitution.[37]
TheUnited States Department of StateOffice to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Spain as a 'Tier 1' country.[37]
In February 2025 police arrested 48 people during raids inAlicante andMurcia in connection with sex trafficking. The gang are alleged to have trafficked 1,000 women mostly fromColombia andVenezuela during the previous year. The women were lured to Spain to work in the work in the cleaning and beauty sectors but were then forced into prostitution.[64]
1.Whosoever by using violence, intimidation or deception, or abuse of a position of superiority or of the vulnerability of the victim, causes an adult person to engage in prostitution or remain in it, is punished by a prison sentence of two to four years and a fine of 12 to 24 months (i.e. fine days set at rate depending on financial circumstances). The same penalty shall be incurred by one who profits from the prostitution of another person,even with the consent of that person.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
