Swedish Equal Opportunities Minister Margareta Winberg today criticized Germany's plan to recognize prostitution as a job entitled to all state benefits given to workers in other fields.
"I strongly disapprove of what is going on in Germany. It goes against the principles of equality, compassion and human rights," Ms Winberg said during a question period in the Swedish parliament.
Germany's governing coalition is expected to present a bill to the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in April which would entitle sex workers to state unemployment benefits as well as health insurance and pensions.
Ms Winberg, whose country currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, said the German plan would merely turn women's bodies into a commodity.
"Regarding the female body as a shoelace, a car or a refrigerator is so foreign to us here in Sweden," she added.
Authorities in the Scandinavian country have since 1999 tried to reduce prostitution by cutting off demand. A new law that went into effect two years ago punishes the purchase of sexual services, but leaves prostitutes free to sell sex for money.
Mr Winberg said she planned to raise the issue with Germany and other EU member states during Sweden's EU presidency.
AFP