Pravni Zapisi (Jan 2016)
Prostitution in comparative law and the law of the Republic of Serbia
Abstract
In the year 2016 Law on Public Order and Peace came into effect which brought innovations when it comes to the regulation of the prostitution in the Republic of Serbia. Specifically, in addition to the people who indulge in prostitution, which are mostly women, this Law prescribes punishment of misdemeanor for prostitution service users. The subject of the analysis in this paper is the legal regulation of the prostitution in the Republic of Serbia. It will analyze the provisions of the Law on Public Order and Peace which regulate prostitution, as well as provisions of international documents that are relevant when it comes to the regulation of the prostitution, by applying the normative methods. Given the fact that the international documents designate the demand for commercial sex acts as the main factor which has influence on the growth of the prostitution, comparative analysis will provide an insight into whether the Republic of Serbia has legally effective solution in the field of the prostitution which has effect on the decreasing the demand. The main goal of this research is to determine whether the Republic of Serbia has regulated prostitution in accordance with international documents and current models of legal regulation of prostitution in member states of the EU that have results in the suppression of the prostitution. The results of the research showed that the Republic of Serbia still has prohibition model of regulation which is almost completely abandoned because of the inefficiency in the field of the suppression of the prostitution, and which repressive measures mostly affect women in prostitution. Effective results in the field of the suppression of the prostitution can only be achieved by modifying existing models in such a manner so that the measures against the prostitution will be directed towards the users who form the demand for prostitution.
