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www.groovekorea.com / January 2015 42 prostitution without increasing indoor prostitution, and helped to combat hu- man trafficking for sexual services. But researchers and anti-discrimina- tion groups have criticized the validity of the government’s findings for lacking sound research. The findings were dis- puted in 2012 when the Swedish Na- tional Police Board reported that 90 Thai massage parlors, which were judged to be offering sexual services, were op- erating in Stockholm. This number in- creased to an estimated 250 at the end of 2011 with some 450 parlors thought to be operating nationwide, according to the National Bureau of Investigation. The Swedish Model has also been criticized by sex worker advocates, ac- ademics and international organizations for including laws against women in sex work, such as prohibiting them from renting property for work. When the idea of introducing the Swedish Model began to pick up in Europe last year, 560 NGOs and 94 academics world- wide signed an open letter to the Eu- ropean Parliament rejecting the plan. Nonetheless, the European Parliament approved a resolution in 2014 calling for the Swedish Model’s adoption. Elsewhere, Canada, Ireland and Northern Ireland recently decided to criminalize the purchase of sex, to the protest of sex workers. The Justice De- partment of Northern Ireland commis- sioned a report concluding that 98 per- cent of sex workers surveyed opposed criminalizing the purchase of sex, and 85 percent believed that it would not re- duce sex trafficking. But the proposed Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill was passed last year. Similarly, research conducted by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Wom- en, a network of more than 100 NGOs worldwide, found in 2011 that criminal- izing the buyers of sex does not reduce trafficking and violates the rights of sex workers, including threatening their in- come security and working conditions. Edited by Elaine Ramirez (elaine@groovekorea.com) COvER STORy