Page 5 - aruba-today-20220913

A5
WORLD NEWS Tuesday 13 sepTember 2022
Spanish sex club owners, workers protest prostitution bill

The Associated Press yer and president of PAP,
MADRID (AP) — Protesters which advocates for the
including brothel owners full abolition of prostitution,
and sex workers demon- told the AP that the new
strated Monday in front bill is a huge step for the
of the Spanish Parliament country but should come
over a bill that would pe- with provisions to give vul-
nalize prostitution custom- nerable women better ac-
ers and sex club owners or cess to jobs or subsidies."It's
pimps with sentences up to essential to offer alter-
4 years in prison. natives to prostitution
The bill backed by the rul- survivors,"Carracedo said.
ing left-wing PSOE party Both Otras and the sex busi-
proposes broadening the ness owners deny the gov-
definition of pimping, not ernment's data that says
making the exploitation of 90% of the sex work in Spain
a prostitute necessary but a is forced. Police say 491
mere trade relation. For the victims of trafficking and
first time in Spain, it would sexual exploitation were
also penalize customers. rescued in Spain in 2021.
Demonstrators wore face On a European level, the
masks and used bright red European Parliament es-
umbrellas to conceal their timates there are up to
identities. 180,000 trafficking victims
"We ask the socialist party exploited in prostitution
to withdraw the bill, that im- and the industry generates
plies an actual abolition of 10.8 billion euros ($10.9 bil-
prostitution and condemns lion) a year in the bloc.
us to work underground," Spain is considered to
said Susana Pastor, the have one of the laxest le-
president of the Platform People gather during a demonstration against a bill that would penalize prostitution customers gal frameworks for prosti-
and enablers such as club owners or pimps, facing sentences up to 4 years of imprisionment in
against Abolition. She owns front of the Spanish Parliament in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Sign reads in Spanish: tution in Europe, only pun-
an apartment in Valencia "sex is health, the service is paid, forcing ourselves is a vice" ishing when exploitation or
where women rent rooms Associated Press abuse can be proven. The
to offer sexual services. proposed bill would punish
"I came here today to pro- union Otras didn't back secretary general Concha 200,000 in Spain. both clients and enablers.
tect my job," said one dem- Monday's protest because Borrell told The Associated Other groups, including It still needs to pass through
onstrator, Sandra, a single sex club owners arranged Press. some feminists, oppose parliament.
mother who has done sex it. Borrell demands legal con- normalizing prostitution as Spain has also recent-
work for 12 years. "They don't look after sex tracts for sex workers and a regulated trade. ly forbidden ads for
But the new sex worker workers' rights at all," Otras estimates there are around Charo Carracedo, law- prostitution.q
Montenegro wrestles with massive cyberattack, Russia blamed

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC longest in the tiny nation's Konjevic told The Associ-
Associated Press recent history, capped a ated Press.
PODGORICA, Montenegro string of cyberattacks since He said experts from sev-
(AP) — At the government Russia invaded Ukraine in eral countries are trying to
headquarters in NATO- which hackers targeted help restore the Montene-
member Montenegro, the Montenegro and other Eu- gro government's comput-
computers are unplugged, ropean nations, most of er system and find proof of
the internet is switched off them NATO members. who is behind the attack.
and the state's main web- Sitting at his desk in Monte- Montenegro officials said
sites are down. The black- negro's capital, Podgorica, the attack that crippled
out comes amid a massive in front of a blackened PC the government's digital
cyberattack against the screen, Defense Minister infrastructure was likely car-
small Balkan state which Rasko Konjevic said govern- ried out by a Russian-speak-
officials say bears the hall- ment officials were advised ing ransomware gang that
mark of pro-Russian hack- by cyber experts, including generally operates with-
ers and its security services. a team of FBI investigators out Kremlin interference
The coordinated attack that was dispatched to the as long as it doesn't target Montenegro's Defense Minister Rasko Konjevic speaks during
that started around Aug. Balkan state, to go offline Russian allies. The gang, an interview with The Associated Press in Podgorica, Montene-
20 crippled online govern- for security reasons. called Cuba ransomware, gro, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
ment information platforms "We have been faced claimed responsibility for at Associated Press
and put Montenegro's es- with serious challenges re- least part of the Montene-
sential infrastructure, in- lated to the cyberattack gro cyberattack, in which it Russia has a strong mo- Western sanctions against
cluding banking, water for about 20 days, and the created a special virus for tive for such an attack be- Moscow over the Ukraine
and electricity power sys- entire state system, the sys- the attack called Zerodate. cause Montenegro, which invasion, which led Mos-
tems, at high risk. tem of state administration, Montenegro's Agency for it once considered a strong cow to brand Montenegro
The attack, described by and the system of services National Security blamed ally, joined NATO in 2017 an "enemy state" along
experts as unprecedent- to citizens are functioning the attack squarely on Rus- despite the Kremlin's op- with several other countries
ed in its intensity and the at a rather restrictive level," sia. position. It has also joined that joined the embargo.q