Wednesday February 28, 7:28 PM     Reuters*

Romania minister plans to legalise prostitution*

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania, which is struggling to combat human
trafficking and sexual exploitation, plans to tackle the rise in
prostitution by legalising it, Interior Minister Vasile Blaga told
Realitatea TV.

"The interior ministry has initiated a legislative project to legalise
prostitution," Blaga told the private television station late on
Tuesday, adding that a draft law should be ready for public consultation
in about a month.

Romania, a poor Black Sea state of 22 million which joined the European
Union last month, is among 11 countries listed by the United Nations as
the biggest sources of human trafficking, based on reported numbers of
victims.

"If we put our cards on the table, weighing advantages and disadvantages
of such a law, I believe it will be positive," Blaga told Realitatea TV.

Every year thousands of women, some as young as 13, are kidnapped or
lured by promises of well-paid jobs or marriage and sold to gangs who
lock them up in night clubs and brothels or force them to work on the
streets.

Even more women could be at risk if traffickers take advantage of the
easier access to EU states in richer western Europe to force more
Romanian women to work as prostitutes there, observers say.

Romania's influential Orthodox Church has criticised any talk of
legalising prostitution, and could try to mobilise public opinion
against the government's plans.