Switzerland announced Wednesday that it would stop issuing special work permits for foreign strippers, who hail from countries such as Russia, the Dominican Republic and Thailand. The government said that the eight-month permits would no longer be granted after the end of 2015, on the grounds that they had stoked sexual exploitation in the Alpine country.
"Women are forced to drink alcohol, to prostitute themselves, and it is very difficult to prove it," Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga told reporters. Created in 1995, the permits were meant to protect foreign women who wanted to work as night-club dancers and strippers from unscrupulous players in the sex business. But after in-depth studies, the government decided that so-called "L permit" status for the women was not having its desired effect. "Based on a range of police investigations, in 2010 the Federal Migration Office reached the conclusion that the status was no longer playing its protective role and was enabling exploitation and human trafficking," the government said in a statement on Wednesday.