No more prostitutes, Danish union says

COPENHAGEN — Denmark's Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) on Monday told its employees and elected leaders that they were no longer allowed to visit prostitutes when they travel abroad on business.

"We want to send a clear signal that LO does not in any way want to contribute to the oppression of other human beings in other countries, and we consider prostitution to be an oppression of women," LO deputy chairwoman Tine Aurvig-Huggenberger said in the organisation's newsletter.

The new rules "are not formulated as an order" but rather as a "recommendation to staff and other elected LO officials", she said, noting that it was impossible to verify in practice whether people were obeying such a ban.

However, Aurvig-Huggenberger said she was not aware of any cases where LO officials had visited prostitutes.

LO, which has 1.4 million members in a country of 5.4 million, said it hoped its move would encourage the Danish state and private sector to implement similar rules for their employees.

The organisation said it was inspired by similar anti-prostitution measures adopted in Norway and at the United Nations.