Incentives to lure hookers off streets

EINDHOVEN - Prostitutes in the Dutch city of Eindhoven are to be awarded "credits" in return for good behaviour under a scheme to encourage them to abandon the oldest profession.

The prostitutes will receive so-called "street miles" they can use to acquire free designer clothes or furniture, provided they take up an offer by the city council to take steps leading to a career change and a safer lifestyle.

Eindhoven's designated sex work zone is due to close by 2011. Many of the city's sex workers are also heroin addicts.

The city will fund assertiveness classes to help sex workers sever ties with their pimps, as well as courses on how to find new jobs.

But the initiative has been lampooned in the Dutch media, where some commentators have dubbed it the "whore miles" scheme.

The plan is also receiving a lukewarm welcome among some prostitutes.

- INDEPENDENT