O’REGAN J and SACHS J
European Court recently underlined the wide discretion that states have in relation to prostitution
as an economic activity.19 In the circumstances, therefore, we are satisfied that section 20(1)(aA)
constitutes a measure designed to promote or protect the quality of life as contemplated by
section 26(2) and that it is a measure considered justifiable in open and democratic societies
based on freedom and equality. It is therefore not inconsistent with the right in section 26 of the
interim Constitution. The challenge based on the right to freely engage in economic activity
must therefore fail.
Discrimination
19
Aldona Malgorzata Jany and Others v Staatssecretaris van Justitie Case C-268/99, 20 November 2001.
The Court held that in terms of its treaty obligations the Dutch government could not refuse residence
permits to self-employed prostitutes from Poland and the Czech Republic. It held that prostitution was an
economic activity, that the prostitutes were self-employed, that as far as the question raised of immorality
was concerned it was not for the Court to substitute its own assessment for that of the Legislatures of the
Member States. At the heart of the judgment was the acknowledgment by the Court of the state’s discretion
as to how to deal with prostitution.
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