Following the lead taken by some Christian groups, anti-human trafficking advocates, medical practitioners and famous celebrities have spoken in one voice against the decision taken by non-government organisation Amnesty International to approve a new policy seeking to decriminalise the global sex trade.
Tina Frundt, founder of Courtney's House in Washington, D.C. which helps children victimised by human traffickers, called Amnesty's decision "a terrible idea."
She pointed out that decriminalising the sex trade already did not work in some countries. In Germany, for instance, brothels were able to obtain fake identification for women from other countries whom they force into the sex trade.
"This has been tried and failed – in the Netherlands, in Germany – they've closed down over 30 brothels because we are talking about a criminal industry that we are trying to legalise," Frundt, herself a survivor of child sex trafficking, explained.
"Criminals think like criminals. It's a die-hard criminal business making millions," she added.
Therapist Candace Wheeler from Restoration Ministries, an organisation which helps trafficking survivors in the process of healing, said Amnesty's decision has very serious implications.
"What they have found (in Amsterdam) is that tolerance is not protecting women who are in prostitution there, because it's mostly women who are trafficked from other countries, and they are realising that their tolerance is a huge problem," Wheeler said.
"If it's decriminalised, then that just opens up the door for that kind of business. We could have established brothels and red light districts, and then crime comes with that, and drugs – and I am the person that gets to see them afterwards and try and heal them," she added.
Award-winning Hollywood celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet, meanwhile, signed a letter to Amnesty appealing that the non-government organisation reconsider its decision, pointing out the "inescapable harms the sex trade inflicted."