Spain’s prime minister has vowed to ban prostitution, saying the oldest profession in history “enslaves women.”

Pedro Sánchez made the pledge while reading from his 2019 election manifesto at a three-day congress of his ruling Socialist Workers’ Party on Sunday.

His document said prostitution is “one of the cruellest aspects of the feminization of poverty and one of the worst forms of violence against women.”

Prostitution has been legal in Spain since 1995 and in 2016 the UN estimated the country’s sex industry was worth €3.7bn with as many as 300,000 people working in Spain’s sex industry.

Prostitution is legal across Europe, including in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Greece, according to the Post. 

Those who oppose Sánchez’s call for banning prostitution say it being legal benefits the women who work in the industry and keeps them safe. 

Critics of legalized prostitution, however, have said these countries are more likely to experience increased human trafficking, pimping, and other related crimes.