An Australian sex industry social worker yesterday offered advice to the Taipei City Government as the two-year grace period for licensed prostitution nears its end in January of next year, and shared her experience of the development of the sex industry in the state of New South Wales.
Deej Fabyc, regional coordinator of the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP,
"I strongly believe in decriminalization. Sex workers deserve human and labor rights just like any other labor workers," Fabyc said. "Only when the industry is decriminalized is it better regulated in terms of safe sex," she said.
Fabyc made the remark at the "Empowering Conference of Asia's NGOs in Taipei" (
The conference was the first annual Asian NGO forum. The three-day event attracted 60 NGOs, with 40 coming from Taiwan and 20 from eight other Asian countries.
After a short stay in Taipei, Fabyc said she has observed two major differences between the sex industry in New South Wales and Taipei.
"Taipei's licensed prostitutes have their photos taken, posted on the wall, and the police come in regularly to check," she said. "In addition, Taipei's prostitutes are not allowed to get married."
Like many countries in the world, the evolution of the sex industry in New South Wales was a long one. It was not until 1995, when the "Changes in the Disorderly Houses Act" was passed, that there was a breakthrough in the state's sex industry.
Under the law, brothels were made legal commercial businesses and the sex industry, with the exception of massage parlors and street workers, is regulated by local councils instead of by the police.
The law also stipulates that brothel owners need to acquire consent from the council to operate as a legal sex establishment. Any objections to the application must not be made on moral grounds.
Another milestone for the state's industry, Fabyc said, was the Public Health Act, which was passed in 1991.
The law specifies that it is against the law to engage in sexual intercourse with someone without informing the person about any sexually transmitted diseases (STD).
The law also makes it an offense if the owner allows a sex worker with an STD to have sex with a client without the client's informed consent.
Established in 1990, SWOP first started out as an illegal and small community organization. It has now grown to become an operation with 18 full-time staff.
It aims to minimize STDs and HIV/AIDS in the New South Wales sex industry as well as provide a range of services to sex workers, their clients and the management of sex industry establishments.
It also runs a variety of projects and workshops to deliver education and support services. Some of the projects include those for metropolitan women, men and boys, transgendered people, people from different cultures and indigenous tribes.
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