The Ministry of the Interior’s (MOI) announcement on Friday that it plans to decriminalize the sex industry drew a mixed reaction from civic groups yesterday.
The announcement came after the Council of Grand Justices released Constitutional Interpretation No. 666 on Friday declaring Article 80 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which imposes penalties on prostitutes, but not clients, unconstitutional.
Afterwards, Deputy Interior Minister Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said that the MOI would work toward decriminalizing the sex industry.
The interpretation stated that imposing penalties on sex workers but not their clients was in violation of the principle of equality stated in Article 7 of the Constitution.
A sex transaction must be completed with the party who sells the service and the other party who pays for it, hence the two sides should share the same legal burden, the interpretation said.
“Since most people intending to obtain [financial] gains are female, the law seems to mostly target women involved in the trade and impose penalties on them,” the interpretation said. “For women forced into the trade because of their economically disadvantaged conditions, such penalties only worsen the situation for them.”
Chien responded to the interpretation on Friday evening, saying: “The MOI will follow the conclusions from a meeting of the [Executive Yuan’s] Human Rights Protection and Promotion Committee in June to work on laws and measures to decriminalize the sex industry while also gathering input from sex workers.”
While completely decriminalizing the sex industry is the MOI’s long-term objective, Chien added that the ministry would take certain measures to loosen restrictions on sex workers before the law is revised.
He added it had not been decided whether red light districts should be created, but the ministry was inclined to leave that decision to local governments and councils.
“The ministry will continue to implement the policy to exclude enforcing Article 80 from police officers’ performance review; we will urge the judiciary to impose a lesser fine on prostitutes instead of detaining them; we will also put more effort into cracking down on human trafficking,” Chien said.
Chien’s remarks marked the first time that the MOI has clearly stated its position on decriminalizing the sex industry.
“The MOI has overinterpreted the interpretation,” Garden of Hope Foundation executive director Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) told the Taipei Times via telephone. “The Council of Grand Justices only declared the article unconstitutional because it endorses inequality, but the Grand Justices did not say if penalties should be lifted.”
Chi said the sex industry exploits women and whether it should be legalized is still highly controversial.
“A consensus should be reached in society first, and I’d think a referendum on the issue would be valid — the MOI should not be too eager to declare its position,” she said.
Awakening Foundation secretary-general Tseng Chao-yuan (曾昭媛) welcomed both the interpretation and the ministry’s announcement.
“Of course we welcome the MOI’s announcement and support decriminalizing the sex industry because the current law is repression of economically disadvantaged women forced into prostitution when only sex workers, not clients, are punished,” Tseng said.
Tseng also voiced opposition to red light districts, worrying that it may mean punishing both sex workers and clients outside of the districts.
The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters executive director Chung Chun-chu (鍾君竺) also supported the move, but said it wasn’t the end of the battle because the Council of Grand Justices did not clarify whether the sex industry should be decriminalized.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said Taipei was not suitable for a red light district.
“Every place is different. As for Taipei, I don’t think it’s suitable to set up a special district [for the sex industry] and I think Taipei City residents would oppose such a district,” he said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard