Despite holding different views on whether the sex industry should be legalized, civic groups unanimously panned the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) over its decision to authorize local governments to set up red light districts, calling the policy “irresponsible.”
“This is a very irresponsible policy decision from the MOI, because it’s essentially pushing its own responsibility onto local governments,” said Wang Fang-ping (王芳萍), executive director of the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters.
‘MODESTLY ALLOWED’
The remarks came in response to a policy announcement made by the ministry on Wednesday night that the sex industry would be “modestly allowed” with “effective management” after a clause in the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) that bans prostitution becomes invalid on Nov. 6, after a constitutional interpretation made in 2009 declared the clause unconstitutional.
To “effectively manage the sex industry,” the ministry said in the press release that it would authorize local governments to create sex industry districts and require sex workers to obtain licenses, while also being required to take periodical health checks.
“This is, essentially, the same as outlawing both the provider and the client in sex transactions, with some exceptions,” Wang said. “This is actually a step backward, since the current law only penalizes the prostitute, not the client.”
She said that if a local government refuses to set up a designated sex industry area, “believe me, corporate prostitution that really exploits sex workers will still exist without being punished since they [corporations] have good connections with politicians, while the more disadvantaged individual sex workers will suffer the penalties.”
Wang called on both the government and the public to recognize the existence of the sex industry and to “stop being fake moralists who pretend [the sex industry] is dirty and does not exist.”
Groups against legalizing the sex industry also condemned the ministry.
“We are very disappointed at the ministry’s decision,” Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation executive director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) said.
“We’re against the decision because, first, this is sending out the message that the female body can be bought with money,” she said. “Second, examples in some -European countries — such as the Netherlands — where the sex industry is legal, show that legalization does not help to prevent the mafia from putting its hands into the industry, and the human trafficking issue will only get worse.”
Kang said the foundation would continue to discuss the issue with the ministry.
IRRESPONSIBLE
Meanwhile, Taiwan Women’s Link also called the ministry irresponsible, accusing it of forcing local governments to make the difficult decision of whether to allow the sex industry.
Responding to the criticism, Legal Affairs Committee executive secretary Liu Wen-shih (劉文仕) defended the decision as “respecting local governments.”
“The central government should always respect local governments. We cannot just designate a sex industry district and force a local government to accept it,” Liu said.
Asked if the policy would be meaningless if no local government creates a designated district for the sex industry, Liu said that some local governments had already expressed interest in creating such districts. However, he added that he could not name the cities or counties.
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