Several women’s groups criticized the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday over its plan to decriminalize the sex industry, saying that doing so would only make the country a global leader in selling the female body.
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) reiterated last week that decriminalizing the sex industry was the ministry’s long-term policy objective, following the release of a constitutional interpretation that said a clause in the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) that imposes penalties on sex workers, but not their clients, was unconstitutional.
The Council of Grand Justices explained that the clause was considered unconstitutional because it violates the spirit of equality as stated in the Constitution.
Although the women’s groups welcomed the interpretation itself, most of them disagreed with the ministry’s plan, saying it “overinterpreted the interpretation.”
“Chien thinks decriminalizing the sex industry is a [global] trend, but it still remains questionable whether such a measure would effectively manage the sex industry, make it a ‘clean’ industry and economically protect disadvantaged women in the industry,” Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation executive director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) told a press conference at the legislature yesterday.
Kang said legalizing the sex industry wouldn’t resolve all the issues associated with it, such as human trafficking and organized crime.
She said these issues did not improve when the area around Huaxi Street (華西街) in Taipei was made a red light district in 1956. Rather, the red light district simply led to more illegal prostitutes — many human trafficking victims.
While people who support the legalization of the sex industry cite examples of other countries where prostitution is legal to support their case, International Campaign to End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism-Taiwan secretary-general Lee Li-fen (李麗芬) said some of those countries have realized a legal sex industry did not solve all of the issues and were considering doing a U-turn.
“Three years after Germany inaugurated the Act Regulating the Legal Situation of Prostitutes, it has been found to be ineffective and there has been little improvement of prostitutes’ working conditions because there was lack of social consensus on the law,” Lee said. “Sex workers are too afraid to expose their true identity and therefore only a handful of sex workers have signed employment contracts with brothels or become registered, self-employed prostitutes.”
Garden of Hope Foundation executive director Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), on the other hand, said instead of legalizing the sex industry, the government should come up with a solution to resolve the social and economic problems that result in women working as prostitutes.
“Women in the sex industry are exploited — most of the money goes into the pockets of human traffickers, madams, pimps and brothel owners,” Chi said.
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