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Source: Reuters
Taiwan began a process of legalising prostitution making the
island the latest place in the world to decriminalise the world's
oldest profession.
In six months, authorities will stop punishing Taiwan sex workers
after prostitutes successfully campaigned to be given the same
protection as their clients, a government spokesman said.
"Now the client gets off free, but the prostitute gets punished,
and that's not fair," spokesman Su Jun-pin said.
Taiwan's cabinet will issue regulations within six months, when new
regulations take effect, covering locations in Taiwan approved for
prostitution.
"It's like fishing," Su said. "The activity may be legal, but in
some places you can't do it."
Taiwan outlawed prostitution 11 years ago, but older sections of
the capital Taipei still teem with underground sex workers in bars
and night clubs on the upper floors of high-rise buildings.
The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, a Taipei-based
advocacy group, estimates that 600,000 people are involved in
sex-related jobs.
"It's something the public has wanted for 12 years," said
Collective CEO Chung Chun-tsu.
"More and more people are agreeing with this consensus."
Local religious groups, however, have opposed the move.
Taiwan is the latest place to legalise prostitution.
New Zealand allowed brothels to operate freely in 2003, when
parliament narrowly voted to overturn 100-year-old sex laws.
A court in Bangladesh decriminalised the trade in 2000, but for women only.
