Green light: Taiwan begins process to legalise prostitution

Taiwan began a process of legalising prostitution on Wednesday 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, covering locations in Taiwan approved for prostitution. Taiwan outlawed prostitution 11 years ago, but older sections of the capital still teem with underground sex workers. The Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, a Taipei-based advocacy group, estimates that 6,00,000 people are involved in sex-related jobs.

Local religious groups, however, have opposed the move. New Zealand allowed brothels to operate freely in 2003, when parliament voted to overturn 100-year-old sex laws. Bangladesh decriminalised the trade in 2000, but for women only.