Taiwan to allow small brothels in law change「罰娼不罰嫖」違憲

Taiwan to allow small brothels in law change
Reuters
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's government plans to allow sex workers to set up small businesses in the latest change to laws that had once forced the huge ...

Taiwan to allow small brothels in law change

江宜樺14日前往立法院內政委員會備詢，江宜樺強調，前行政院長劉兆玄在大法官第666號解釋宣告「罰娼不罰嫖」違憲之前，就已經擬定方向，加上人權保障 推動小組日前作成「警察取締違反社會秩序維護法第80條第1項案件，即所謂的罰娼不罰嫖，不計入績效；成年性工作者未除罪化前，建議司法院轉知各地方法院 簡易法庭，考量處以符合比例原則的罰鍰，而非拘留」的建議，內政部目前規劃朝向「娼嫖都不罰」。

(Reuters) - Taiwan's government plans to allow sex workers to set up small businesses in the latest change to laws that had once forced the huge industry underground, the interior ministry said.

In a statement on its website, the ministry said it would consider brothels of three to five staff away from areas frequented by children. It will put plans to a cabinet committee by the end of the year.

The ministry ruled out earlier proposals to set up red-light districts or allow larger businesses due to concerns among members of its committee set up to study the issue that such measures would turn the sex trade into a regular industry.

Prostitution was legal only in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, until 1997 when the city authorities made it a criminal offence to be a prostitute though not to patronize one.

The government began debating new laws two years ago after pressure from prostitute groups over the unfairness of the law. In 2009 it stopped punishing sex workers.

Bars and night clubs in older parts of Taipei still teem with sex workers. Estimates from activists put the number of people involved in sex-related jobs in Taiwan at 600,000.

(Reporting by Jonathan Standing and Ralph Jennings)