Prostitution by country
The laws on prostitution vary considerably around the world. They can vary from total prohibition of both the sale and purchase of sexual services, bans on either, regulation to varying extent of some or all aspects, to minimal regulation or restriction of any activity. Even when the sale or purchase is legal, prohibiting some or all of the activities necessary to work such as communicating between worker and client (soliciting), working from premises (brothel or bawdy-house), and involvement of third parties (managers, drivers, security) produces a de facto prohibition.
In practice neither capital punishment, incarceration, nor remedial training have had any appreciable effect on the trade. The issue of prostitution as a whole is socially and politically divisive, and difficult to form a consensus. In North Korea, Sudan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, prostitution is a crime punishable by death.
Africa
Prostitution is illegal in the majority of African countries. Nevertheless, it is common, driven by the widespread poverty in many sub-Saharan African countries,[1] and is one of the drivers for the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa.[2] Social breakdown and poverty caused by civil war in several African countries has caused further increases in the rate of prostitution in those countries. For these reasons, some African countries have also become destinations for sex tourism.
AIDS infection rates are particularly high among African sex workers.[citation needed][3] Long distance truck drivers have been identified as a group with the high-risk behaviour of sleeping with prostitutes and a tendency to spread the infection along trade routes in the region. Infection rates of up to 33% were observed in this group in the late 1980s in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
In Gambia, prostitution is legal, The majority of women prostitutes are foreigners.
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Asia
In Asia, the main characteristic of the region is the very big discrepancy between the laws which exist on the books and what occurs in practice. For example, in Thailand prostitution is illegal,[4] but in practice it is tolerated and partly regulated, and the country is a destination for sex tourism. Such situations are common in many Asian countries.
In Japan, everything but penis in vagina is legal[5] and there are ads that detail what each individual prostitute will do (bj, anal, ...). Of course many of them ignore the law. The point is while Japan is painted red by some countries standards it would be considered technically legal by others since anal sex, oral sex, etc are legal. See Prostitution in Japan
Child prostitution is a serious problem in this region. Past surveys indicate that 30 to 35 percent of all prostitutes in the Mekong sub-region of Southeast Asia are between 12 and 17 years of age.[6]
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Europe
The most common legal system in the European Union is that which allows prostitution itself (the exchange of sex for money) but prohibits associated activities (brothels, pimping, etc.).
In Sweden, Norway and Iceland it is illegal to pay for sex (the client commits a crime, but not the prostitute).
In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to pay for sex with a prostitute who has been "subjected to force" and this is a strict liability offense (clients can be prosecuted even if they did not know the prostitute was forced), but prostitution itself is legal.[7][8]
In Germany while prostitution is legal there are emerging disturbing problems in it. Flat-rate brothels, where the prostitute has to service any number of men and do any sex act with them for a single price that's paid by the men as an entrance fee, is a current trend in Germany. Prostitutes overall don't benefit since they have to do more sex acts that are sometimes not wanted with any number of men for less money.[9] Also Axel Dreher, at the University of Heidelberg, has attempted to answer "Does legalized prostitution increase human trafficking?" with data from 150 countries. After his investigation of the reported statistics, he concluded that human trafficking is an increasing problem where prostitution is legal.[10] This human trafficking is now a growing problem in Germany's industry of legalized prostitution.
The enforcement of the anti-prostitution laws varies by country. One example is Belgium, in which brothels are illegal, but in practice, they are tolerated, operate quite openly, and in some parts of the country, the situation is similar of that in neighboring Netherlands.
Prostitution is illegal in most of the ex-communist countries of Eastern Europe. Here, prostitution was outlawed by the former communist regimes, and those countries chose to keep it illegal even after the fall of the Communists. In Hungary, however, prostitution is legal and regulated.
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North America
- Prostitution in Washington
- Prostitution in Canada
- Prostitution in Costa Rica
- Prostitution in Cuba
- Prostitution in the Dominican Republic
- Prostitution in El Salvador
- Prostitution in Guatemala
- Prostitution in Haiti
- Prostitution in Honduras
- Prostitution in Jamaica
- Prostitution in Mexico
- Prostitution in Nicaragua
- Prostitution in Panama
- Prostitution in Trinidad and Tobago
United States
Prostitution laws in the United States are determined at the state level. The practice is illegal in all but one of its 50 states and is illegal in all US Territories.
Nevada is the only US state which allows some legal prostitution in some of its counties. Currently 8 out of Nevada's 16 counties have active brothels. Prostitution outside these brothels is illegal throughout the state; prostitution is illegal in the major metropolitan areas (Las Vegas, Reno, and Carson City). Prostitution is heavily regulated by the state of Nevada. See Prostitution in Nevada.
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South America
- Prostitution in Argentina
- Prostitution in Bolivia
- Prostitution in Brazil
- Prostitution in Chile
- Prostitution in Colombia
- Prostitution in Ecuador
- Prostitution in Guyana
- Prostitution in Paraguay
- Prostitution in Peru
- Prostitution in Suriname
- Prostitution in Uruguay
- Prostitution in Venezuela
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Oceania
- Prostitution in Australia
- Prostitution in East Timor
- Prostitution in Indonesia
- Prostitution in New Zealand
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References
- ↑ Increasing prostitution driven by poverty in drought-stricken – Welthungerhilfe. Welthungerhilfe.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-11.
- ↑ Sex Workers, Prostitution and AIDS. Avert.org. Retrieved on 2012-01-11.
- ↑ "Sex Workers, Prostitution, HIV and AIDS".
- ↑ 2008 Human Rights Report: Thailand. State.gov (2009-02-25). Retrieved on 2012-01-11.
- ↑
- ↑ Deena Guzder "UNICEF: Protecting Children from Commercial Sexual Exploitation". Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. August 20, 2009
- ↑ Policing and Crime Act 2009. Opsi.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2012-01-11.
- ↑ Policing and Crime | UK | Anti-trafficking | Exploitation | Sex Industry | The Naked Anthropologist. Nodo50.org (2010-04-06). Retrieved on 2012-01-11.
- ↑ DER SPIEGEL. How Legalizing Prostitution Has Failed. Retrieved on 2013-14-06.
- ↑ Elsevier ScienceDirect. Does legalized prostitution increase human trafficking?. Retrieved on 2013-14-06.