Grand justices rule law on prostitution unconstitutional

According to the existing Social Order Maintenance Act, prostitution is against the law, but there is no specific law to take prostitutes' clients into custody.

After caught indulging in sexual activities with prostitutes, clients are usually released shortly after questioning, yet streetwalkers usually face a detention period of three days or a fine of up to NT$30,000 and the case is normally transferred to prosecutor's office.

Prostitutes could also be sent to reform institutions for a period of six months to a year, under the law.

This law was challenged as “unfair” by two judges in a recent case involving two elderly prostitutes, and the justices' petition for a judicial review has led to an upcoming change in the rules.

According to the two Yilan District Court judges, Lin Chun-ting and Yang Kun chiao, they have encountered many cases of elderly prostitutes earning a mere NT$300 for each transaction, and in those cases prostitution was not really a choice but rather the only way to earn a living.

Out of pity for such prostitutes, who face legal penalties while their clients don't, the two judges took the issue to the Constitutional Court, questioning the fairness of the law that absolves the clients of prostitutes.

The constitutional court reasoned that the rule is against the equality principle. The law is expected to be invalidated in two years as any amendment of the regulations and penalties pertaining to prostitution requires administrative and legislative review and planning.

The judicial decision may be a huge blow to the police's ongoing crackdown on prostitution. As the current law requires used condoms as proof to bring the case to court, some local police officers allegedly recruit informers to be the customers of sex workers in order to apprehend the prostitutes.

The Constitutional Court's decision may give momentum to Taiwan's gender equality groups that have been calling for prostitution to be decriminalized.

Most sex workers are female or are considered socially disadvantaged individuals. The judicial group also called on the government to provide sex workers with vocational training and to help them earn a living without working in the sex trade.

When the decriminalization proposal was raised by Kuomintang Legislator Cheng Li-wen at the Legislative Yuan in mid June, some lawmakers suggested setting up special sex-industry zones, similar to the red-light districts in Amsterdam and Hamburg. However, most other legislators expressed reservations about the suggestion.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin responded yesterday that Taipei City would not set up a zone for the sex trade.

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