World P4P News

A Thai government committee drafting a new law governing prostitution has agreed that voluntary sexual service without any criminal penalties should be allowed from sex workers of 20 years of age or greater.

Jintana Chanbamroong, head of the Department of Women's Affairs and Family Development at Social Development and Human Security Ministry, said after presiding over a meeting of the committee drafting the new law that public hearings both online and on-site were held in five cities including Bangkok, Chonburi and Hat Yai.

It is initially called the Draft Act for the Protection of Sexual Services B.E. 206 and is planned to replace the current Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act from 1996.

Sex workers will have rights and be entitled to welfare in the labour system without being identified as a sex worker. They will also have the right to fair compensation but must undergo health checks to ensure they are not infected with any contagious diseases. However prostitution that falls in the category of human trafficking, such as procurement or coercion, would still be a violation of the Human Trafficking Act.

Brothel operators will be required to not violate the conditions for protecting service providers who are their employees and only operate in specific zones, particularly not near educational institutions or places of worship. Also will be stipulated is that it is prohibited to engage in sexual relations with prostitutes under 20 years of age with those procuring and luring them into prostitution too being liable for criminal penalties.

This draft law is expected to be completed and will be tabled to the new government around August this year.

 

Update: Bill being drafted

16th March 2023. See article from thethaiger.com

The Thai government is now drafting a bill to legalise sex work to protect sex workers from exploitation. The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) has proposed the bill, which will also limit the minimum age to provide or buy the service

According to Narong Jaihan, a lecturer from the Faculty of Law at Thammasat University, sex workers under 20 will not be penalised, but legal action will be taken against business operators who employ them underage, as well as their parents.

According to Economist, In 2006, the cost for one hour of sex with a female sex worker averaged $340 worldwide. Nowadays, the average rate is down to $260. But how does this billion-dollar industry trickle down to the workers who make it possible?

\the Havocscope team analyzed thousands of profiles of female sex workers on 200 websites, covering 55 countries, from escort directories to agencies and some of the most recognized international sites. The prices obtained for the visualization aren't the standard, rather the approximate average of prices published in 2019 by the many escorts on the web.

All costs are converted to U.S. dollars and reflect only the costs for 1 hour of escort service. Here are a few examples:

Australia	350
Germany	350
Singapore	350
United Kingdom	350
Poland	320
Belgium	300
Japan	300
New Zealand	300
South Africa	300
United States	250
Ireland	230
Netherlands	180
Thailand	150
Philippines	140
Colombia	50

Spanish sex workers and adult industry figures are sounding the alarm about a proposed new law, supported by politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties, aiming to outlaw all forms of paid sex work -- including commercial pornography.

Last week, the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, known as PSOE, introduced a proposal for an "abolitionist law against sexual exploitation," something that had been included in the party's platform.

Prominent politicians within PSOE have taken up the abolition of sex work as their personal cause. These include the party's General Vice-Secretary Adriana Lastra, who last month took to the press to promote a change in the Spanish penal code to mandate up to three years of jail time for anyone paying for sex.

The proposed legislation would revive the crimes of "proxenetism," meaning pimping or pandering, and "tercería locativa " or brothel keeping. Both were removed from the penal code in 1995 by a previous Socialist administration.

Noted Swedish-Spanish adult filmmaker, producer and studio owner Erika Lust took to Twitter today to sound the alarm about the impending government attempt to ban all sex work, including adult performance. Lust tweeted:

This International Sex Workers Day, I want to take the opportunity to express my unconditional support to all sex performers currently based in Spain, where the government is once again threatening their safety with prohibitionist bills that claim to 'protect their rights'.