Legalized Prostitution in Hong Kong

Title: Legalized prostitution in Hong Kong

In most of the countries and regions around the world, prostitution remains criminalized. As one of the few exceptional cases among the majority, prostitution is legalized and regulated by the government in the Netherlands. In Hong Kong, there is a loophole on regulating prostitution. Prostitution itself is not illicit under Hong Kong's legal system. Nevertheless, many acts related to prostitution such as control over persons for prostitution (Section 130, Cap 200) and living on earnings of prostitution of others (Section 137, Cap 200) are unlawful. As a result, prostitutes frequently fall into legal traps and are treated as second-class citizens in Hong Kong. In this essay, positive effects that can be brought by the legalization of prostitution will be analyzed. They include the protection on the prostitutes' personal safety, sex-related health problems and liberty of prostitutes. With the Netherlands serving as an excellent example, Hong Kong should consider the possibility of legalizing prostitution so as to offer the prostitutes and even their customers more protection.

First, the legalization of prostitution helps protecting one of the fundamental rights - rights to personal safety. Every year, many prostitutes become victims of crimes such as robbery and rape. According to Brents and Hausbeck (2005), brothels under regulation in the Netherlands provide a safer working environment for sex workers, suggesting that legalized prostitution would bring public scrutiny and official regulation to brothels. Prostitutes are then able to enjoy a higher level of personal safety. Considering the fact that prostitutes are also entitled to fundamental human rights, legalized and regulated brothels can offer them more personal safety.

Second, the legalization of prostitution can in fact alleviate the sexual health problem resulting from prostitution. Contrary to the expectation from the general public, legalization would not proliferate the problem of sexual diseases. Instead, as Masenior and Beyrer suggests (2007, p. 1159), legalization of prostitution can lead to "the empowerment, organization, and unionization of sex workers can be an effective HIV prevention strategy and can reduce the other harms associated with sex work". In Hong Kong, the prostitution industry is loosely constructed with no statutory or formal regulations. Legalization of prostitution would encourage the prostitutes to form unions to self-regulate. According to the World Health Organization (2009), the rate of people living with HIV/AIDS of the Netherlands is 0.2%, being one of the lowest among the world. Some measures taken by them include mandatory use of condoms, regular testing of HIV and other sexual diseases would be possible under the regulation of the unions. Thus, legalization of prostitution can alleviate the sexual