Bill to decriminalise sex work open for public comment

The Criminal Law on Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Bill was approved for publishing by the Cabinet last week.

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola says sex work is often driven by several social and economic factors such as poverty and unemployment.

He believes the current laws have not been effective. 

"If anything it has led to higher levels of violence against sex workers. In addition, criminalisation affects predominately women with female sex workers usually being the one who is confronted by law enforcement agencies while the male client isn't. The National Prosecution Authority has also indicated the very low percentage of cases of prosecutions of such transgressions."

The minister told a media briefing on Friday that there is a two-step approach to the bill. 

"It does not decriminalise and regulate the industry all at once. It deals with the decriminalising only, with regulation to follow later stage. It was thought to be important to deal with the decriminalisation first so as to ensure that sex workers are no longer criminally charged once the bill is passed into legislation.”  

ALSO READ: