Legalize Prostitution, UN Urges PH

[dream_catcher]

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Legalize prostitution, UN urges PH



The Philippines should decriminalize ***-related jobs in order to provide *** workers access to basic rights and to control the spread of sexually transmitted infections especially HIV, a new United Nations report said.

"The legal recognition of *** work as an occupation enables *** workers to claim benefits, to form or join unions and to access work-related banking, insurance, transport and pension schemes," the report dubbed "*** Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific" showed.

Decriminalization, it added, involves the repeal of laws criminalizing *** work, being clients to *** workers or enganging in activities associated with *** work.

It should also repeal laws that require mandatory testing or treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or other STIs, as well as laws that allow detention of *** workers for rehabilitation or correction.

The report stressed that Filipino *** workers remain highly vulnerable to STIs including HIV as well as sexual and physical abuse due to stigma.

This, even as it noted that the Philippines has introduced laws aimed at preventing HIV and protecting the rights of infected patients.

These laws offer "limited protections" to *** workers, the report said, amid "the continued enforcement of criminal laws against *** workers and difficulties in accessing the justice system to enforce these rights."

*** work as well as businesses engaged in *** are illegal under Philippine laws, with penalties up to 30 days imprisonment for first offense and up to six months imprisonment for repeat offenders.

Related story: Afghan woman 'beheaded for refusing prostitution'
The UN also noted that broad definitions open to abuse and misinterpretation some provisions of laws on *** work.

Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code, which covers immoral doctrines, obscene publications and exhibitions and indecent shows "may be used by police to lay charges as a result of raiding entertainment establishments," the report said.

"Establishment-based *** workers are at risk of arrest as a result of police raids conducted under the antitrafficking law," it added.

Most of these workers are also not given health insurance, with the UN saying that "employers take advantage of a loophole in relevant employment laws by claiming that *** workers are not regular employees..."

*** workers operating independently, however, are still "more vulnerable to arrest and police abuses," the report said.

"Street-based *** workers are commonly charged with vagrancy offences," it noted.

Laws also remain inadequate in addressing issues of discrimination against *** workers, especially for those infected with HIV or other STIs.

The AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998, for instance, provides "no specific provisions to protect *** workers from discrimination," the report said.

*** workers who are sexually assaulted are also unlikely to "successfully bring a charge of rape against an offender" despite the Anti-Rape Law, the UN added.

"Police confiscation of condoms for use as evidence remains a controversial issue," the report noted.

Although noting that the government has backed efforts to promote condom use among *** workers over the last decade, UN said the presence of condoms in establishments raided by police is still used as evidence in criminal complaints.

UN noted, however, that "significant progress has been achieved through *** workers educating their peers about their rights, organizing legal representation and securing changes to law enforcement practices..."

"At the local level, this approach has shifted the power balance in favour of the vulnerable, and has been associated with positive HIV prevention outcomes such as increased condom use rates and reduced stigma," the report said.

It added that "in decriminalized contexts, the *** industry can be subject to the same general laws regarding workplace health and safety and anti-discrimination protections as other industries."

Legalize prostitution, UN urges PH - Yahoo! News Philippines


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R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S.!!!

[dbalagosa]

amawa ug trip oi

[peewee_toot]

what will the church say about this? hhhmmmm...

[dream_catcher]

it will take a decade paman gani siguro nga mga pass ang RH Bill, let alone
this.sigh.we have other mountains of problems that UN should urge us to solve.
crazy ra kaayo ang legalizing prostitution.

[reptoid]

It's already a huge underground industry. There are vasts sums of money being exchanged and no income tax being paid. This has been the situation for a long, long time. Ignoring issues, pretending that they don't exist is in itself irresponsible. Unfortunately self-righteous attitudes and fear of the church means that dealing with prostitution in a sensible way isn't likely here. It will just remain swept under the carpet where the gangsters can continue enriching themselves.

[dagski]

It's already a huge underground industry. There are vasts sums of money being exchanged and no income tax being paid. This has been the situation for a long, long time. Ignoring issues, pretending that they don't exist is in itself irresponsible. Unfortunately self-righteous attitudes and fear of the church means that dealing with prostitution in a sensible way isn't likely here. It will just remain swept under the carpet where the gangsters can continue enriching themselves.

mao dapat ma legalize na ni sila. para mka TAXan na pud ni sila dugay na kaayo na tax free ilang operations da! .. heheh

[Dorothea]

Imbes legalize ang prostitution, how about patumaron nalang tambal ning mga lalake para mo decrease ang libido. The reason why prostitution and *** slavery and all these other horrible things exist...the reason is this insatiable desire for human flesh (s*x) by our male population. *sigh*

[dream_catcher]

Imbes legalize ang prostitution, how about patumaron nalang tambal ning mga lalake para mo decrease ang libido. The reason why prostitution and *** slavery and all these other horrible things exist...the reason is this insatiable desire for human flesh (s*x) by our male population. *sigh*

mao!dapat kapunon ang mga laking igat!

[moy1moy1]

If ma legalize ang prostitution, ma menus ang STD's kybaw mu nganu? naa namai screening ug health benefits like other UN countries. Dia pa, if ma legalize ang prostitution dri ma butangan na aug tax ang kada usa ka prosti also ma standardized na ang ila abang.

funny thought, if this push thru, chances are, there will be more beautiful class A prosti out there heehee..

Church, what can you say 'bout this?

[emow]

whether legal or not, there will always be prostitution... It is better for it to be legalized since those who engage in such industry can be protected with their rights, anyway its their own body, they decide how they want to treat it. Wala man sad cguro sila nag violate sa uban rights if ibaligya nila ilang lawas, because there is mutual consent. With the current situation, they are forced to go through underground arrangements which will put them in harms way. Prostitution is not an ideal way of life, but it does not step on the rights of other people therefore it should be allowed.

If we are going to assert a principle that we should illegalize anything that is not ideal, then we must all agree that laziness, obesity, unproductiveness, alcoholism, illiteracy, etc... must also be criminalized. If we don't agree with prostitution, then don't engage in prostitution. Government should never interfere with personal choice.