Taiwan: COSWAS protests arrest of prostitute

[yuiyoshida]

Activists from the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS) yesterday demonstrated in front of the Taipei City Hall to decry what group members called the Taipei Police Department’s “flawed policy implementation” for using a sting operation to arrest a prostitute for soliciting on the Internet, for which she could face a three-year prison term or a NT$1 million (US$29,579) fine.

Citing a 2011 amendment to the Social Order Maintenance Act , which stipulates that with the exception of places frequented by minors, local governments may delimit zones within commercial districts or recreational areas where prostitution is legal, group members called on the municipal government to take the lead in legalizing prostitution.

Hsiao Yi-ting said that authorities should not target prostitutes, who are often financially disadvantaged workers.

She said that during Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s first year in office, police officers arrested 1,500 prostitutes for sex offenses, and that at this rate, Ko’s administration would arrest 4,500 more prostitutes before the end of his term.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/02/04/2003638813