Right to health and criminalization of same-sex conduct and sexual orientation, sex-work and HIV transmission 2010, para. 32
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- Terms such as "vulnerability" and "abuse of power" remain undefined within the Protocol, and have no independent legal meaning. These terms require clarification, as failure to do so could lead to situations in which State responses to trafficking include sex workers who voluntarily enter the sex sector. For instance, the trafficking of women and children to participate in sex work has been conflated with voluntary participation in sex work in Cambodia, where the Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation was introduced in 1998. The purpose of this legislation was the suppression of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, as stated in article 1, but the statute includes provisions that prohibit activities around sex work and effectively criminalize the sex sector in its entirety. The law prohibits solicitation, support of prostitution in any manner, sharing of benefits obtained from prostitution, management of an establishment for prostitution, or even selling premises knowing they will be used for prostitution, amongst other activities (chapt. IV). The penalties for breach of these laws are extreme, including the seizure of materials and proceeds, closure of businesses and, alarmingly, the restriction of civil rights (art. 48). This law has led to the detention of sex workers without arrest or imposition of criminal charges, as well as to rape and extortion, following raids.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Health, Report to the HRC (2010), A/HRC/14/20, para. 32.
- Paragraph number
- 32
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Date added
75 relationships, 75 entities