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Nick Gentle

Laws fail prostitutes, critics argue
The law is failing to protect the city's sex workers and there should be greater decriminalisation of prostitution to save lives, rights groups and academics say.
The call comes as police continue to hunt for those responsible for the murders of two prostitutes  last weekend, which brought to eight the number killed in the past 12 months. Police are still investigating whether the two latest cases are linked.
The full crime statistics for 2008 will be released on Wednesday. But the city's sex workers were roughly six times more likely to be murdered than the average resident, according to murder statistics for the first 11 months of last year.
Activists and academics say laws that are supposed to protect sex workers from organised crime are instead forcing them to work alone, without any means of protection from  predators.
Yet the government believes the current regulatory regime, whereby prostitution itself is legal but living off its proceeds or running vice establishments is not, strikes the right balance.
A Security Bureau spokesman on Friday said there were no plans to review the legislation.
Elaine Lam Yee-ling, co-ordinator of sex worker advocacy group Zi Teng, said sex workers should not be treated like criminals.
'When the industry is forced underground, the girls cannot be protected,' she said.
Ms Lam said there had been dramatic improvements in communication between police and prostitutes  following a  deadly  period last March that saw four killed in as many days, but there was still a long way to go.
'It is not possible to apply for a visa as a sex worker when you come to Hong Kong, so if they report a crime to the police they risk being arrested for breaching their conditions of stay,' Ms Lam said. 'We need to look at this as we would any other industry  ... some level of decriminalisation is the way forward.'
Simon Young,  director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law  at the University of Hong Kong, agreed. 'Acting on your own is okay, but everything else is illegal,' he said.
So a woman can rent a room and set up a so called one-woman brothel, but theoretically the landlord can be charged with living off the proceeds of prostitution if they know what it is being used for.
Likewise prostitutes cannot hire a security guard because the guard would be living off the proceeds.
'It needs to be recognised that although they may be perhaps engaging in illegal activities, they are still a very vulnerable group, and the government has a duty to protect them,' Professor Young said.
He  said  Hong Kong  was not ready for full legalisation, such as had been tried in other countries.
'But limited decriminalisation in the name of protecting these women should be acceptable,' he said. 'There is a vacuum - a shortfall - in the law and no one at this stage is willing to come out and talk about this.'
Ms Lam, who, with a couple of district councillors, will be handing out leaflets and brochures in Mong Kok on Tuesday, said  sex workers wanted an open discussion of the issue. 'We understand it is very difficult for people to accept this industry, but we want to help them understand that these girls really are at risk,' she said.
A Security Bureau spokesman said prostitution-related offences were intended to combat organised crime and minimise the nuisance to the public caused by vice.
'This arrangement strikes a reasonable balance between the human rights and privacy of sex workers, the well-being of other members of the community and the prevailing moral values of the community.'



Ease curbs on sex workers, say activists, experts