SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

2010. 584 A raid in 2011 by police and immigration officials resulted in deportation of eight
sex workers to Indonesia and the arrest of six Chinese women. 585
There are reports of local police and UN police purchasing sex. 586
The Australian sex workers organization, Scarlet Alliance, works in partnership with
the local NGO Fundasaun Timor Hari’i (FTH) to increase the capacity of sex workers to
provide effective advocacy, leadership and representation of sex worker issues in policy,
law and programme development. Scarlet Alliance has assisted in the formalisation of
$carlet Timor Collective, a network of more than 70 sex workers. Through $carlet Timor,
sex workers are represented on the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism and
the National AIDS Council.
6.11 Viet Nam
Illegal
SEX WORK IN
PRIVATE
Illegal
SOLICITING
Illegal
BROTHELS
6.11.1 Laws
Sex work is illegal under administrative law and has been declared to be a ‘social evil’. 587
In 2012, the Government of Viet Nam approved a new Law on Administrative Sanctions
to end the administrative detention of sex workers. Under the Ordinance on Handling of
Administrative Violations 2002, 588 sex work and addiction to narcotics were administrative
violations and could result in detention for up to two years in centres managed by the
Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). These centres were referred to as ‘05
Centres’ for sex workers and ‘06 Centres’ for people who are addicted to drugs. According
to Human Rights Watch, a considerable number of drug detention centres doubled as
detention centres for sex workers. 589 In 2010, the UN Country Team argued that the fear of
administrative detention keeps sex workers from accessing HIV services, and called for the
harmonization of the legal regulations on sex work and the Law on HIV/AIDS Prevention
584 Timorese Immigration Police: foreign prostitutes in Timor Leste, East Timor, Law and Justice Bulletin 22
March 2010.
585 Police deport eight prostitutes to Indonesia, East Timor, Law and Justice Bulletin 18 January 2011.
586 Murdoch L. (2007) UN under fire for turning a blind eye to peacekeepers' misconduct, Sydney Morning
Herald, 7 May 2007; Sonet R., Vilanova O. (2008) Prostitution in Suai: where does it come from, and why? East
Timor, Law and Justice Bulletin, 11 July 2009, http://easttimorlegal.blogspot.com/2009/07/prostitution-insuai-where-does-it-come.html;
UNPOL pretending to be serious by raiding suspected prostitution bar, Tempo
Semanal-Dili, 3 December 2010.
587 Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Control 2003.
588 44/2002/PL-UBTVQH10 of 2 July 2002.
589 Human Rights Watch (2011), The Rehab Archipelago: Forced Labor and Other Abuses in Drug Detention
Centers in Southern Vietnam, New York: Human Rights Watch, p.11.
166