SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

UN Trafficking Convention
The UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of
the Prostitution of Others (1949) (‘Trafficking Convention’) only addresses trafficking
for the purpose of prostitution and sexual exploitation. Other forms of forced labour
are not included. For UN agencies the Trafficking Convention is primarily of historical
interest and has been supplanted by the 2000 Trafficking Protocol, which provides a more
contemporary framework. However, the Convention remains relevant to States in the Asia
Pacific region because some States that are parties to the 1949 Trafficking Convention have
not yet signed the 2000 Trafficking Protocol, and the wording and interpretation of some
national prostitution laws that remain in force have been influenced by the Trafficking
Convention (e.g., Republic of Korea, India). The Trafficking Convention adopts an overtly
anti-sex work position and requires States to punish people for procurement, enticement,
and exploitation of the prostitution of a person, with or without consent. States are also
required to prohibit brothel keeping and the renting of accommodation for prostitution
purposes.
SAARC Trafficking Convention
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Preventing and
Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (2002) promotes cooperation
among Member States to deal with prevention, protection and punishment of trafficking
in women and children for the purposes of prostitution. The SAARC Convention includes
the following definitions:
‘Prostitution’ means the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes;
‘Trafficking’ means the moving, selling or buying of women and children for prostitution
within and outside a country for monetary or other considerations with or without the
consent of the person subjected to trafficking;
‘Persons subjected to trafficking’ means women and children victimised or forced into
prostitution by the traffickers by deception, threat, coercion, kidnapping, sale, fraudulent
marriage, child marriage, or any other unlawful means.
In contrast to the Trafficking Protocol, the SAARC Convention only addresses trafficking
of women for the purposes of prostitution. The SAARC Convention effectively conflates
trafficking with prostitution (by equating prostitution with sexual exploitation and by
stating that the consent of a woman is irrelevant).
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW)
CEDAW is an international human rights instrument that refers to suppression of trafficking.
Article 6 of CEDAW provides: “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including
legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of
women”. CEDAW does not define the terms ‘traffic’, ‘exploitation’ or ‘prostitution’. CEDAW
does not require the suppression of all forms of prostitution or sex work, but rather of the
exploitation of prostitution. The language used in Article 6 suggests that not all instances
of sex work are inherently exploitative. When the text of CEDAW was being drafted, a
proposal for the amendment of Article 6 to call for the abolition of prostitution in all its
forms was rejected.
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