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commercial sexual exploitation of children among the forbidden
worst forms of child labour.
Moving forward: It is necessary to form specific provisions
prohibiting the involvement of children in
the sex trade and provide protection to those who
are already engaged in it. Legislation must better
define child sexual exploitation in all forms, including
pornography and child sexual abuse, and explicitly
punish the sexual exploiters as well as the traffickers.
The Children’s Act should be amended to bring the
definition of a child in line with international instruments.
Policy: There is no policy document directly addressing child
sexual exploitation. The Trafficking National Plan of Action is
focused narrowly on trafficking and inadequately addresses the
needs of children in prostitution.
Moving forward: Revision of the NPA should expand
the document to define and address the exploitation
which is the cause of trafficking, and go beyond focus
on the trafficking process to address the needs of
children living in exploitation, as well as the process
of bringing children into exploitation.
FORCED PROSTITUTION
Legislation: Existing laws identify forcing a person into
prostitution as a criminal act, and cover mechanisms which
restaurant owners may use to coerce a woman into prostitution.
However, as law requires the victim to file a complaint with
the local police, few girls and women in the entertainment
industry are willing to come forward for fear of humiliation
and possible accusation of being a prostitute.
Moving forward: Legal mechanisms need to be
established in which girls and women can file complaints
regarding forced prostitution with a party that they
can trust.
Policy: As above, policy needs greater focus on exploitation
as an outcome of trafficking, rather than on the trafficking
process.
Moving forward: Revision of the NPA to address
the issues is recommended, as above.
THE RIGHTS OF SEX WORKERS
Legislation: The right to conduct sex work is not explicitly
denied in the Interim Constitution, and the Supreme Court
has ruled that it is profession like any other. However, the
law forbids the mechanisms by which sex work is conducted,
suchas solicitation, and penalizes customers from engaging
with a sex worker. At the same time, both sex workers and
non-sex workers in the entertainment industry are routinely
harassed by police under the Some Public (Offences and Penalties)
Act 2027 for ‘engaging in obscene acts at a public place.’
Moving forward: The indirect prohibition of sex work
through criminalizing clients should be reviewed. The
Some Public (Offences and Penalties) Act 2027 should
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