Sex Workers and HIV Prevention in Fiji - after the Fiji Crimes Decree ...

Sex WoRKeRS and HIV PreveNTIon in Fiji - After The Fiji Crimes Decree 2009(b) solicits for immoral purposes in any publicplace;(c) seeks the services of a prostitute in a publicplace; or(d) uses the services of a prostitute in a publicplace or(e) makes arrangements with a prostitute ora person offering the services of a prostitutein order to use his or her services by anycommunication whatsoever or(f) Solicits for an immoral purpose by anycommunication whatsoever.Penalty—(i) in respect of a first offence – a fineof 5 penalty units;(ii) in respect of a subsequentoffence – imprisonment for 3 monthsor a fine of 10 penalty units, or both.231. — (2) Any police officer may arrest without warrantany person he or she finds in any public placewhom he reasonably suspects to be committing anoffence under the provisions of this section.231. — (3) for the purposes of this section, “public place”includes the doorways and entrances of premisesabutting on any public way and any groundadjoining and open to any public place.Suspicious premises232. If it is made to appear to a magistrate by informationon oath that there is reason to suspect that anyhouse or any part of a house is used for purposesof prostitution, and that any person residing in orfrequenting the house—(a) is living wholly or in part on the earnings ofthe prostitute; or(b) is exercising control, direction or influenceover the movements of the prostitute—the magistrate may issue a warrant authorisingany police officer to enter and search thehouse and to arrest such person.Brothels233. A person commits a summary offence if he or she—(a) keeps or manages, or acts or assists in themanagement, of a brothel; or(b) being the tenant, lessee or occupier ofany premises knowingly permits the premisesor any part of the premises to be used asa brothel, or for the purposes of habitualprostitution; or(c) being the lessor or landlord of anypremises (or the agent of such lessor orlandlord) lets the premises or any part of themwith the knowledge that the premises are oris to be used as a brothel, or is wilfully a partyto the continued use of such premises as abrothelPenalty — Imprisonment for 5 years or a fine of100 penalty units, or both.Many of the ‘Prostitution offences’ above are arepackaging of what were previously also offencesunder the Penal Code. For instance, the provisions ofSection 230: Person living on earnings of prostitutionor persistently soliciting, had previously fallen into acategory of ‘Offences against Morality’ under the PenalCode .Some things have changed however. Under the PenalCode a ‘prostitute’ was definitively female and this is nolonger the case. The relevant provisions are now genderneutral and can encompass male and transgender.The penalty for all first offences under Section 231has increased tenfold from $50 to $500. 5 The range ofpossible communication mediums used to arrange theservices of a prostitute have been extended, and contactvia mobile phone and the internet now also constitutesoliciting. Most notably perhaps, clients have beencriminalised, and can now be prosecuted if they seekand/or use the services of a sex worker or make anyarrangements to do so.The provisions, falling under the heading ‘loitering orsoliciting for the purposes of prostitution’, that allow forpolice to arrest without warrant any person in a publicplace who is ‘reasonably’ suspected to be committingan offence already existed in Section 168(4) of the PenalCode. However, these provisions were widely reported inthe press at the time the Crimes Decree was introduced.That new attention created the impression that thesepowers were new.On the other hand, while it has yet to be proved in court,expert legal counsel advises that the offence of ‘loitering’under section 231 (1)(a) now has a higher evidentialthreshold. 5 This assurance is made on the basis that, forthe charge to be made out, there must now be evidencethat a person was in a public place for the purpose ofoffering himself or herself for sex in return for payment. 58