TAIPEI: "The Ministry of the Interior" (MOI) is contemplating new legislation that would redefine prostitutes' legal status, but it said that the idea of having sex workers get spousal consent to do the job was not its stance, as was reported in the local media.

"Interior Minister" Jiang Yi-huah said yesterday that requiring prior consent was only a suggestion made by scholars in a study commissioned by the "ministry" last year on decriminalizing the sex trade.

The suggestion and other issues - whether to set up special zones, whether to hold a local referendum on the issue, and whether the trade could be operated by corporate entities - are all being studied and have yet to be finalized, he added.

"There is no draft law on adult sex transaction management, only the studies by scholars," he said, adding, "The issues involved are wide-ranging."

Jiang said the "ministry" hopes to complete its preparations for drafting new legislation within six months.

During that time, it will invite experts, scholars, religious groups, and sex worker representatives to seminars to solicit their views and help it balance the rights of sex workers with concepts of decency.

The MOI needs to revise the legal framework covering the sex trade following a ruling by Taiwan's "constitutional court" last November.

The justices of the court found that a provision in the Social Order Maintenance Act allowing prostitutes, but not their patrons, to be punished was unconstitutional, and they ordered that it be invalidated within two years.

The MOI will complete the legislation within the two years, Jiang said, pledging not only to revise the law, but also to establish a set of rules guiding adult sex transactions.

Meanwhile, the reports on the spousal consent suggestion drew criticism from lawmakers, scholars and sex workers yesterday.

Female legislators from the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) blasted the proposal as chauvinistic and argued it could not achieve the goal of decriminalizing prostitution.

Legislators Lo Shu-lei of the KMT and Huang Sue-ying and Chen Ting-fei of the DPP said the proposal incorporated a male viewpoint.

"If the government sees prostitution as a job, then it should protect the women's right to work without the need for the husband's consent," Huang said.

Attorney Yu Mei-nu said the MOI has to first figure out whether it wants to decriminalize or legalize sex workers.

"If it is to legalize the sex workers, then it is to say that the work is legal. In that case, legal work does not need spousal consent," she added.

A sex worker said the idea of spousal consent was "absurd" and "impossible."

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 02/03/2010 page2)