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Taiwan floats plan for legalized prostitution zone

Taiwan’s interior ministry has proposed setting up a legal prostitution zone allowing the island’s already huge underground trade to flourish, in response to popular demand from sex workers, officials said on Friday. Skip related content

Pimps, prostitutes and their clients who do business in the zone will not face any punishment, said ministry department head Huang Bi-hsia.

“Prostitution remains a common phenomenon around the world, and there’s no way to stamp it out,” a ministry research report says. “Handling the question of adult sex in the future can shift toward a special zone plan.”

Taiwan outlawed prostitution 11 years ago, but older sections of the capital Taipei still teem with underground sex workers in tiny bars and night clubs on the upper floors of high-rise buildings.