LEGALISING PROSTITUTION: A STEP TOWARDS ENDING THE ATROCITIES AGAINST SEX WORKERS
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Abstract
This article elaborates on the advantages of legalising prostitution, and also how legalising prostitution can help in curbing or reducing the atrocities against sex workers, whose plights are unheard to the world. Even though prostitution also known as sex trade is a common practice in many countries, the members of the civilised society are not ready to give it a legal status but at the same time do not deny the existence of the practice. In many instances the Hon’ble Supreme Court has expressed that this profession should be legalised in India.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 states that “All men are born free and are equally entitled to have their basic human rights.” Denying legal recognition to this profession means denying the basic human rights of the prostitutes. The debate over whether or not prostitution should be legalised is probably as old as the practice of prostitution itself.
The controversy surrounding the acceptability of such a profession and whether it ought to be tolerated by society within a legal framework, has raised some fundamental issues, particularly in relation to the rights of women. Prostitution, because of its illegal status, is a particularly marginalized subset of the sex industry and presents significant physical, psychological, and legal risks to the women and men involved. Illegal prostitution is also a breeding ground for drug activity, and therefore legalising prostitution can also be a means to curb drug activity. The step of legalising prostitution will protect minors. Around ten million children worldwide are estimated to be in the profession. Legalising and regulating the profession will ensure that only willing, consenting adults are employed, not trafficked children. Legalisation would also translate into better work conditions and better wages for workers. Pimps and middlemen will gradually be eliminated. The job of the police will be to protect rather than extract ‘protection money’ from sex workers. The police can also then spend its time and resources tackling more serious issues than people having paid sex.
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