KATHMANDU, JUNE 28
Rights activists have said that if people voluntarily choose sex work as a profession, the state should not criminalise it.
Executive Director of Forum for Women, Law and Development Advocate Sabin Shrestha, presenting a paper at an interaction, said that international conventions, which Nepal was also a party to, had established the concept of 'my body, my right' and therefore, the government should not prosecute people involved in voluntary sex work.
He said that existing laws in Nepal criminalised prostitution but kept mum about voluntary sex work. International laws have stipulated that sex workers should not face any discrimination or mistreatment by law enforcement officers or exploitation for voluntarily choosing sex profession, he argued.
Shrestha said the Indian Supreme Court recently ruled that the government should legalise sex profession chosen by people voluntarily.
He said what Indian apex court ruled in May 2022 about voluntary sex work was established by Nepal's Supreme Court 20 years ago.
"The constitution allows people to choose their profession and since voluntary sex work as a profession is not prohibited under the constitution, those involved in sex profession should not be prosecuted," he argued.
He said Bangladesh, Switzerland and the Netherlands had legalised sex work. Pakistan and Bhutan of South Asia have criminalised sex work. "CEDAW committee had deplored Nepali law enforcement agencies' tendency to prosecute women for keeping condoms as evidence of prostitution," Shrestha argued.
Chair of National Inclusion Commission Ram Krishna Timalsena said the term 'prostitution' was degrading and a new euphemism should be used to denote the word. He said 43 million people were involved in sex work across the world. Rights activist Tulasa Lata Amatya said that women should not be prosecuted for choosing sex work. She said the government should bring economic programmes for women involved in sex work so that they could choose other professions to earn their living.
"Women involved in sex work are most deprived women," Shrestha said and added that the government should bring programmes to give them an option to choose other professions," she added.
Chair of Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives Krishna Bhakta Pokharel said a research should be conducted on sex work to find solution to the problems faced by sex workers.
Chair of National Women Commission Kamala Parajuli said the government should ensure that people do not have to sell their body to earn a living. Member of the Tharu Commission Shanti Modi said society was so prejudiced against sex work that even those that advocated sex workers' rights were treated as outcast.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 29, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
