General Reports

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Should prostitution be legalised in Vanuatu?

This was the topic of a hot debate on Monday night at the Seafront stage as part of Vanuatu’s Law Week.

Prostitution or sex work is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including “john”. Prostitution is one of the branches of the sex industry. The legal status of prostitution varies from country to country, from being a punishable crime to a regulate profession.

Vanuatu’s stand on this activity is illegal, however, it is believed that this trade has been practiced illegally in the country for a very long time.

Outspoken women’s leader, Merilyn Tahi, Director of Vanuatu Women Centre has argued that Vanuatu should provide a definite definition of the word ‘prostitution’. She said her office has been dealing with a lot of cases where the victims have mentioned the word prostitution as contributing factors on their cases. She warned leaders to handle this issue seriously.

In Vanuatu’s case the rise of this activity is mainly on commercial sex, according to Tahi.

During the debate, speakers for the topic argued that under the Penal Code Cap 135, prostitution is an offence which carries a penalty of just five years imprisonment, while offences such as rape, carries a penalty of a lifetime imprisonment, which meant that rape is an act which is considered to be more serious than prostitution..

Another speaker in support of the practise argued that the reality in life is where there is a demand; there must always be a supply. He explained that if there is a high demand for that service, then there should be a supply too, and he suggested that a brothel should be built to provide this service. He also argued that youths over 18years who are willing to part-take in prostitution have the right to do so.

While few speakers talked about a person’s individual rights, a speaker argued that the rights stated in the Constitution gives the opportunities to individuals to do things that would benefit their life, and not for committing things that would make them regret later in their life.

Since everyone cannot deny the fact that the trade of prostitution is here already, several members of the public have argued that Vanuatu should never legalise it.

A speaker reminded everyone that if the Government has ever thought of legalising the trade, they must consider that the Constitution of Vanuatu is founded on two fundamental principles, the Melanesian traditional values and Christian principles. With that, he said if we claim that our country is a Christian country, we should know the solutions to our problems. He said we could never be able to put a complete stop on prostitution, but could find ways to reduce its practices.

A speaker mentioned that a way to control prostitution begins at home. He touched on the Constitution, which states that parents have the duties to teach and educate their children to understand their true fundamental rights and duties, and also children are required to respect their parents. The speaker said parents must ensure that up-bringing of our children in a modern society must make sure that they could self-sustain themselves in the future, and not want them to resort to prostitution- a thing they have never anticipated that they would end up in such activity.

Because some speakers made references to Vanuatu’s Motto and Preamble in the Constitution, a speaker also acknowledged that prostitution has been practiced during the Biblical era, a lot of emphasis was placed on parents’ duty to raise up their children in a Godly way.

One speaker said Vanuatu has a population of just over 200, 000 people, compared to the millions and even billions of people of China or India and other larger countries. With that, she said Vanuatu has a lot of resources around that have not been touched yet. “We have not eaten all the fish yet, we continue to buy canned fish from the shops. The same goes for banana and manioc. We buy rice every day. Our soil needs more local food. This means that we need to plant more and make our living, so to sell our bodies for money should not be an excuse for people who are lazy. “I do not think we should legalise it”.

Meanwhile, a study entitled “Risky Business Vanuatu”, conducted by International HIV Research Group of the school of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales in November and December 2010, in Port Vila, aimed to provide useful information on HIV prevention strategies and programs serving sex workers.

The study, which involved men and women..

The report also revealed that the sex workers find their clients in nightclubs, kava bars and on the streets. Clients comprised of locals and foreigners. Most clients exchange money, while on some occasions, clients made payments with goods.

Vanuatu is already experiencing a lot of broken homes, and the legalising of prostitution could make a large increase to the current statistics. According to a lawyer, so far there are no factual statistics of people who are engaging themselves in that activity; however, he said they have presumptions on the number of people practicing that trade.

Since the issue is a sensitive issue, the Director of Women’s Centre is calling on to leaders and the Law Society to meet and talk more on the issue.

Source: dailypost.vu

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I can not belive this. Vanuatu is good for mongering. I better start saving money for airplane tickets. Anyone here fucked Vanuatu girls?