
South Africa moves to decriminalise sex work after the justice ministry on Friday (Dec 9) proposed legislation that aims to tackle crime against women.The legislation is currently up for public comment. If passed, the sale and purchase of sexual services will no longer be a criminal offence.
The bill only deals with decriminalisation and not regulating the sex industry.
Justice Minister Ronald Lmaola at a press briefing said, "It is hoped that decriminalisation will minimise human rights violations against sex workers." He added that this will also create better working and health conditions for sex workers.
Welcoming this news, SWEAT, a sex worker rights group wrote on Facebook, "With sex workers no longer labelled as criminals, they can work much better with the police to tackle violence."
Police officials saidthat the murders of women between July and September were nearly 1,000. Rape has also increased in the country by 11 per cent.
The recent incident of retrieval of over half a dozen dead bodies at a building in Johannesburg shocked the entire country.
As per the official data, there are over 150,000 sex workers in South Africa, which also has one of the highest numbers of HIV cases in the world.
(With inputs from agencies)
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