{ "name": "Sex-work statutes across Asia — comparative dataset", "description": "Primary sex-work statute per country across 19 Asian countries: statute name, year, buyer/seller/brothel-keeping/soliciting criminalisation, and citation to the primary source where verified.", "source": "https://asiaadultguide.com/legal", "dateModified": "2026-10-24", "rowCount": 19, "rows": [ { "countrySlug": "thailand", "countryName": "Thailand", "statute": "Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act B.E. 2539", "year": 1996, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Same statutory framework; enforcement gendered in practice.", "sourceTitle": "Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act B.E. 2539 (1996)", "sourceSections": "Buyer liability limited to offences against a minor; seller, brothel-keeping and public-soliciting flags as published (exact section numbers not itemised in this verification pass).", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "philippines", "countryName": "Philippines", "statute": "Revised Penal Code Art. 202 + RA 9208 (2003) + RA 10364 (2012)", "year": 1932, "buyerCriminalised": "No", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Art. 202 is gendered ('any woman'); same-sex commercial activity falls under different provisions in practice.", "sourceUrl": "https://lawphil.net", "sourceTitle": "Republic Act 10158 (2012)", "sourceSections": "RA 10158 decriminalised vagrancy but preserved Revised Penal Code Art. 202's prostitution clause verbatim. Buyer/brothel/soliciting flags were not re-verified in this pass — only the RA 10158 amendment finding is cited here.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "vietnam", "countryName": "Vietnam", "statute": "Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Combat", "year": 2003, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "Partial", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Ordinance is gender-neutral on its face; enforcement focuses on female venues.", "sourceTitle": "Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Combat (2003)", "sourceSections": "Arts. 22-23 make buyer and seller liability administrative (caution/fine) by default, escalating to criminal liability only in aggravated cases (minors, knowing HIV transmission) — hence 'Partial' rather than 'Yes' for both flags, matching the administrative/criminal split used for Thailand's equivalent structure. Art. 24.2 (brothel-keeping/organising) is genuinely criminal and is the basis for the brothelKeeping flag.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "indonesia", "countryName": "Indonesia", "statute": "KUHP 2023 (Law No. 1/2023) Art. 411 (extramarital sex) + Arts. 420-421 (pimping, procuring, premises) + Perda + Sharia (Aceh)", "year": 2023, "buyerCriminalised": "Yes", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "KUHP 2023 applies regardless of sex; Aceh Sharia separately criminalises male same-sex activity.", "sourceTitle": "Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana (KUHP), Law No. 1 of 2023", "sourceSections": "Art. 411 (extramarital sex / perzinaan, max 1yr, complaint-based) is distinct from Art. 412 (unmarried cohabitation, max 6mo) and Art. 413 (incest, max 10yr, NOT complaint-based) — these three offences must not be bundled. Arts. 420-421 (commercial facilitation) cited separately. In force 2 January 2026 per Pasal 624.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "japan", "countryName": "Japan", "statute": "Anti-Prostitution Law No. 118 + Entertainment Business Law (Fueiho)", "year": 1956, "buyerCriminalised": "No", "sellerCriminalised": "Partial", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Statute gendered; same-sex commerce falls outside the 'intercourse' definition, in a different grey zone.", "sourceTitle": "Anti-Prostitution Law No. 118 of 1956 (売春防止法; e-Gov law ID 331AC0000000118)", "sourceSections": "Art. 3 (declares the underlying conduct non-penal); Art. 5 (soliciting — the sole penal seller provision); Art. 11 (brothel-keeping).", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "cambodia", "countryName": "Cambodia", "statute": "Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation", "year": 2008, "buyerCriminalised": "No", "sellerCriminalised": "Partial", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "The 2008 Law is gender-neutral in drafting, but it creates no adult-buyer offence and penalises a seller only for public soliciting (Art. 24) — private consensual sex work between adults is not itself an offence for either party.", "sourceTitle": "Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation (2008)", "sourceSections": "Art. 23 (definitions only); Art. 24 (public soliciting by a seller, 1-6 days / 3,000-10,000 riel — the only seller-facing penal provision); Arts. 25-33 (third-party procuring/brothel-keeping); Art. 34 (buying from a minor only — no adult-adult buying offence exists).", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "korea", "countryName": "South Korea", "statute": "Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic", "year": 2004, "buyerCriminalised": "Yes", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Act is gender-neutral; enforcement waves have focused historically on female venues.", "sourceUrl": "https://elaw.klri.re.kr", "sourceTitle": "Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic", "sourceSections": "Art. 21(1) read together with the Art. 2 definition ('becoming a partner thereof') — buyer liability is derived from two articles jointly, not a single clause.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "taiwan", "countryName": "Taiwan", "statute": "Social Order Maintenance Act + 2011 Art. 91-1 (never-activated zones)", "year": 1991, "buyerCriminalised": "Yes", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Statute gender-neutral; same-sex marriage recognised 2019.", "sourceUrl": "https://law.moj.gov.tw", "sourceTitle": "Social Order Maintenance Act", "sourceSections": "Art. 80 penalises transactions except within Art. 91-1 zones; Art. 91-1 grants local governments zone-designation power, never activated in 15 years (confirmed current, Liberty Times 2026-07-26/27, zero counties). The 2025-06-11 amendment touched Arts. 9/64/72/89 only, not Art. 80 or 91-1.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "singapore", "countryName": "Singapore", "statute": "Women's Charter Cap. 353 ss. 140-148 + MOA s. 19", "year": 1961, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "No", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "377A repealed 2023; commercial framework remains gendered in drafting.", "verificationStatus": "pending" }, { "countrySlug": "malaysia", "countryName": "Malaysia", "statute": "Penal Code ss. 372-373 + Syariah (Federal Territories) Act 1997 (Muslims)", "year": 1936, "buyerCriminalised": "Yes", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Penal Code s. 377 criminalises same-sex activity generally; commercial same-sex compounds the exposure.", "sourceTitle": "Penal Code (Malaysia)", "sourceSections": "ss. 372-373 (372, 372A, 372B, 373) — narrowed from an earlier over-broad citation of ss. 372-377. ss. 374 (forced labour), 375/376 (rape/incest) and 377/377A-E (bestiality/'unnatural offences') are separate, unrelated provisions and are not the basis for this row's flags. Year 1936 confirmed exact.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "hong-kong", "countryName": "Hong Kong", "statute": "Crimes Ordinance Cap. 200 ss. 137-147F", "year": 1971, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "No", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "No specific same-sex criminalisation; one-woman framework applies regardless of gender.", "verificationStatus": "pending" }, { "countrySlug": "india", "countryName": "India", "statute": "Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA)", "year": 1956, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "No", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "1986 amendment made the ITPA gender-neutral; framework applies regardless of sex, and India decriminalised private consensual same-sex activity in 2018 (Navtej Singh Johar).", "sourceUrl": "https://icds.gov.in", "sourceTitle": "Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA)", "sourceSections": "Standalone Act, full text; Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 did not touch it (BNS ss. 143, 75-79 address distinct offences) — no anachronism between the two.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "china", "countryName": "China", "statute": "Criminal Law of the PRC (Arts. 358-360) + Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security (Arts. 78-79)", "year": 2026, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "Partial", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Framework is gender-neutral on its face; China decriminalised same-sex activity in 1997 and depathologised it in 2001, but there is no specific same-sex commercial provision.", "sourceTitle": "Criminal Law of the PRC (Arts. 358-360) + Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security (Arts. 78-79)", "sourceSections": "Criminal Law Arts. 358-360 cover only organising/forcing/harbouring prostitution and soliciting while knowingly HIV-positive. Ordinary buying, selling and soliciting sits in the separate Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security, Arts. 78-79, revised 2025-06-27 and in force 2026-01-01. `year` above is set to the PSAP's in-force date (2026) because that is the instrument actually governing the buyer/seller/soliciting flags in this row; the Criminal Law provisions for organising/forcing/harbouring date to the 1997 revision, given here rather than in the year field to avoid implying the PSAP is also from 1997.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "macau", "countryName": "Macau", "statute": "Penal Code (Decreto-Lei 58/95/M)", "year": 1996, "buyerCriminalised": "No", "sellerCriminalised": "No", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Arts. 163-164 are drafted without reference to gender; Macau decriminalised same-sex activity in the same 1996 Penal Code and there is no separate same-sex commercial offence. (Arts. 169-171 are child-specific offences — sexual acts with minors, paying a minor, procuring a minor, child pornography, several added by Law 8/2017 — and are not the basis for this row.)", "sourceUrl": "https://bo.dsaj.gov.mo", "sourceTitle": "Penal Code of Macau (Decreto-Lei n.º 58/95/M), consolidated text", "sourceSections": "Arts. 163-164 (Lenocínio / Lenocínio agravado — brothel-keeping/procuring), replacing an earlier mis-citation of Arts. 169-171, which are child-specific.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "sri-lanka", "countryName": "Sri Lanka", "statute": "Brothels Ordinance / Vagrants Ordinance / Penal Code", "year": 1889, "buyerCriminalised": "No", "sellerCriminalised": "Partial", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Distinctively, Penal Code ss. 365-365A separately criminalise male same-sex activity generally (unrepealed), so male same-sex commercial encounters carry additional exposure beyond the gender-neutral trafficking/brothel framework.", "verificationStatus": "pending" }, { "countrySlug": "laos", "countryName": "Laos", "statute": "Penal Code (Law No. 26/NA)", "year": 2017, "buyerCriminalised": "Yes", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Article 260 uses gender-neutral 'prostitution' language covering both buying and selling; no same-sex-specific provision, and same-sex activity itself has never been criminalised in Laos.", "sourceTitle": "Penal Code, Law No. 26/NA (2017), Lao Official Gazette", "sourceSections": "Art. 260 (buyer and seller, symmetric criminalisation); Art. 254 (brothel-keeping).", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "verified" }, { "countrySlug": "nepal", "countryName": "Nepal", "statute": "Muluki Penal Code", "year": 2017, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "Yes", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Framework applies gender-neutrally in drafting; Nepal is regionally exceptional on LGBT rights (2007 decriminalisation, 2015 constitutional protection, interim same-sex marriage registration since 2023), with no separate same-sex commercial provision.", "verificationStatus": "pending" }, { "countrySlug": "bangladesh", "countryName": "Bangladesh", "statute": "The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act, 1933", "year": 1933, "buyerCriminalised": "Partial", "sellerCriminalised": "Partial", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Section 377 of the Penal Code 1860 (colonial-era same-sex criminalisation) remains fully in force and unchallenged, so male same-sex commercial encounters carry additional criminal exposure beyond the gender-neutral trafficking/brothel framework.", "sourceTitle": "The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act, 1933 (corrected from a prior mis-citation as 'Suppression of Immoral Trafficking Act', 1860 — 1860 is in fact the Penal Code's year)", "sourceSections": "s. 4 (brothel-keeping) and s. 7 (soliciting) confirmed verbatim. The Act itself contains no buyer-liability provision. The buyerCriminalised 'Partial' flag is UNRESOLVED pending access to Penal Code 1860 s. 377 (fetch timed out; a buyer provision elsewhere cannot be ruled out) — do not treat this flag as attested until that source is read.", "verifiedOn": "2026-09-21", "verificationStatus": "pending" }, { "countrySlug": "mongolia", "countryName": "Mongolia", "statute": "Criminal Code of Mongolia", "year": 2015, "buyerCriminalised": "No", "sellerCriminalised": "No", "brothelKeeping": "Yes", "publicSoliciting": "Yes", "sameSexCommercialNote": "Framework applies gender-neutrally; Mongolia decriminalised same-sex activity fully in 2016 amendments, making it one of the more progressive post-Soviet East Asian states on this question, with no separate same-sex commercial provision.", "verificationStatus": "pending" } ] }