Prostitution Reform Act | |
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New Zealand Parliament | |
Royal assent | 27 June 2003 |
Commenced | 28 June 2003 |
Administered by | Ministry of Justice |
Legislative history | |
Introduced by | Tim Barnett |
Introduced | 21 September 2000 |
First reading | 8 November 2000 |
Second reading | 19 February 2003 |
Third reading | 25 June 2003 |
Related legislation | |
Status: Current legislation |
The Prostitution Reform Act 2003 is an Act of Parliament that decriminalised prostitution in New Zealand. [1] [2] The Act also gave new rights to sex workers. [3] It has attracted international attention, although its reception has been mixed. [3] [4] The Act repealed the Massage Parlours Act 1978 and the associated regulations. [5]
The Act was introduced as a member's bill by Tim Barnett after being drawn from a ballot. Members were allowed a conscience vote, and on 25 June 2003, the bill passed its third reading by a margin of one vote (60–59), after the country's only Muslim MP, Ashraf Choudhary, voted to abstain, thereby allowing the bill to narrowly pass.
The Prostitution Reform Act decriminalises prostitution and gives new rights to sex workers. The Act also repealed the Massage Parlours Act, effectively eliminating voluntary adult (age 18 and up) prostitution from criminal law and replacing it with civil law at both the national and local levels. The law makes a distinction between voluntary and involuntary prostitution. Coercion to perform sexual services is still a crime. Sex work is likewise forbidden for persons on temporary visas, as is immigration for and investment in sex work. Contracts between the seller and the client have been recognised, and the provider has the right to deny services. Contracts that are contested might be referred to the Disputes Tribunal. Advertising is prohibited, with the exception of restricted print media. The Summary Offences Act remains in force in relation to soliciting, which may be classed as offensive behaviour. [6]
Section 3 of the Act defines its purpose:
The purpose of this Act is to decriminalise prostitution (while not endorsing or morally sanctioning prostitution or its use) and to create a framework that—
- (a) safeguards the human rights of sex workers and protects them from exploitation:
- (b) promotes the welfare and occupational health and safety of sex workers:
- (c) is conducive to public health:
- (d) prohibits the use in prostitution of persons under 18 years of age:
- (e) implements certain other related reforms.
— Prostitution Reform Act 2003 s3 [7]
Prostitution-related statute law passed in the second half of the 20th century included the Crimes Act 1961, the Massage Parlours Act 1978, and the Summary Offences Act 1981. Section 26 of the Summary Offences Act prohibited soliciting; Section 147 of the Crimes Act prohibited brothel-keeping; Section 148 lived on the earnings of prostitution; and Section 149 procured. In 2000, the Crimes Act was amended to criminalise both clients and operators where workers were under 18 (the age of consent for sexual activity is 16). Young people under 18 were still classified as offenders after this came into force, until the passage of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003.
Indoor prostitution in New Zealand was governed by the Massage Parlours Act 1978 prior to the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, which enabled brothels to operate under the guise of massage parlours. However, because the act designated massage parlours as public venues, laws prohibiting soliciting in a public place extended to parlour workers, and they were occasionally searched by police acting as clients. [8] Workers in the parlours were also required to inform the police with their names and addresses. It was prohibited to advertise the selling of sex ("soliciting"), establish a brothel, or live off the proceeds of prostitution.
When Labour gained power in 1999, Labour MP Tim Barnett (Christchurch Central) was in charge of introducing a Private Member's Bill to decriminalise prostitution. This was based on the New South Wales harm reduction model (1996). The bill was introduced on 21 September 2000, and was drawn as number 3 in the ballot box.
Party support for the bill came from the Greens, particularly from Green MP Sue Bradford. It was opposed by New Zealand First, who preferred the Swedish approach to criminalising the purchase of sex. Other dissenting opinions were recorded by the National, ACT, and United Future members.
During the parliamentary debates and committees, support came from some women's rights groups, some human rights groups, and some public health groups. The police were neutral. Some feminists opposed the decriminalisation of brothels and pimping (see feminist views on prostitution); Christian groups were divided; and fundamentalist religious groups, including Right to Life, were opposed. [9]
The Prostitution Reform Act was debated for the first time in the House of Representatives on 8 November 2000 as Bill 66-1. The bill passed by a margin of 87 to 21. The bill was then referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee, which received 222 submissions and heard 66 submissions. On 29 November 2002, the committee delivered its report, and amendments in favour of the bill. Following the 2002 election, the bill was referred to as Bill 66-2.
On 19 February 2003, the Prostitution Reform Act passed its second reading by a smaller margin of 62 to 56. On 25 June 2003, the Prostitution Reform Act passed its third reading narrowly by a margin of 60 to 59, while one politician, Labour's Ashraf Choudhary, the country's only Muslim MP, abstained. Georgina Beyer, the world's first openly transgender woman MP, delivered an impassioned speech during the debate, identifying herself as a former sex worker and mentioning that she was assaulted while on sex work and was unable to report it to the police. [10] This speech is thought to have swayed the votes of three MPs, including Ashraf Choudhary. [11]
Party | Voted for | Voted against | Abstentions | |
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Labour (52) | 41
| |||
National (27) | – | |||
NZ First (13) | – | – | ||
ACT (9) | – | |||
Green (9) | – | – | ||
United Future (8) | – | – | ||
Progressive (2) | – | – | ||
Totals | 60 | 59 | 1 |
The Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers' Collective (NZPC), formerly the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective, is a New Zealand-based organisation that supports sex workers' rights and educates sex workers about minimising the risks of the job.
Prostitution in New Zealand, brothel-keeping, living off the proceeds of someone else's prostitution, and street solicitation are legal in New Zealand and have been since the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 came into effect. Coercion of sex workers is illegal. The 2003 decriminalisation of brothels, escort agencies and soliciting, and the substitution of a minimal regulatory model, created worldwide interest; New Zealand prostitution laws are now some of the most liberal in the world.
A massage parlor, or massage parlour, is a place where massage services are provided. Some massage parlors are front organizations for prostitution and the term "massage parlor" has also become a euphemism for a brothel.
Prostitution in Thailand is not itself illegal, but public solicitation for prostitution is prohibited if it is carried out "openly and shamelessly" or "causes nuisance to the public". Due to police corruption and an economic reliance on prostitution dating back to the Vietnam War, it remains a significant presence in the country. It results from poverty, low levels of education and a lack of employment in rural areas. Prostitutes mostly come from the northeastern (Isan) region of Thailand, from ethnic minorities or from neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
In Great Britain, the act of engaging in sex as part of an exchange of various sexual services for money is legal, but a number of related activities, including soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, pimping and pandering, are illegal. In Northern Ireland, which previously had similar laws, paying for sex became illegal from 1 June 2015.
Prostitution in Ireland is legal. However, since March 2017, it has been an offence to buy sex. All forms of third party involvement are illegal but are commonly practiced. Since the law that criminalises clients came into being, with the purpose of reducing the demand for prostitution, the number of prosecutions for the purchase of sex increased from 10 in 2018 to 92 in 2020. In a report from UCD's Sexual Exploitation Research Programme the development is called ”a promising start in interrupting the demand for prostitution.” Most prostitution in Ireland occurs indoors. Street prostitution has declined considerably in the 21st century, with the vast majority of prostitution now advertised on the internet.
Prostitution in Myanmar is illegal, but widespread. Prostitution is a major social issue that particularly affects women and children. UNAIDS estimate there to be 66,000 prostitutes in the country.
Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Republican Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Prostitution in Australia is governed by state and territory laws, which vary considerably, although none ban the selling of sex itself.
Prostitution in South Africa is illegal for both buying and selling sex, as well as related activities such as brothel keeping and pimping. However, it remains widespread. Law enforcement is poor.
Current laws passed by the Parliament of Canada in 2014 make it illegal to purchase or advertise sexual services and illegal to live on the material benefits from sex work. The law officially enacted criminal penalties for "Purchasing sexual services and communicating in any place for that purpose."
The legality of prostitution in Europe varies by country.
The Crimes Act 1961 is an act of New Zealand Parliament that forms a leading part of the criminal law in New Zealand. It repeals the Crimes Act 1908, itself a successor of the Criminal Code Act 1893. Most crimes in New Zealand are created by the Crimes Act, but some are created elsewhere. All common law offences are abolished by section 9, as are all offences against acts of the British Parliaments, but section 20 saves the old common law defences where they are not specifically altered.
Prostitution in Scotland has been similar to that in England under the State of Union, but since devolution, the new Scottish Parliament has pursued its own policies.
The history of prostitution in Canada is based on the fact that Canada inherited its criminal laws from England. The first recorded laws dealing with prostitution were in Nova Scotia in 1759, although as early as August 19, 1675 the Sovereign Council of New France convicted Catherine Guichelin, one of the King's Daughters, with leading a "life scandalous and dishonest to the public", declared her a prostitute and banished her from the walls of Quebec City under threat of the whip. Following Canadian Confederation, the laws were consolidated in the Criminal Code. These dealt principally with pimping, procuring, operating brothels and soliciting. Most amendments to date have dealt with the latter, originally classified as a vagrancy offence, this was amended to soliciting in 1972, and communicating in 1985. Since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms became law, the constitutionality of Canada's prostitution laws have been challenged on a number of occasions.
Dame Catherine Alice Healy is a New Zealand sex workers' rights activist, field researcher and former prostitute working for decriminalisation of prostitution and generally for the improvement of the sex work profession. She is the national coordinator and a founding member of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective (NZPC).
Prostitution in Hawaii is illegal but common. There are about 150 brothels in Oahu alone.
The decriminalization of sex work is the removal of criminal penalties for sex work. Sex work, the consensual provision of sexual services for money or goods, is criminalized in most countries. Decriminalization is distinct from legalization.
Prostitution in Oceania varies greatly across the region. In American Samoa, for instance, prostitution is illegal, whereas in New Zealand most aspects of the trade are decriminalised.
Prostitution in Guam is illegal but is practised covertly, especially in massage parlours. Although massage parlours are sometimes raided, generally the authorities turn a blind eye.