PROSTITUTION, LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS WITH AN ILLUSTRATIVE CASE STUDY OF BANGLADESH

The article fleshes out the distinct but inherently diverse policy-practice paradigms of the commercial sex industry in the Asia-Pacific region with an illustrative case study of Bangladesh. Highlighting the recent developments in the global policy and regulatory framework, the paper critically reviews the impact of widespread criminalisation of sex work, colloquially referred to as ‘prostitution’ in legal jargon, across the region. Accordingly, the article analyses the anomalous regulatory approaches and law enforcement praxes on sex workers’ socio-cultural and livelihood resilience including denial of their fundamental rights and human dignity. It is noted as an illustrative example that although the Constitution of Bangladesh adopts a preventive policy against prostitution, consensual sex in a brothel is not as such prohibited. The paper contends that this dichotomous legal and policy phenomena in many jurisdictions across the region further aggravate the vulnerability and abuse of sex workers. This process in turn invisibly enslave them in an ostracised cycle of stigma and exploitation, perpetuate the process of impoverishment, and further subject them to socio-economic deprivation resulting in indentured servitude and sexual slavery.