被禁止的性行为与性暴力

卖淫: 法律方面 2

1949年联合国公约
该公约描述了抗击以卖淫为目的的国际交易的步骤。同时，该公约已经得到许多国家的批准，但是一些国家拒绝加入该公约(欲知详情，请点击图标。)

早在1949年，联合国会员大会（the United Nations General Assembly）通过了一个旨在终止以卖淫为目的的个人剥削的公约。这个文件其中要求所有签字国惩罚皮条客和妓院老板，并且废止妓女注册登记。不过，显然一些条款要求并未普遍获得正式批准。一些国家拒绝签字，并保留了寻求自己政策的权利，即采取非常不同的政策的权利。甚至在1979年，当联合国通过一个《消除对妇女一切形式歧视公约》 的时候，就似乎暗中支持卖淫的祛罪化了。

例如，在荷兰，卖淫是一种合法职业。妓女通常为自主独立经营和缴纳所得税。她们并不注册登记，也不进行常规卫生保健检查。卖淫的最小年龄为18岁，其主顾的最小年龄是16岁。

其它数个国家并未超越荷兰的这条政策底线，不过也采用了颇为宽松的政策，从祛罪化管理到各种各样形式的制度化管理。这里就是一些举例：德国、瑞士、西班牙、法国、意大利、爱尔兰、丹麦、比利时、希腊、保加利亚、土耳其、加拿大、哥斯达黎加、巴西、新西兰和澳大利亚的一些州，日本只是禁止某种形式的卖淫。美国的内华达州采取了制度化管理。

这个国别名录既不完全也不能为我们提供一个精确的描述。首先，甚至在卖淫同样合法的国家，围绕卖淫的许多活动也许未必都合法（广告、“勾引”、“街头拉客”、拉皮条、经营妓院，等等。）而且，各国各自制定的法律精确措词彼此相差很大，并且就什么是合法的、什么是不合法的，常常存在争议。最后，在法律强制方面也存在巨大差异。

Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Prostitution: Legal Aspects 2

The UN Convention of 1949
The convention describes procedures for combating international traffic for the purpose of prostitution. In the meantime, it has been ratified by many countries, but some have declined to join. (For details, click on logo.)

As early as 1949, the United Nations General Assembly passed a convention aimed at ending the exploitation of persons for the purpose of prostitution. This document requires, among other things, that all signatory nations punish pimps and brothel owners and abolish the registration of prostitutes. Apparently, however, some of these demands did not meet with universal approval. Some countries refused to sign and reserved the right to pursue their own, very different policies. Indeed, in 1979, the UN implicitly seemed to support the decriminalization of prostitution when it passed a Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
In the Netherlands, for example, prostitution is a legal profession. Prostitutes are usually self-employed and pay income tax. They are not registered and are not required to undergo regular health checks. The minimum age for prostitutes is 18, that for their customers 16.
Several other countries have not gone that far, but have also adopted rather liberal policies ranging from decriminalization to various forms of regulation. Here are a few examples: Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Canada, Costa Rica, Brazil, New Zealand, and some states of Australia. Japan prohibits only some forms of prostitution. Regulation has been adopted in the US state of Nevada.
This list is neither complete nor can it provide an accurate picture. First of all, even where prostitution as such is legal, many activities surrounding it may not be (advertising, “solicitation”, “streetwalking”, pimping, running a brothel etc.) Moreover, the exact wording of the respective laws varies from one country to another, and there are often disputes about what is legal or not. Finally, there are also great differences in the enforcement of the laws.