Forced Prostitution - Legal Situation

Legal Situation

All forms of involuntary prostitution are regarded as an offence under customary law in all countries. This is different from voluntary prostitution which has different legal statuses in different countries, which range from being fully illegal and punishable by death to being fully legal and regulated as an occupation (in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Greece).

While the legality of adult prostitution varies between different parts of the world, the prostitution of children is illegal nearly everywhere in the world.

In 1949, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. This Convention supersedes a number of earlier conventions that covered some aspects of forced prostitution. It penalises the procurement and enticement to prostitution as well as the maintenance of brothels. Additionally it also uses gender and race neutral language for the first time. The convention has been ratified by 95 member nations including France, Spain, Italy and Denmark; and not ratified by another 97 member nations including Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the main reasons it has only been ratified by around half of the world's countries is not that the other countries think forced prostitution is acceptable but that it also applies to voluntary prostitution.