Legal Status
Prostitution is interpreted as a "crime against decency/morality" and against the law. In practice prostitution is widespread, tolerated and regulated. Prostitution is most visibly manifested in Indonesia’s brothel complexes, or lokalisasi, which are found throughout the country. These brothels are managed under local government regulations. During or after raids by the police, the prostitutes are able to pay and be released from custody; this has led to police raids being called "nothing more than an income source for public order officers".
UNICEF estimates that 30 percent of the female prostitutes in Indonesia are below 18 years of age. The ILO puts the total number of child prostitutes in Jakarta at 5,000; according to the Jakarta city government, this is concentrated in Prumpung (North Jakarta), Grogol (West Jakarta) Tanah Abang (Central Jakarta), Block M (South Jakarta), as well as Jatinegara and Ciracas (both East Jakarta). Child sex tourism is a problem, especially on the resort islands of Bali and Batam.
Read more about this topic: Prostitution In Indonesia
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or status:
“Lawyers are necessary in a community. Some of you ... take a different view; but as I am a member of that legal profession, or was at one time, and have only lost standing in it to become a politician, I still retain the pride of the profession. And I still insist that it is the law and the lawyer that make popular government under a written constitution and written statutes possible.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Recent studies that have investigated maternal satisfaction have found this to be a better prediction of mother-child interaction than work status alone. More important for the overall quality of interaction with their children than simply whether the mother works or not, these studies suggest, is how satisfied the mother is with her role as worker or homemaker. Satisfied women are consistently more warm, involved, playful, stimulating and effective with their children than unsatisfied women.”
—Alison Clarke-Stewart (20th century)