Jamaica could benefit from decriminalising prostitution – Gomes
Health minister insists too many risks involved
THE PUSH for the decriminalisation of prostitution is generating further momentum, with the executive director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, Dr Carolyn Gomes, insisting that such a move could prove economically and socially beneficial.
Decriminalising prostitution, she points out, would allow for the security forces to refocus their resources and efforts in other areas in dire need of their attention, stressed Gomez.
Gomes is suggesting that legislators take an open-minded look at other countries which have made prostitution a noncriminal activity and adopt best practices for the Jamaican context.
“If you look at the studies internationally, Holland particularly, what you find is less of the violence, less of the abuse and much more of a publichealth approach to people whose choice it is to work in the sex trade,” Gomes told The Gleaner.
“For the Jamaican context, it would allow people to have access to services, it would free up the security forces from fighting something that is a mutually consenting activity between adults, and allow proper management of the sector, including the sex workers and their clients,” she added.
However, Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton said that the matter has not yet come up for discussion at government level, and that the situation must be viewed in line with what the law stipulates.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
“I cannot advance a view beyond what the current law is, which is that prostitution remains illegal in Jamaica and, therefore, we need to enforce the law,” said Tufton.
He reasoned that there are significant risks involved in either decriminalising or legalising the practice.
“If it comes to that, we may find that it may put added pressure on the already strained public-health system,” Tufton said.
“For the Jamaican context, it would allow people to have access to services, it would free up the security forces from fighting something that is a mutually consenting activity between adults and allow proper management of the sector including the sex ” workers and their clients