Determining Appropriate Policies for Prostitution Reform in Indonesia
Evaluating Harm Reduction Versus Harm Elimination Strategies
Abstract
In the context of the current efforts that Indonesia is making to alter its prostitution laws, it is of the utmost importance to determine the strategy that will be most effective. The two strategies implemented most are known as harm reduction and harm elimination. This study employs a juridical-normative research method to analyse various plans, weighing the pros and cons of each option and providing recommendations on the most suitable approach for Indonesia. The findings highlight the necessity for an all-encompassing and multi-disciplinary approach, intending to strike a balance between the protection of the rights of sex workers and the reduction of harm done to society. It has been found that a policy of harm reduction may be more appropriate for Indonesia as it recognises the existence of prostitution and works toward addressing the root causes of the problem while simultaneously attempting to lessen the adverse effects of the practice.
Keywords: Prostitution Policy, Harm Elimination; Harm Reduction; Prostitution Law; Indonesia
References
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———, Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress (Taylor & Francis, 2004).
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Priyono, FX Joko & Achmad Purbo Sudiro, “Intergovernmental Cooperation Mechanisms in Combating Transnational Human Trafficking within ASEAN” (2020) 9:2 AJIS 120–126.
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Rekart, Michael L, “Sex-Work Harm Reduction” (2005) 366:9503 The Lancet 2123–2134.
Richards, Jacob, “Autonomy, Imperfect Consent, and Polygamist Sex Rights Claims” (2010) 98:1 California Law Review 197–242.
Ross, Michael W et al, “Occupational health and safety among commercial sex workers” (2012) 38:2 Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health 105–119.
Sagade, Jaya & Christine Forster, “Recognising the Human Rights of Female Sex Workers in India: Moving from Prohibition to Decriminalisation and a Pro-work Model” (2018) 25:1 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 26–46.
Saunders, P, “Harm reduction, health and human rights, and sex work” (2006) New York: Open Society Foundations 1–6.
Sawicki, Danielle A et al, “Culturally Competent Health Care for Sex Workers: An Examination of Myths That Stigmatize Sex Work and Hinder Access to Care” (2019) 34:3 Sexual and Relationship Therapy 355–371.
Scoular, Jane, “What’s Law Got to Do with It? How and Why Law Matters in the Regulation of Sex Work” (2010) 37:1 Journal of Law and Society 12–39.
Seib, Charrlotte, Jane Fischer & Jackob M Najman, “The Health of Female Sex Workers from Three Industry Sectors in Queensland, Australia” (2009) 68:3 Social Science & Medicine 473–478.
Shukla, PC, Street Children And The Asphalt Life (Isha Books, 2005).
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———, “The national governance of prostitution: political rationality and the politics of discourse” in Designing Prostitution Policy Intention and Reality in Regulating the Sex Trade (Bristol University Press, 2017) 145.
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Wicaksono, Demas et al, “Potential and Implications of Disputes Over the Authority of the National Human Rights Commission and the Indonesian National Police” (2023) 6:1 IJSSRR 1–9.
Wodak, Alex & Leah McLeod, “The role of harm reduction in controlling HIV among injecting drug users” (2008) 22:suppl 2 AIDS S81–S92.
Yuspin, Wardah et al, “Law Enforcement Against Online Prostitution Providers In Indonesia And Egypt” (2022) 11:1 jurisprudence 114–128.
———, eds, Taking the Crime Out of Sex Work: New Zealand Sex Workers’ Fight for Decriminalisation, 1st ed (Bristol University Press, 2010).
Anggraeni, Savira & Evyta Rosiyanti Ramadhani, “Uncertainty of the Right to Health in Indonesia during Covid-19 Pandemic” (2022) 6:1 Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights 55–71.
Armstrong, Lynzi, “Sex Worker Rights Activism and the Decriminalisation of Sex Work in New Zealand” in Routledge International Handbook of Sex Industry Research (Routledge, 2018) 138.
Bassiouni, Cherif et al, “Addressing International Human Trafficking in Women and Children for Commercial Sexual Exploitation in the 21st century” (2010) 81:3 Revue internationale de droit pénal 417.
Budiman, Budiman, Wirani Aisiyah Anwar & A Rio Makkulau, “An Analysis of Fiqh Jinayah and Criminal Law on the Legal Protection for Children as Victims of Obscenity” (2022) 5:2 Jurnal Al-Dustur 183–211.
Crofts, Thomas & Tracey Summerfield, “The licensing of sex work : regulating an industry or enforcing public morality?” (2007) 33:2 University of Western Australia Law Review 289–306.
Davis, Kingsley, “The Sociology of Prostitution” (1937) 2:5 American Sociological Review 744–755.
Ditmore, Melissa Hope, Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work (Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2006).
Doezema, Jo, “Who Gets to Choose? Coercion, Consent, and the UN Trafficking Protocol” (2002) 10:1 Gender & Development 20–27.
Dylewski, Łukasz & Pavol Prokop, “Prostitution” in Todd K Shackelford & Viviana A Weekes-Shackelford, eds, Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018) 1.
Farley, Melissa, “Prostitution, the sex trade, and the COVID-19 pandemic” (2020) 19:1 Logos 1–34.
———, Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress (Taylor & Francis, 2004).
Hayes, Victoria, “Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation at World Sporting Events” (2010) 85:3 Chicago-Kent Law Review 1105–1146.
Hedlin, Simon, “The Relationship between Prostitution Laws and Sex Trafficking: Theory and Evidence on Scale, Substitution, and Replacement Effects” (2017) 50:2 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 1–68.
Howarth, David, Adam Standring & Scott Huntly, “Contingent, contested and constructed: a poststructuralist response to Stevens’ ontological politics of drug policy” (2021) 93 International Journal of Drug Policy 102965.
Hull, Terence H, “From Concubines to Prostitutes. A Partial History of Trade in Sexual Services in Indonesia” (2017) 29 Moussons 65–93.
Isler, Corinne & Marjut Jyrkinen, “The normalization of prostitution in Switzerland: the origin of policies” (2018) 3:2 Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence: Vol 1–25.
Jeffreys, Sheila, The Idea of Prostitution (Spinifex Press, 1997).
Joesoef, M R et al, “Patterns of sexually transmitted diseases in female sex workers in Surabaya, Indonesia” (1997) 8:9 Int J STD AIDS 576–580.
Joulaei, H et al, “Legalization, Decriminalization or Criminalization; Could We Introduce a Global Prescription for Prostitution (Sex Work)?” 10:3 International Journal of High Risk Behaviors and Addiction e106741.
Jung, Minsoo, “Risk factors of sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers in Republic of Korea” (2019) 8:1 Infectious Diseases of Poverty 6.
Kennedy, Emily J, Digital desire: Commercial, moral, and political economies of sex work and the internet (PhD Thesis, University of Kansas, 2016) [unpublished].
Kent, George, “Child Prostitution” in George Kent, ed, Children in the International Political Economy (London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 1995) 57.
Kessler, Justine L, The Voices of Sex Workers (prostitutes?) and the Dilemma of Feminist Discourse (Thesis, Department of Women’s Studies College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida, 2005) [unpublished].
Kilvington, Judith, Sophie Day & Helen Ward, “Prostitution Policy in Europe: A Time of Change?” (2001) 67:1 Feminist Review 78–93.
Kristian, “The Legal Comparison Concerning the Legislation Policy of Criminal Acts Towards Religion and Religious Life in the Books of Indonesian Criminal Law Year 2018 and Wetboek Van Strafrecht Year 2014” (2019) 6:2 the int jou soc hum inve, 5319–5329.
Krüsi, Andrea, Kate D’Adamo & Ariel Sernick, “Criminalised Interactions with Law Enforcement and Impacts on Health and Safety in the Context of Different Legislative Frameworks Governing Sex Work Globally” in Shira M Goldenberg et al, eds, Sex Work, Health, and Human Rights: Global Inequities, Challenges, and Opportunities for Action (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021) 121.
Leslie, KM, “Harm reduction: An approach to reducing risky health behaviours in adolescents” (2008) 13:1 Paediatrics & Child Health 53–56.
Mazur, Amy G, “Prostitute movements face elite apathy and gender-biased universalism in France” in The Politics of Prostitution: Women’s Movements, Democratic States and the Globalisation of Sex Commerce (2004) 123.
Molnar, Lorena & Jenny Ros, “Sex Workers’ Work-Related Victimisation and Drug Use During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Switzerland” (2022) 2:1 International Criminology 19–31.
Moran, Rachel & Melissa Farley, “Consent, Coercion, and Culpability: Is Prostitution Stigmatized Work or an Exploitive and Violent Practice Rooted in Sex, Race, and Class Inequality?” (2019) 48:7 Archives of Sexual Behavior 1947–1953.
Morcillo, Santiago & Cecilia Varela, “‘Ninguna mujer...’ El abolicionismo de la prostitución en la Argentina” (2017) Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad (Rio de Janeiro) 213–235.
Nafsiah, Maqfira Izzata et al, “Revealing the Dark Veil of Illegal Business” (2020) 6:2 L Research Rev Q 117–138.
Nederveen Meerkerk, Elise van, “A Gender Analysis of Global Sex Work” in (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2017) 801.
Nestadt, Danielle Friedman et al, “Criminalization and coercion: sexual encounters with police among a longitudinal cohort of women who exchange sex in Baltimore, Maryland” (2023) 20:1 Harm Reduction Journal 11.
Oliveira, Alexandra et al, “Understanding the Impact of EU Prostitution Policies on Sex Workers: A Mixed Study Systematic Review” (2023) 20:4 Sexuality Research and Social Policy 1448–1468.
Post, Che, Jan G Brouwer & Michel Vols, “Regulation of Prostitution in the Netherlands: Liberal Dream or Growing Repression?” (2019) 25:2 European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 99–118.
Priyono, FX Joko & Achmad Purbo Sudiro, “Intergovernmental Cooperation Mechanisms in Combating Transnational Human Trafficking within ASEAN” (2020) 9:2 AJIS 120–126.
Raymond, Janice, “Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution and a Legal Response to the Demand for Prostitution” (2004) 2:3–4 Journal of Trauma Practice 315–332.
Rekart, Michael L, “Sex-Work Harm Reduction” (2005) 366:9503 The Lancet 2123–2134.
Richards, Jacob, “Autonomy, Imperfect Consent, and Polygamist Sex Rights Claims” (2010) 98:1 California Law Review 197–242.
Ross, Michael W et al, “Occupational health and safety among commercial sex workers” (2012) 38:2 Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health 105–119.
Sagade, Jaya & Christine Forster, “Recognising the Human Rights of Female Sex Workers in India: Moving from Prohibition to Decriminalisation and a Pro-work Model” (2018) 25:1 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 26–46.
Saunders, P, “Harm reduction, health and human rights, and sex work” (2006) New York: Open Society Foundations 1–6.
Sawicki, Danielle A et al, “Culturally Competent Health Care for Sex Workers: An Examination of Myths That Stigmatize Sex Work and Hinder Access to Care” (2019) 34:3 Sexual and Relationship Therapy 355–371.
Scoular, Jane, “What’s Law Got to Do with It? How and Why Law Matters in the Regulation of Sex Work” (2010) 37:1 Journal of Law and Society 12–39.
Seib, Charrlotte, Jane Fischer & Jackob M Najman, “The Health of Female Sex Workers from Three Industry Sectors in Queensland, Australia” (2009) 68:3 Social Science & Medicine 473–478.
Shukla, PC, Street Children And The Asphalt Life (Isha Books, 2005).
Sinaga, Veren Chelsya & Mas Anienda Tien F, “Juridical Study On The Application Of Articles 296 And 506 Of The Criminal Code To Perpetrators Of Online Prostitution” (2022) 2:2 ligahukum 144–151.
Singh, Brijesh, Comprehensive Modern Indian History: From 1707 To The Modern Times (UPSC CSE Edition) (S. Chand Publishing, 2023).
Wagenaar, Hendrik, Helga Amesberger & Sietske Altink, “The Local Governance of Prostitution: Regulatory Drift and Implementation Capture.” in Designing Prostitution Policy Intention and Reality in Regulating the Sex Trade (Bristol University Press, 2017) 71.
———, “The national governance of prostitution: political rationality and the politics of discourse” in Designing Prostitution Policy Intention and Reality in Regulating the Sex Trade (Bristol University Press, 2017) 145.
Weitzer, Ronald, Sex For Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and Erotic Dancing (Taylor & Francis, 2022).
Wicaksono, Demas et al, “Potential and Implications of Disputes Over the Authority of the National Human Rights Commission and the Indonesian National Police” (2023) 6:1 IJSSRR 1–9.
Wodak, Alex & Leah McLeod, “The role of harm reduction in controlling HIV among injecting drug users” (2008) 22:suppl 2 AIDS S81–S92.
Yuspin, Wardah et al, “Law Enforcement Against Online Prostitution Providers In Indonesia And Egypt” (2022) 11:1 jurisprudence 114–128.
Published
2023-12-21
How to Cite
NATALIS, Aga; PURWANTI, Ani; ASMARA, Teddy.
Determining Appropriate Policies for Prostitution Reform in Indonesia.
Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights, [S.l.], v. 7, n. 2, p. 176-213, dec. 2023.
ISSN 2599-2147.
Available at: <https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/JSEAHR/article/view/37952>. Date accessed: 04 may 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.19184/jseahr.v7i2.37952.
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
