InterPress News Service (IPS) - August 19, 1998
Johanna Son

And Asia's economic slowdown, which is throwing many workers out of jobs, is bound to swell the ranks of sex workers further, says Lin Lean Lim, the report's author and director of women's concerns for the Geneva-based ILO.

Based on research done in 1992 and 1993 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, the ILO study launched here says the region's sex industry shows little sign of waning.

"The scale of prostitution has been enlarged to an extent where we can justifiably speak of a commercial sex sector that is integrated into the economic, social and political life of these countries," Lim wrote in the study, 'The Sex Sector: The Economic and Social Bases of Prostitution in South-east Asia'.

"The sex business has assumed the dimensions of an industry and has directly or indirectly contributed in no small measure to employment, national income and economic growth," she added.

Researchers' estimates show that the sex industry's contribution to the GDP of the four countries range from more than 2 percent in Indonesia to 14 percent in Thailand -- the high-end estimates for those countries.

The report cites estimates that Thai women sex workers in the cities remit nearly 300 million U.S. dollars annually to families in rural areas. In Thailand, prostitution produced between 22.5 and 27 billion dollars income from 1993 to 1995.

In Indonesia, where there are brothel complexes tolerated by officials, the yearly income produced by the sex sector ranges from 1.2 to 3.3 billion dollars a year. This accounts for between 0.8 and 2.4 percent of the country's GDP, the ILO study says.

The ILO report estimates that the number of sex workers ranges anywhere from 0.25 percent to 1.5 percent of the total female population in the four countries.

The report cites estimates of the number of sex workers, mainly women, made in 1993 and 1994. It puts the figure at 140,000 to 230,000 in Indonesia, 43,000 to 142,000 in Malaysia. The Thai ministry of public health recorded 65,000 sex workers in 1997, but ILO cites unofficial figures of 200,000 to 300,000.

Rene Ofreneo of the University of the Philippines, a co-author of the chapter on the Philippines, says the estimated 400,000 to 500,000 prostitutes in the country approximated the number of its manufacturing workers.

But the number of South-east Asians earning a living directly or indirectly from prostitution -- including waitresses, security guards, escort services, tour agencies -- could easily reach "several millions", the ILO report explains. The commercial sex industry, which grew during Asia's boom years, also operates with increasingly international networks, uses modern technology and has become a highly organised business.

But for all the economic impact of the sex industry, many governments do not have policies on it and do not even concede it exists. "A major hurdle, to date, is that policymakers have shied away from directly dealing with prostitution as an economic sector," the ILO report said.

She added that figures relating to the sex industry "are not in labour statistics or in development plans" though they impact heavily on human rights, the work force, crime, and health issues like the transmission of HIV/AIDS. The extensive reach and deep economic and social roots of the commercial sex industry make it imperative that governments do not simply close their eyes to it, especially now that unemployment figures are rising in South-east Asia.

While the ILO study was made before the Asian crisis, Lim says evidence in the Asian slowdown of the eighties show that "those who lost their jobs, like in factories, were drawn into the sex sector".

Often, they did so not just to earn money for themselves but to continue supporting their families, many in rural areas, that rely on their income. Lim also expressed fears that as more and more children drop out of school, many would end up in sex work to earn money. "With the rising number of children not in school, there is danger that the number of child prostitutes will rise," she pointed out.

"In countries without social safety nets, people have to find a way to survive. The danger (of ending up in sex work) is much greater," Lim added. Poverty rates in the region have been soaring since the Asian crisis struck last year, with poverty incidence in Indonesia hitting 40 percent of its 220 million people.

The ILO study argues that governments need to approach the sex industry in all its aspects, whether in human rights, health, or as an economic activity. Definitely, Lim says, "it is not just a question of morality" and "it is not a case of absolute poverty solely driving the sector".

"Any meaningful approach to the sex sector cannot focus only on individual prostitutes," she said. "An effective response really requires measures directed at economic and social bases."

She suggests that governments start by making a distinction between child prostitution -- a violation of human rights -- and adult sex work. With that distinction made, government will find it much easier to deal with adults who are forced into it or those who choose to go into sex work, Lim explains. For those forced into the sex industry, governments should work on breaking up networks of forced recruitment or trafficking into prostitution and rehabilitate its victims, the study said.

For adults whose are in sex work by choice, it suggests that governments improve working conditions and social and rights protection. This, though, may be a touchy matter for governments in South-east Asia to speak out on.

Conceded Lim: "Because of the sensitivities, it is very hard to come up with clear or single perspectives on this".

The ILO is not suggesting that states decriminalise or legalise sex work, but is laying out their options, Lim says.

"The important point is that it (sex sector) does support a large number of people, and it is important for governments to decide how to treat this sector," she told IPS. (END/IPS/AP-PR- HD/JS/RAL/98)

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