Should prostitution be decriminalized?

Boldly yes! I hope moralists and staunchly religious people are not already jumping with their angry fists pounding on my picture. What I’m about to say has nothing to do with morals or religion so, before you cast stones at me, think about legal prostitution for a while in a different context. As history teaches, everything that man has achieved now, has come through some form of reached negotiation. People have always disagreed, but the only way they achieve a 50-50 win is by sitting down on a round table and reaching a common agreement. Through such, peaceful and modern societies have been created where everybody of whatever background, religious or tribal, can be tolerated for their practices and beliefs. Prostitution goes back in history as far as anyone can remember. Societies have criminalized it, prostitutes have been hunted and arrested, or killed in some Arab societies; but regardless of the persecutions, the deed has stuck with us through generations. What does this persecution mean to our society? It simply means that prostitution has stood the test of time and will stay in every part of the world regardless of what we do. So, criminalizing it will not stop it from occurring anyway. Prostitution is not a clear-cut criminal offense like murder or theft that need prison sentences; its more of a moral thing that can be regulated instead of criminalized. By the way, in the countries that criminalize the act (you would be shocked to find almost none in Europe), the laws are not fair! Why do they take the women to jail and leave the men who paid for their service to go free? Isn’t it ironic? I mean, if it served that both the woman and the man be jailed for the same period of time, I guess that would make much more sense but unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. In most cases it’s the woman who suffers alone as if she can be a prostitute serving no man at all. What I propose is that; prostitution be decriminalized but not necessarily be made legal. After that, concerned institutions should ensure that prostitutes are urged to join unions to improve their livelihood through saving schemes, be given free condoms and other necessary things like health sensitization lectures. When such unions are in place, they can create designated places for operation and also be answerable for child prostitution, forced prostitution and other related vices.Instead of chasing them around and forcing them to trade in hideous places, police can do better by monitoring their designated areas to ensure that they are acting legally and not using the areas for illegal activities like drug abuse. In the meantime, we can all work harder together to create jobs for each and every Rwandan, so that prostitution can become a last resort for any frustrated young woman. We no longer have time to keep judging people because in the end, we are neither that holy to be in the judging position. In my opinion, the more sensible thing to do is to make sure that everybody gets a better life. Imprisoning prostitutes will neither give them a better life nor more money. mugishaivan@yahoo.com