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Nick Gentle

Patsy Moy

Hong Kong will hold its first international conference of sex workers, trade unions, activists, academics and lawmakers tomorrow to discuss legal constraints and possibilities for  protecting the rights of sex workers.

Guest speakers include a representative from the London branch of the International Union of Sex Workers and also representatives from  sex worker rights' groups in  Australia, New Zealand, the US, Italy and Cambodia.

It would be the first such international conference  to be held in Hong Kong, said Sally Chun, a staff member of Zi Teng - a local sex-worker concern group which is organising the conference with the department of applied social studies at City University.

The organiser had also invited a doctor and an academic from the mainland  and two academics from Taiwan, Ms Chun said. The one-day conference will be held at the City University campus.

Zi Teng will also organise a march from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to the Central Government Offices in Central today to mark Labour Day.

Alex Kwan Yui-huen, a professor  at City University,  who will open the conference, said that although society in general was becoming more liberal in its attitude towards sex workers, there was still a long way to go.

'In Chinese society, people are still very conservative,' Professor Kwan said. This point was illustrated by the derogatory terms people continue to use to describe sex workers.

'That said, people are slowly beginning to recognise the fact that sex workers are professionals.

'There is very little in the way of people being coerced or forced into the trade these days. Many of the sex workers we encounter are doing it solely for the money - many of them to support their families.

'It is a job you do not need any particular qualification for, anyone can do it, so for a lot of struggling families it is an attractive option for one person to pursue. Some  need only work part-time to take home around $30,000 a month.'

He said prostitution should be regulated and taxed.

'People are still worried about it being seen near them, but as soon as you accept that it is just another form of career, then you realise that sex workers perform a very important social function,' he said.



Sex workers aim to roll back the tide of prejudice at conference