Not a single pimp convicted

Although it is illegal to live off the proceeds of prostitutes in Macau, the city has a lot of pimps.

Macau's organised crime laws, enacted in 1997, made pimping a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. It has also made human trafficking a crime with a two to eight-year term. However, in the eight years since the introduction of the law not a single pimp has been convicted.

Last year, 17 women complained of being brought to the territory under false pretences and five complained of abuse, according to a United States report on human rights.

Chan Yan-yan of the Macau Social Research Society said: 'Macau police would appear to have a certain silent agreement with the prostitutes and pimps. As long as they don't blatantly display themselves in public, the police will keep their eyes closed.'

In the northern district where brothel hotels are popular - those with prostitutes sitting in the lobby - the police often stand or patrol outside the hotels to make sure the girls do not step outside. Occasionally, the police arrest suspected pimps after reports by sex workers who have been brutalised, but they are almost always released.

Members of the Rahab Ministry, which counsels and offers medical aid to prostitutes, ran into a stone wall in 2003 when they asked the police to track down a vicious pimp.