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Cheryllyn Dudley, in response to a Department of Labour survey focusing on prostitution said: "We must protect the weak and vulnerable in society whom prostitution targets

Prostitution, sex tourism, trafficking in women and other such practices reduce women to sexual commodities and have a devastating impact on women in developing countries, and oppressed groups in developed countries. Decriminalization causes an increase in these practices to meet the demand created by a legalized sex industry.

In South Africa prostitutes have the same access to facilities and services as everyone else.
However in line with international evidence which shows that a majority of prostitutes do not want to be regulated, departments cannot force prostitutes to comply. Even in countries where prostitution is legal prostitutes, for various reasons, choose not to use protection or get regular health services.

The official position of the ACDP on this is that we must protect the weak and vulnerable in society whom prostitution most targets.

An overwhelming body of International evidence shows that the terrible abuse and exploitation of women and children trapped in prostitution does not decline where there is decriminalisation, and in fact the opposite is true.

The ACDP believes that legalising prostitution has less to do with the human rights of women trapped in slavery and more to do with the multibillion dollar industry that it is globally. Prostitution is a wrecker of relationships, families and communities and it cannot be allowed to become a career choice.

Presently opinion is being gathered by the SA Law Commission on the attitude of South Africans on this issue and we know that there is pressure being exerted to ensure that prostitution is decriminalized before 2010. Not even two years after Germany was announced as the host nation for the 2006 Fifa Football World Cup final, prostitution was legalized in preparation for the tournament. And now South Africa appears to be following suit.

It is appalling that following the disgraceful example of the National Police Commissioner Selebi, Members of Parliament were also calling for prostitution to be legalized. Selebi's reprehensible calls for prostitution to be legalized for the soccer World Cup in South Africa undermine statements made by other international law officers. The head of operations for the UN Centre for International Crime Prevention, with reference to human trafficking, is quoted as saying that laws decriminalising prostitution help gangsters and "make enforcement tricky.

The ACDP continues to call for the relatively new laws in SA, which target the user, to be enforced. Laws in Sweden protect women in this manner by holding the user accountable and more effectively target the demand for trafficked women.

What is needed in SA is a mechanism whereby prostitutes can be diverted into an exit programme, with provision for the criminal offence to be expunged on completion of the programme. This would relieve the system to concerntrate on targeting the demand side of prostitution including clients, pimps, procurers and traffickers.

Beijing ensured that this exploitative industry did not feed off of the Olympic games and lessons can be learnt from this example as well.

Legalizing prostitution could be likened to legalizing assault. In a country that desires a just legal system, it is unthinkable to grant people freedom to harm others. Beyond doubt, prostitution is harmful. Studies show that 75% of prostitutes in escort agencies have attempted suicide.

Calls for the legitimizing of this tragic and demeaning activity take us back to the arguments used to justify slavery. The same people who make a lot of noise over the predicament of Sarah Baartman, the South African woman exploited in Europe in the early 1800s, are now silent over protecting our young women on their own soil.

Countries which have experimented with legalizing the practice have found it causes an increase in trafficking in women to meet the demand created by a legalized sex industry. It also makes it difficult to hold traffickers accountable for their activities, as traffickers and pimps evade prosecution by using the legality as a cover claiming women knew what they were getting into.

There is some indication that a Zuma administration, as opposed to the Mbeki administration, may well be listening to public sentiment and common sense. We hope therefore, that decriminalization of prostitution will not be forced on South Africa against the will of the people as has been done in the past.

Public sentiment is clearly opposed to legalising prostitution. South Africa is not ready to have the failed policy of other countries imposed on us. The multi-billion dollar industry concerned is naturally looking for friendly territory to ply their lucrative trade, as countries like Holland and Sweden are turning from these destructive policies".