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Government Laws

Suppression of Prostitution Act

In Burma, prostitution is discouraged and soliciting (seduction) in public is a crime. It is illegal to force or entice a woman into prostitution or to keep a brothel. Section 3 of the Suppression of Prostitution Act provides that whoever, in any public street or public place or place of public access within sight of or earshot of any such street or place, whether from within or without any house, building, room, vessel, vehicle or not, (a) by words, gestures, willful and indecent exposure of her person or otherwise, lures or attempts to lure for the purpose of prostitution or (b) solicits, molests, prevents or approaches for the purpose of prostitution shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to a period not less than one year and not more than three years. If the convicted person is a woman, such woman shall be punished with imprisonment by being detained in a prescribed centre. Section 6 provides that whoever procures any woman to become a prostitute or who, with intent that she may, for the purpose of prostitution, become the inmate of a brothel, persuades a woman to leave her usual place of abode shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to a period not less than one year and not more than three years. Section 12 (1) provides that whoever detains a woman, whether a prostitute or not, against her will in a house, building, room, vessel, vehicle or place where living is earned by prostitution or in any part thereof; or in a house etc., with the intention of using the woman in illicit intercourse with any man other than her lawful husband or for any immoral purpose shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years. The State Peace and Development Council enacted the Law Amending the Suppression of Prostitution Act, 1949, on 6 April 1998 to discourage pimps who earned a living by running prostitution in the guise of opening massage parlors or beauty parlors in cities, including Yangon. Subsection (a) of section 2 of the Suppression of Prostitution Act, 1949, was amended as follows: (a) "Brothel" means any house, building, room, any kind of vehicle/ vessel/ aircraft or place habitually used for the purpose of prostitution or used with reference to any kind of business for the purpose of prostitution. In the said expression, part of the same is also included. ^{1 1} Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); Initial report of States parties, Myanmar