This page details 51 countries and their policies on prostitution, brothel ownership, and pimping. Countries were chosen in order to be inclusive of major religions, geographical regions, and policies towards prostitution. Additional countries will be added over time. Whenever possible we have included government documents in English regarding prostitution such as laws, court decisions, employment information, etc. under the name of the country. While reasonable efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of the data provided, do not rely on this information without first checking an official edition of the applicable law. This page was last updated Mar. 26, 2008.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Laws criminalizing forced or bonded labor, prostitution, pornography, rape, kidnapping, and illegal entry are used to prosecute trafficking cases. The minimum sentence for rape is eight years' imprisonment, and sentences for related offenses carry a maximum of life imprisonment...

Prostitution is illegal, but the prohibition was not consistently enforced. Due to poverty, many women engaged in prostitution. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police sexually abused prostitutes after detaining them. The MWFA [Ministry of Women and Family Affairs] maintained a shelter that was open to former prostitutes."

Article 19 of the Constitution states, "The private actions of people that do not offend in any way the public order and morality, nor damage a third person, are only reserved to God, and are exempt from the authority of the magistrates."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

It is illegal to solicit, to aid or abet a prostitute, or live off their earnings.

...1,700 Argentine prostitutes [are] now registered as members of Ammar, whose leaders say government recognition would give the organisation the legal standing to fight for the decriminalisation of prostitution. Technically, prostitution is not illegal in Argentina but most provinces have laws allowing the arrest of prostitutes for causing 'scandal in the public thoroughfare'.

...Pimping is illegal but brothel owners are rarely sent to jail. Instead, they form shady business alliances with the police, who collect regular rake-offs."

(Queensland Prostitution Licensing Authority (PLA) Summary of Laws) (PDF) 54KB

The law varies depending on the state from decriminalized to legally regulated to criminal. Click on the PLA Summary on the left to see a description of each state.

Brothel Ownership: Depends

4 states permit brothels, 1 allows as part of a containment policy, and 3 prohibit.

Pimping: Depends

...One solution could be allowing legal brothels to operate outcall services, he said. But the proposal has previously been rejected by the Crime and Misconduct Commission and the state government. Queensland currently has 23 legal brothels operating in city and regional areas. Police figures show the number of prostitution offences reported in Queensland increased from 362 to 600 in 2005-06."

Legal since Jan. 1, 1975. Laws regulating prostitution require prostitutes to register, undergo periodic health examinations, be 19 years old or older, and pay taxes.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Wolfgang Schwarz, who won the gold for men's figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics, was arrested in Vienna last March. Police charged him with procuring visas for seven young women who were smuggled into the country to work in brothels....

Judge Anton Baumgartner sentenced him to 18 months in prison, but Schwarz's attorney has three days to consider whether to file a formal objection to the sentence before it will take effect, the Austria Press Agency reported. 'Signals must be sent that slave trade is forbidden, Baumgartner said in his ruling.

Investigators said the gang was involved in recruiting women from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and other eastern countries to Austria by promising them lucrative jobs. Upon their arrival, they were brought to brothels in the Austrian cities of Vienna, Graz and Salzburg, and their passports were confiscated, police said."

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Pimping: Illegal

Villa Tinto, House of Pleasure, is a pioneering example of a widening European drive to legalize prostitution, while combating the crime and violence it fosters -- including the explosion in human trafficking in recent years. The brothel opened in January, with the help of the Antwerp city council, the police and the prostitutes themselves as part of a 'tolerance zone,' begun in 2001. The Belgian government views the three-block area as a test case as it considers national legalization -- a move to wrest prostitution from the control of organized criminals and bring in some lost tax revenue."

(Labor and Employment Ministry Primer on Sex Professional) (PDF) 9KB

There are no regulations for adult prostitution.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

'Our feeling was that the manner in which the Usaid [sic] funds were consigned would bring harm to our program from the point of view of its scientific credibility, its ethical values and its social commitment,' Pedro Chequer, director of the Brazilian government's AIDS program, said... 'We must remain faithful to the established principles of the scientific method and not allow theological beliefs and dogma to interfere.'...

Mark Dybul, deputy coordinator and chief medical officer for the Bush administration's global AIDS initiative,... says the prostitution controversy is not only overblown, but is also an example of the many misconceptions about U.S. policy. 'On the ground, this isn't an issue,'... 'Part of a compassionate response involves meeting people where they are and working with them.' He added, 'Each country has a sovereign right to make decisions for themselves, and we respect that.' But to receive American aid, he said, 'it does require an acknowledgment that prostitution is not a good thing and to be opposed to it.'"

(Criminal Code of Canada) (PDF) 9KB

Must be done in private places. Cannot be done in a brothel. Solicitation in public places is illegal.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Owning a "Bawdy House" can be punishable by up to 2 years in prison.

Pimping: Illegal

Anyone who "lives wholly or in part on the avails of prostitution of another person" can be sentenced up to 10 years.

Adult prostitution is not illegal in Canada, though most activities surrounding it are prohibited, 'making it virtually impossible to engage in prostitution without committing a crime,' according to the parliamentary committee’s 2006 study of the issue."

A reporter with the Beijing Daily says he received 32 on-line solicitations for the services of a prostitute in just a half an hour. Many messages purported to be from available young, female college students. Other messages directed people to blogs that contained nude pictures of women. In all the messages phone numbers were left where clients could make contact with a prostitute. Police say the youngest prostitute they arrested was just 15 years old and one of the gang members, surnamed Zhao, treated the prostitutes for venereal disease and provide [sic] them with condoms. The Beijing Daily reports that organized messaging for prostitution services remains rampant in online chat rooms."

Must be over 18 years old and carry a health card showing how recently they had a medical check-up.

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Pimping: Illegal

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

The comment underlined both Castro's pride in his government's widely praised education system, and his concern for the re-emergence of a prostitution problem he thought his socialist system had eradicated decades ago. Once known as 'the brothel of the Caribbean' due to its reputation as a haven for rich Americans looking for sex, gambling and a swinging nightlife, Cuba drastically cleaned up society after Castro's 1959 revolution. But the problem came back at the start of the 1990s against a backdrop of increased economic hardship for locals, and an opening to tourism which brought foreigners flooding back."

(Danish Penal Code) (PDF) 4KB

The act of prostitution was legalized March 17, 1999.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

...In Denmark, local authorities compensate disabled people for extra costs incurred because of their disability....In Denmark, prostitution and other forms of sex work are not illegal so long as it is not a woman's sole means of income.... 'It's unfair to deny people with disabilities the right to a sex life,' he [Hansen] added.

Kristen Brosboel, a Social Democrat member of the Danish Parliament, is among those who have argued against Mr Hansen. 'We also spend tax money on trying to prevent prostitution, helping women out of prostitution - and we have a clear policy that this is a social problem that we want to solve.... So I think that's very much in contradiction with spending tax money on requiring prostitutes."

It has been illegal since 1949. The man is considered a witness and is exempt of punishment for testifying against the prostitute. The penalty for prostitutes is 3-36 months in prison and/or a fine.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

(Sexual Offences Act 2003) (PDF) 7KB

Must be over 18. No solicitation in public places.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Pimping law defined as "controlling prostitution for gain."

The government is still considering a proposal to allow groups of up to three women to run small brothels, but is it time to just legalise prostitution completely? Or are safe tolerance zones on the streets the answer?

There is opposition to all the above proposed solutions. How many would honestly want prostitutes and their clients operating near where they live - whether in brothels or in safe zones? So what is the answer?"

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

The general opinion in Estonia does not support the key ministers' views. According to Helve Kase, Head of the Department of Women's Studies for the Estonian Institute for Open Society Research, the prostitutes are generally not viewed as victims.... According to the most recent survey from 2003, almost a third of Estonians supported punishing the prostitutes' clients. Nearly half of the women were in favour of penalizing the prostitutes. More than half of the respondents gave their support to the existing system, which forbids pimping."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Must pay taxes. Laws against soliciting in public places.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Regulation and legal "houses of tolerance" ended in 1946.

Pimping: Illegal

Any form of assistance given toward prostitution or living off the earnings of prostitution can be considered criminal.

Prostitutes say the law would prevent them from earning income and expose them to dangers from unscrupulous customers or pimps.... [French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy says] the law was necessary to 'guarantee the security of the French people.'...

Prostitution is legal in France and at the moment the country's estimated 18,000 prostitutes can only be fined if their activities disturb the peace. But under the proposed law, prostitutes could face six months in prison or a fine of up to $7,500 if convicted under the law."

Legalized in 1927.

[Editor's Note: The date of the legalization of prostitution in Germany is disputed. Some consider prostitution to have been legalized or decriminalized since the passage of the 1927 Law for Combating Venereal Diseases. However, others consider prostitution was legalized through the Prostitution Act of January 2002 that improved the social welfare and legal rights of prostitutes. Although prostitution is legal under the German Constitution, prior to the 2002 Prostitution Act, a series of regulatory laws and court rulings had restricted the legal and social welfare rights of prostitutes because prostitution was considered in violation of Germany's moral code.]

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Pimping: Legal

Exploitative behavior considered criminal.

It was mainly to offer prostitutes protection from violence and exploitation that two years ago - against the opposition of conservative politicians - the German government legalized prostitution. Now, legal contracts between prostitutes and clients can be established. The government withholds a portion of their earnings to pay social benefits like pensions and health insurance and to guarantee a regular 40-hour-workweek. Sex workers can now even unionize. When it comes to taxation and regulation of the industry, legalization has been beneficial in some places, advocates say.

...But when it comes to the goal of improving conditions for prostitutes and containing the sex trade, most experts agree that legalizing prostitution has not succeeded. 'When it was set up there was much talk of securing proper contracts, proper health insurance, but a lot of this hasn't materialized because of big holes in the legislation,' says Marion Detlefs of the Hydra prostitute advice center in Berlin. Across the country, no more than a dozen contracts have been signed. Prostitutes, who often have to share their income with brothel owners and other parties, are reluctant to pay taxes.... [A]dvocates for prostitutes complain that - despite the national law - prostitution is still treated differently in each region, giving each city the right to ban prostitution in certain areas."

Prostitutes must be at least 21, register, and have health checks every 2 weeks.

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Athens has announced that its economy is 25% bigger than thought thanks, in part, to the round-the-clock duties of the country's prostitutes, who were known as hetairai in ancient times. The Greek authorities are revising the country's gross domestic product (GDP) after deciding that the black market should be included in the figures."

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Pimping: Illegal

Legalized in 2007.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

According to the 206th article of the Icelandic Penal Code (almenn hegningarlög), soliciting sex in Iceland was illegal until the new law was accepted, as RÚV reports.

The 206th article stated: 'Anyone engaging in prostitution for own upkeep shall be subject to imprisonment for up to 2 years.' That paragraph has now been deleted.

The government argues most people who solicit sex do so because they have no other choice or because they are forced into prostitution by others....

With the new provision punishment has become stricter for those who profit from the prostitution of others, force or encourage others to solicit sex."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

On the streets of Kamathipura, it's no challenge for Aronson [Frontline Producer] to find sex workers to talk with. In a small gathering she asks them frankly about the core issues of their trade -- economics and health. The women get the equivalent of US$1.50 for sex, $2 on a good night, less than a dollar on a bad night. To have sex without a condom, men will often pay more or, after a few visits, tell the women they love them. The women in the group laugh a bit about the men's proclamations of love, but there's a tragic fact behind their laughter: more than half of the sex workers here are HIV positive."

Prostitutes may face prison, lashing, or execution by stoning. Customers also face criminal penalties.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Establishing or managing a place of immorality or prostitution is a criminal act, subject to imprisonment from 1-10 years.

Pimping: Illegal

Living off the income of prostitution is illegal.

The plan was defended by Ashraf Borujerdi, Deputy for Social Affairs at the Interior Ministry, who helped draw it up. 'Some people believe that talking about such issues is taboo, but they are part of the reality of society, and turning a blind eye will not solve the problem,' she said... Welfare officials say there are at least 300,000 prostitutes working in the country.

Under Iran's Islamic system, it is possible to take out a temporary marriage licence - known as Sigheh - even for a few hours. The device is used to cover casual transactions which in many societies would be regarded simply as prostitution."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Procurement and living on the earnings of a woman in prostitution is prohibited.

Justice Eliezer Rivlin wrote in his decision that the claimant would not be given funds that would be used to violate the law by encouraging prostitution. 'The proper way of society to deal with prostitution has been subject for contention over many years,' Rivlin wrote. 'There are those who see prostitutes as slave laborers and others who claim there are those among them who make a calculated choice to make a living thusly. The difficult questions over prostitution shall not be resolved, here but we cannot ignore the fact that criminal law frowns upon it.'"

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Procurement and living on the earnings of a woman in prostitution is prohibited.

The council says targeting clients is its only option, given that prostitution is legal in Italy - despite the ordinarily hard moral line from the Vatican. But the prostitutes have devised a way to counteract the penalties - by issuing pink coupons to their clients promising to refund the fine 'in kind'. The council claims that prostitution has fallen 70 per cent since the new rules came in last week, but the prostitutes said they have merely moved to quieter areas."

(Report on Implementation of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) (PDF) 15KB

Prostitution is defined as only coitus. Non-coital sex acts are not illegal.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

...According to the National Police Agency, there were 908 fashion health massage parlors and 5,425 'outcall-style' fashion health parlors that were publicly registered in 2000 under the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses, etc. What protects the operation of the fashion health parlors is simple -- they only offer oral sex, anal sex and other sexual services that are not interpreted as sex in the prostitution law….

[In] 2000 1,225 people [were] arrested on suspicion of violating the prostitution law. But that it is believed to be just the tip of the iceberg. Research conducted by Bank of Yokohama on the state of the underground economy in Japan in fiscal 1998 estimated that unreported earnings from commercial and 'amateur' prostitution come to around 945 billion yen…."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Prostitution is not a crime but the exact legal status is unclear.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Bishkek police claim that some 3,500 prostitutes work in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, while unofficial estimates put that number at 1.5 to 2 times higher. Officials claim that sex workers from neighboring countries account for the vast majority of the number, with Kyrgyzstani prostitutes making up a mere 2 to 3 percent of the total. In addition, the capital offers some 169 saunas, 177 hotels and more than 1,000 private apartments with sexual services, police say.

Prostitution is not a crime in Kyrgyzstan, and prostitutes say that popular attitudes toward their work are more understanding than in neighboring Uzbekistan. But that welcome has its limits. Violent crimes involving prostitutes such as murders or assaults are on the increase. With less than adequate control over migration streams into Kyrgyzstan, police fear that cycle of violence could only worsen."

(Latvia Regulations) (PDF) 6KB

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Latvian President Vaira Vi-k,e-Freiberga called 'Buy Bye Beauty' by Pål Hollander 'political propaganda' that didn't meet standards of objectivity. Hollander's movie, recently shown at the Gothenburg Film Festival, depicted a gloomy picture of the sex industry in Latvia. Hollander interviewed a number of people involved with the Latvian pornography industry while making the film, many of them prostitutes. Based on his interviews, the filmmaker claimed there are about 18,000 prostitutes in Latvia. According to official statistics, there are 2500 to 3000 prostitutes in the country. Hollander also claimed that about 50 percent of Latvian women have had sex for money."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Prostitution is decriminalized and regulated at the state level. Where regulated they must be at least 18, registered, pay for and receive health checks, and carry their health card. It cannot be in public though many cities have a red light district or "zona roja."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

One measure of the magnitude of the problem health officials face is that more than 8,000 women and men who have registered as prostitutes since the system began have stopped coming to the city clinic, Dr. Mayor Noriega said. It is unclear how many left the business and how many simply decided not to pay for the tests any more."

(Dutch Policy on Prostitution) (PDF) 34KB

Officially legal since Oct. 2000. Prostitutes must be over 18 and clients must be over 16. Prostitutes must register and pay taxes.

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Subject to licensing and zoning requirements.

Pimping: Legal

Living off income from a prostitute is legal if it doesn't involve coercion.

The Christian Democrat CDA and the ChristenUnie (CU) parties — both of which are expected to form part of the new governing coalition — want even tougher measures, including the prosecution of men who frequent prostitutes who are working against their will....

But others, such as Petra Timmermans from the International Committee on the rights of Sex Workers in Europe, said the Dutch were experiencing outside pressure from countries that did not understand their traditions. 'The Netherlands has decided to do things differently so it is under tremendous pressure from neighbouring countries to re-evaluate its position,' she said. 'People look at the Netherlands and say it is a failed experiment because not every sex worker is a millionairess.'"

(Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Prostitution Law Reform) (PDF) 64KB

Since 2003 prostitution has been decriminalized. It is legal for citizens over 18 years old.

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Owners must be over 18 years old, a citizen of New Zealand or Australia, and have an Operator’s Certificate. Only applicants with serious criminal convictions will be denied.

Pimping: Legal

No laws against living off the avails of prostitution.

Labour MP Tim Barnett's Prostitution Reform Bill will become law after nearly three years of scrutiny, 415 hours of debate by Parliament and its committees and 222 public submissions.

It decriminalises prostitution and establishes a legal framework around the sex industry, with licensed brothels operating under public health and employment laws."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

'Young women from Eastern Europe have put too much pressure on the market in Oslo,' said Liv Jessen of the Pro-Center, a national agency that follows the prostitution business. 'They are well-organized and are pushing the Norwegian women off the street.'"

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Pimping: Illegal

'People have to understand that it's not simply about a whore standing on a street corner, it's a woman, a lady who's working,' said Angela Villon, president of the Civil Association of Sex Workers, at a news conference....

According to the health ministry, there are around 60,000 sex workers in Peru, 14,000 of them in the capital Lima, although Villon said she believed the true figures were higher."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Nursing and teaching, more traditional women's work in the Philippines, pay a fraction of the sums these women can make. That is, if their pimps allow them to keep their money. A University of the Philippines study in the late 1990s estimated there were about a half-million prostitutes in the country."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

'It (prostitution) cannot be classified anywhere in the country's development indicators. It is a menace that ought to be stopped immediately because we have our own morals and cultural values that have to be preserved and protected,' Kagame stressed...."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Among the pimps arrested Thursday were an Egyptian and a Syrian, along with several Indonesian prostitutes caught in the act, the paper said. One girl, arrested earlier, told a newspaper that she had been 'led astray, into error, by the devil to devote herself to vice, for 1,500 [Saudi] riyals [about $400] a night.'

Prostitution is strictly banned in Saudi Arabia, which applies Sharia (Islamic law), and is punishable by prison and flogging."

Prostitution has been legal since 1969. Must be at least 21 years of age, register with the police, carry a valid sanitary card, and test negative for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Free condoms are provided beginning at the first visit to the clinic and are renewed monthly.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Soliciting or living off the earnings of prostitution is prohibited.

Legal red-light districts, mandatory health checks, and must be 16 years or older.

Brothel Ownership: Legal

Pimping: Illegal

'We constantly review our laws to keep abreast of changing times and norms,' the Straits Times quoted a Ministry of Home Affairs spokesman as saying. Under current laws, having sex with girls under 16 is considered statutory rape, punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of S$10,000 (US$5900)....

Prostitution is legal in Singapore but pimping and public solicitation are not. Licensed brothels operate in designated areas..."

(South Africa v. Jordan and others - Summary of Judgment) (PDF) 5KB

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Brothel Ownership: Illegal
Up to 10 years in prison.

Pimping: Illegal

The severity of the law, which calls for prison terms of up to 10 years for procurers and threatens clients of prostitutes with jail as well, has clearly dented the sex trade in a country where the sector rakes in $21 billion a year, or 4 percent of the gross domestic product, according to the Korean Institute of Criminology. A report by the institute last year also found that 4.1 percent of women in their 20s - or 330,000 women - are in the trade, and that 20 percent of adult males purchase sex four times a month."

Prostitution is not a crime but the exact legal status is unclear.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal in some regions

Pimping: Not criminal

After nearly three years of debate, a parliamentary commission advising the government threw in the towel, rejecting both of the proposed approaches and simply leaving prostitution where it was: a shady zone where it is neither legal nor illegal....

Its incapacity to adopt a clear policy angered both the main camps: women's rights activists regarding prostitution as a form of slavery, incompatible with democratic values, and prostitutes' associations saying sex workers needed legal rights to protect themselves.

Spain has been dubbed the 'brothel of Europe,' with up to 500,000 women working as prostitutes. Every day, 1.5 million men buy sex in Spain, said Maribel Montano of the governing Socialist Party (PSOE). The trade, which is plied in places ranging from parks and flats to roadside brothels, turns over an estimated 40 billion euros (54 billion dollars) annually, almost the equivalent of Spain's education budget."

(Swedish Penal Code) (PDF) 5KB

Since 1999 selling sex is not a crime but the buying of sex is. Buyers face fines and up to 6 months in prison.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Punishment includes up to 4 years in prison.

Pimping: Illegal

Brothel Ownership: Legal
Legalized in 1992.

Pimping: Illegal

Prostitution is legal in Switzerland, and its residents have the world's highest purchasing power, according to a study published in December by UBS AG. Prostitutes from the European Union don't need a work permit for the first three months of residence and can offer their services as self-employed workers, provided they register with police and comply with tax laws.

The lack of restrictions, combined with the country's wealth, has pushed the number of prostitutes per capita in Zurich to the highest among industrialized countries, a city employee heading a project for improvement of the Langstrasse area, Zurich's red-light district, Rolf Vieli, said. Based on police figures, Zurich has about 11 prostitutes per 1,000 people, similar to the rate in Amsterdam, known for its sex trade."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

After Taipei criminalized prostitution in 1997, the brothels in Wanhua District closed. But the ban, sex workers and advocates said, has driven prostitution underground, and the city government's clampdown on illegal prostitutes has left many in a severe plight and driven some to suicide....

Wang [Fang-ping general director of the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters] said that he city government has clamped down on 9,796 illegal prostitutes over the past seven years in accordance with the Law of Maintaining Public Order, and collected NT$44 million (US$ 1.3 million) in fines. Of the 128 prostitutes in the city, more than 66 percent went underground after the law was promulgated, while 6.4 percent committed suicide..."

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

Requires registering and attending clinics for regular examinations. Must carry identity card indicating the dates of his or her health checks. Health checks can be as often as twice a week. Sexworkers cannot be married and their children are barred from occupying high rank in the army or police, or marrying persons of such rank, although they can work in other areas of government service.

Brothel Ownership: Legal

A charge-free hotline was set up in May by the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for women to call for help. It is staffed by multi-lingual operators who try to pinpoint where the women are - and then send in the police. But the second, more unexpected, factor is the chivalry of the Turkish brothel client. Since the hotline started, 74 per cent of tip-offs have come from men: customers who have learned to spot the difference between a professional prostitute, and someone who's been forced into it.

'I've been very surprised,' said Marielle Lindstrom, head of the IOM in Turkey. 'We haven't noticed this anywhere in Europe. Turkish men seem to have an old-fashioned view of women. They don't mind using prostitutes, but they want the woman to be doing this willingly. If she's found not to be doing it willingly ... it affects their pride.'"

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

The Immigration Act also prohibits entry of a prostitute, or a person prior to entering Uganda was living on the earnings of prostitution and punishes any person who becomes employed in Uganda without entry permit. In this case many young girls and women who are trafficked into prostitution or forced to enter Uganda illegally are guilty of such offences. They are further punished by the law. They are at a risk of being imprisoned, fined, deported and re-trafficked if found guilty in the existing laws. There are also no legal provisions that entitle Victims of trafficking in humans to rehabilitation despite the grave physical assaults, sexual abuses, and psychological trauma they experience in the due process."

The sharia courts sentence lashings followed by imprisonment.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Pimping: Illegal

But Cyclone is hardly the only place in Dubai providing work for prostitutes. You can find them at almost every five-star hotel in the emirate, or even on the streets."

Illegal except for 11 rural counties in Nevada where registration and health checks are required.

Brothel Ownership: Illegal

Illegal except for 11 rural counties in Nevada. It also is not illegal in Rhode Island if the owner doesn't receive money from prostitution.

Pimping: Illegal