The laws on prostitution vary considerably around the world. They can vary from total prohibition of both the sale and purchase of sexual services, bans on either, regulation to varying extent of some or all aspects, to minimal regulation or restriction of any activity. Even when the sale or purchase is legal, prohibiting some or all of the activities necessary to work such as communicating between worker and client (soliciting), working from premises (brothel or bawdy-house), and involvement of third parties (managers, drivers, security) produces a de facto prohibition.
In practice neither capital punishment, incarceration, nor remedial training have had any appreciable effect on the trade. The issue of prostitution as a whole is socially and politically divisive, and difficult to form a consensus on. In North Korea, Sudan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, prostitution is a crime punishable by death.
Prostitution taking place secretly in Bhaktapur: Police
Prostitution is illegal in the majority of African countries. Nevertheless, it is common, driven by the widespread poverty in many sub-Saharan African countries, and is one of the drivers for the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Social breakdown and poverty caused by civil war in several African countries has caused further increases in the rate of prostitution in those countries. For these reasons, some African countries have also become destinations for sex tourism.
AIDS infection rates are particularly high among African sex workers. Long distance truck drivers have been identified as a group with the high-risk behavior of sleeping with prostitutes and a tendency to spread the infection along trade routes in the region. Infection rates of up to 33 percent were observed in this group in the late 1980s in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. More in this map.
