By AFPMore by this AuthorBEIJING,When Chinese legislators recommended the abolition of "education" detention centres where prostitutes and clients can be held without charge for two years, activists hoped the facilities' days were numbered. Under the nearly three-decade-old system, police have unilateral power to detain sex workers and their clients for up to two years in "shelter and education" centres. Getting rid of the detention centres would be "a very positive step for the rule of law in China", said Shen Tingting, director of advocacy and policy at Asia Catalyst. PROSTITUTION WIDESPREADAlthough illegal, prostitution remains widespread in China, with an estimated several million sex workers. But Shen is unconvinced that attitudes towards sex workers would change, even if the forced re-education of prostitutes eventually disappears.

Source: Daily Nation March 17, 2019 05:15 UTC