Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Sex Workers Arrested and Prosecuted for Public Solicitation of Prostitution, by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs for each year in the past 10 years, of the sex workers (i) arrested and (ii) prosecuted for public solicitation of prostitution, how many were Singaporeans and foreigners respectively.

Answer:

1. Soliciting in public is an offence under Section 19 of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, or “MOA”.  Offenders are liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $1,000, and repeat offenders are liable on conviction to a maximum fine of $2,000 or maximum imprisonment of 6 months, or both.

2. Between 2009 and 2018, Police made 281 arrests for public solicitation, which resulted in 181 prosecutions. The annual figures from 2009 to 2018 are in Table 1:

Table 1: Persons arrested and charged in Court under Section 19 of the MOA [1]

3. Approximately 1 in 4 arrested persons and 1 in 5 prosecuted persons were Singapore citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents.

[1] Source: Singapore Police Force. This does not refer to distinct persons. Persons arrested or prosecuted more than once are counted separately.