Robyn Emerton

Bureaucratic Justice The Incarceration of Mainland Chinese Women Working in Hong Kong’s Sex Industry

Since Hong Kong’s return to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) there has been a significant rise in the number of Chinese visitors to Hong Kong, including women crossing the border to engage in sex work. Sex work itself is not a crime in Hong Kong, but related activities, like soliciting, are prohibited. Sex work is treated as work for immigration purposes, and visitors who engage in work without an employment visa are breaching their conditions of stay. More than 10,000 mainland Chinese women have been arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced in recent years, causing the correctional population to expand beyond capacity. The authors examine the experiences of 58 incarcerated women in their encounters with the Hong Kong criminal justice system and find that women are processed in a highly routinized bureaucratic manner. They consider the purpose served by the largely bureaucratic form of justice that has emerged in response to migrant sex workers in Hong Kong.

TRAFFICKING OF MAINLAND CHINESE WOMEN INTO HONG KONG'S SEX INDUSTRY: PROBLEMS OF IDENTIFICATION AND RESPONSE

The article discusses the trafficking of women from mainland China to Hong Kong, China to be involved in the sex industry. The authors opinions regarding the lack of enforcement of regulations regarding the sex industry in Hong Kong are discussed. Increases which have occurred regarding the number of Chinese women involved in the sex industry in Hong Kong are mentioned. The role in which Asian governments are required to play in protecting women from becoming victims in the sex industry are discussed. Reasons for the increase which has been seen in the number of sex workers in Hong Kong are mentioned. Keywords: Human trafficking