Prostitution, the system that commodifies and dehumanizes the bodies and persons of women and children of both sexes for the use and profit of men, is today the object of an intense and international mainstreaming campaign that is working for the social and political acceptance of the hugely profitable industries of sex.

The following are statistics on the trafficking and prostitution of women in Asia Pacific countries. For complete report go to: Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific

Australia

Federal Police estimate that prostitution grosses A$30 million annually.

International crime syndicates traffic drugs and women, with 10 smaller syndicates trafficking 300 Thai women yearly.

Recruiters go to Russia to hire women for 'tabletop dancing' in clubs often with links to brothels.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions recently recognized women in prostitution as a labor sector.

Korea

Around the military bases, there are 18,000 registered and 9,000 unregistered prostitutes.

Forms of prostitution include escort and call girls, street prostitution, and from cafes, clubs, cabarets, show cases, massage parlors and beauty shops.

Women suspected of prostitution can be confined in rehabilitation centers without due process.

Bangladesh

There are an estimated 200,000 women trafficked to Pakistan in the last 10 years, continuing at the rate of 200-400 women monthly.

In 1994, 2,000 women were prostituted in six cities in India.

Malaysia

There are an estimated 142,000 women in prostitution in Malaysia, with between 8,000-10,000 in Kuala Lumpur.

Main channels of sexual exploitation: recreation businesses, i.e. entertainment, fitness clubs and the like. Almost every town has a red-light district.

Burma (Myanmar on Map)

There are an estimated 20,000 - 30,000 Burmese women in Thailand. Forms of trafficking: deceptive job placements that land women in brothels, abduction by agents for clients, sale of girls from hill tribes. As illegal immigrants in Thailand, prostitutes are arrested, detained and deported back to Burma, with 50-70 percent being HIV positive.

Nepal

There are an estimated 5,000 women trafficked to India yearly. After India with 100,000 women, Hong Kong is the second biggest market.

Organizers in rural areas, brokers and even family members sell girls. Husbands sometimes sell their wives to brothels.

China

Shangchuandao island off Guandong is a tourist spot offering drugs and sex casinos with 300 women from all over China. In 1994, 500,000 tourists spent HK$55.8 million on legal tourist services alone.

There is a resurgence of prostitution all over China. Women are also being trafficked for sale as wives to husbands who often resell them.

Philippines

There are an estimated 300,000 women in prostitution, and 75,000 prostituted children.

'Entertainment' is the main channel, but a range of establishments from dirt-floor beer houses to karaoke clubs to beach resorts to expensive health clubs provide prostitution for men of every social class.

Government policies favor the export of entertainers and domestic helpers that put women at risk.

Hong Kong

Fake contracts for domestic work land the women in brothes that employ Chinese minders to prevent runaways. Influx of East European women in high-priced clubs. Macau has Russian mafia bringing in women. In 1994, a woman attempting to escape was murdered.

Sri Lanka

Eighty percent of labor migration in 1994 was of women workers. Job trainees in Korea and Japan have disappeared into underground labor markets, including prostitution.

India

There are an estimated 2.3 million women in prostitution, of which a quarter are minors.

Over 1,000 red-light districts all over India, where cage prostitutes are mostly minors often from Nepal and Bangladesh.

Forms of trafficking: economic incentives offered to parents to part with the children, fake job or marriage promises, abductions.

Taiwan

Forty percent of young prostitutes in the main red-light district are aborginal girls. Girls under 13 have been made to undergo hormone injections by brothels owners to hasten their physical development.

Indonesia

There are 65,582 registered prostitutes in 1994, with an estimated total of 500,000 in prostitution.

Localized bordello complexes, 'localisasi,' are managed under local government regulations.

The estimated financial turnover of the sex industry ranges from US$ 1.2 billion to US$ 3.6 billion.

Thailand

Estimates on the number of women in prostitution range from 300,000 to 2.8 million, of which a third are minors. Thai women are also in prostitution in many countries in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US.

4.6 million Thai men regularly, and 500,000 foreign tourists annually, use prostituted women.

Japan

The largest sex industry market for Asian women. Over 150,000 non-Japanese women in prostitution, more than half are Filipinas, 40 percent are Thai women.

One 'sex zone' in Tokyo, only 0.34 sq. km., has 3,500 sex facilities: strip theaters, peep shows, 'soaplands,' 'lover's banks,' porno shops, telephone clubs, karaoke bars, clubs, etc.

Japanese men also constitute the largest number of sex tourists in Asia.

The sex industry accounts for 1 percent of the Gross National Product and equals the defense budget.

Vietnam

Most trafficking is to China and to Cambodia, including children. Trafficking happens through kidnapping, especially for brothels, deceptive job offers or tourist trips, match-making with foreigners who often sell and resell the women abroad.

Prostitution is becoming a feature of the burgeoning tourism industry: hotels and tourist companies provide women to clients. Also, business deals are closed with presents of women.