KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore is clamping down on landlords whose rental flats serve as “pop up” brothels but campaigners said on Thursday it would do little to help the women who are trafficked into sex work.
Under laws passed on Monday, home owners or landlords whose Singapore premises are used for prostitution now face stiffer penalties, including jail terms and fines. The “pop up” sex shops – on the rise in anonymous housing estates in ordinary neighbourhoods – are a far cry from the controlled “red light” district in suburban Singapore.
Prostitution is not illegal in Singapore but soliciting, pimping or owning a brothel are criminalised.Women from poor parts of Asia are often lured to Singapore with promises of better pay and the city’s wholesome image. “At the end of the day it’s the women who continuously get arrested and deported,” said the group’s executive director.