[6] Amending legislation came into effect on 6 December 2014, which made the purchase of sexual services illegal, using the Swedish approach.

[8] In a tradition associated with Greenlandic Inuit, hosts have been reported to have offered their wives to guests in a form of "hospitable prostitution".

Some Mexican cities have enacted "tolerance zones" ("zonas de tolerancia") which allow regulated prostitution and function as red light districts.

[18] Recently, states such as New York and Washington also have considered legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution, but so far proposals have not materialized.

[39] Related activities such as facilitating, promoting or giving incentives to a person to work as a prostitute (pimping) are illegal.

[38] There are no specific laws against human trafficking, but any criminal offence that includes ‘commerce in women or children’ requires sentencing to be increased by 30%.

[44] Statistics from the Vigilancia Centinela de las Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (VICITS) sexual health clinics from 2007 to 2011, showed 10.8 of the sex workers worked on the streets, the rest working indoors at strip clubs, brothels based at residential homes, bars etc.

Although similar institutions such as brothel ownership and pimping are illegal, prostitution has remained largely unchecked by the government.

Lack of enforcement of current laws has created a profitable business out of prostitution — one in which both adults and children are a part.

[13] 2,650 sex workers were registered with the government in 2008, but there was no accurate information regarding the total number of persons practising prostitution in the country.

Article 19 of the constitution states: "The private actions of people that do not offend in any way the public order and morality, nor damage a third person, are only reserved to God, and are exempt from the authority of the magistrates.

[68] Adult prostitution is legal, subject to regulation, but related activities such as keeping brothels and pimping are prohibited.

[38][13][69] Several hundred women were registered as prostitutes with the National Health Service,[69] and undergo mandatory medical examinations.

[81] Prostitution in the Falkland Islands is legal but related activities such as solicitation and keeping a brothel are prohibited by the Crimes Ordinance 2014.

[82] A man compelling his wife to become a prostitute is a grounds for divorce under the Matrimonial Proceedings (Summary Jurisdiction) Ordinance 1967.

[86] The HIV rate is the highest of any French territory, and sex workers are at risk due to inconsistent condom use.

[95] Whilst there is no red-light district in the capital, Asunción, street prostitution is widespread in the city centre, especially around Plaza Uruguaya.

[95] Prostitution between adults is legal for women and men over 18 years of age if they register with municipal authorities and carry a health certificate.

Prostitution is legal in Anguilla, but related activities such as brothel keeping, are illegal under sections 171 - 181 of the Criminal Code.

[111] Prostitution is on the rise due to economic conditions,[112] In the capital, St. John's, there is a red-light district in Popeshead Street.

[124] Prostitution in the Cayman Islands is legal but related activities such as brothel keeping are prohibited by the Penal Code.

[126] Since the commencement of the Special Period in the early 1990s it has become associated with jineterismo, a category of illegal or semi-legal economic activities related to tourism in Cuba.

The old town centre of Pointe-à-Pitre is taken over by prostitutes from the Dominican Republic plying their trade after dark,[136][137] and abandoned houses are turned into makeshift brothels.

Since the 1940s, prostitution rings made up of Dominican women have circulated about the capital and today, are found in the suburb of Pétion-Ville.

[92] The Terry McMillan novel, and later film, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, was based on female sex tourism in Jamaica.

The new laws targeted prostitution in the bars and restaurants of Fort-de-France, which the colonial authorities believed were a major factor of STIs.

[146] Following the eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano in 1997 that buried the capital, Plymouth, many migrant workers came to the island from Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

[152] One hotel, now closed, was reserved for French civil servants and reputedly offered the guests European prostitutes.

[157] New brothels continue to open across the country, particularly in the south where they are incorporated into small bars and rum shops and are difficult to detect, and in central, where they operate out of a normal-looking flats in a neighbourhood.

[166][167] In 1985, 68 prostitutes were smuggled from Sint Maarten to Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in a sealed shipping container, of whom 28 died of suffocation.