A seminar on the trafficking of women and children was held in Karachi, India, f r om Nov.15 to 19, 1990. Participants came from India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Norway and Bangladesh.

Naina Kapur of India, in her paper "Ignorance is N o Excuse for a L a w , " observed that since the 19th century, "prostitutes have been squeezed between two extremes ~ institutional exploitation through laws and notions of moral salvation ~ in a debate which has refused to acknowledge it as the most entrenched profession in the world."

In most countries, she said, "Everything necessary to work as a prostitute is illegal although it isn't illegal to t)e a prostitute." She called such a prohibition system hypocritical, unenforceable and corrupt, and blind to the fact that prostitution must also be seen in terms of sexual abuse and exploitation of women and children.