Following the launch, the Tanjung Elmo red light area at East Sentani will be closed for good, and the commercial sex workers will be sent back to their respective hometowns.
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA News) - Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa has launched the Prostitution-Free National Movement 2015 in the Papua provincial city of Jayapura on Friday in a bid to free Indonesia from prostitution by 2019.

In the company of Womens Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise, Parawansa launched the Prostitution-Free National Movement by beating a tifa, a Papuan traditional musical instrument, and by releasing 34 doves and balloons into the air.

Following the launch, the Tanjung Elmo red light area at East Sentani will be closed for good, and the commercial sex workers will be sent back to their respective hometowns.

"We hope that the former commercial sex workers, who will return to their respective hometowns, can get decent jobs, and a joint business group could be urged to help those affected by the closure of the local brothels," Parawansa stated here on Friday.

The minister remarked that the former commercial sex workers will receive a stipend of Rp5 million from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Rp5 million from the Jayapura district government.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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