Talk:Age of consent in Asia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Age of consent in Asia article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Sexology and sexuality Low‑importance

	Human sexuality portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Sexology and sexuality, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of human sexuality on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Sexology and sexualityWikipedia:WikiProject Sexology and sexualityTemplate:WikiProject Sexology and sexualitySexology and sexuality articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Law Low‑importance

	Law portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Law, an attempt at providing a comprehensive, standardised, pan-jurisdictional and up-to-date resource for the legal field and the subjects encompassed by it.LawWikipedia:WikiProject LawTemplate:WikiProject Lawlaw articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Central Asia Low‑importance

	Asia portal Age of consent in Asia is part of WikiProject Central Asia, a project to improve all Central Asia-related articles. This includes but is not limited to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Tibet, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang and Central Asian portions of Iran, Pakistan and Russia, region-specific topics, and anything else related to Central Asia. If you would like to help improve this and other Central Asia-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome.Central AsiaWikipedia:WikiProject Central AsiaTemplate:WikiProject Central AsiaCentral Asia articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Southeast Asia Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Southeast Asia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Southeast Asia-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Southeast AsiaWikipedia:WikiProject Southeast AsiaTemplate:WikiProject Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Pedophilia Article Watch (defunct)

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Pedophilia Article Watch, a project which is currently considered to be defunct.Pedophilia Article WatchWikipedia:WikiProject Pedophilia Article WatchTemplate:WikiProject Pedophilia Article WatchPedophilia Article Watch articles

This article is part of the Age of consent series of articles project.

In the interest of accuracy and quality it was decided by consensus^* to hold these pages to a high standard of verification and to avoid ambiguity through the use of prose (not dot points) discussing the relevant statutes, case law or other authorities.

To this end all information must be properly referenced. Where writing about legislation or other law, the appropriate statutes and similar must be cited. Where appropriate, portions of the legislation can be quoted. Where possible, a link to an up-to-date online copy of the legislation can be included (preferably, but not necessarily, in English). It is preferable to include any such references in-line, rather than in a separate <ref> section at the bottom of the page. This is to make it easier for readers to find the references in context.

The unfettered age of consent should be in bold text, in order that it stand out. No other ages should be in bold text. Any exceptions to should then be discussed afterwards (close in age exceptions, same sex relations etc).

For an example of a properly formatted article see the Ages of consent in Australia and Oceania.

*(The original age of consent formatting discussions began here)

The articles in this group are	Helpful repositories of legislation
Age of consent Age of consent reform Ages of consent in Africa Ages of consent in Asia Ages of consent in Oceania (including Australia) Ages of consent in Europe Ages of consent in North America Ages of consent in the United States Ages of consent in South America Age of consent in Brazil List of countries by age of consent	Worldlii: Global Austlii: Australia Bailii: Britain and Ireland Canlii: Canada Commonlii: Commonwealth Cylaw: Cyprus Droit: French HKlii: Hong Kong	Juri Burkina Cornell law NZlii: New Zealand Paclii: Pacific Islands Saflii: Southern Africa

Please note that ageofconsent.com is not an acceptable reference as it has not been updated since 2002.

Map needed

It is requested that a map or maps be included in this article to improve its quality.
Wikipedians in Asia may be able to help!

Iran?

Information on "age of consent" in Iran seems to be on the map but not in the article. Any specific reasons?

(By the way, I don't think the notion of "age of consent" really applies to countries where religion regulates sexual activity. "Consent" is not the basis of lawmaking in those countries--"divine decree" is. Both quite funny concepts, when one comes to think of it.)

The age of consent is 13 in Iran. Whether or not you find something funny is quite irrelevant to Wikipedia. 69.235.5.112 (talk) 00:40, 13 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sex before marriage isn't illegal in Iran. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.220.246.251 (talk) 13:47, 21 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The linked article says 18/16 for boys/girls. If it's not true, someone find a better reference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.68.8.222 (talk) 11:07, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Israel's age of consent

It might be funny to someone here, but as long as I live in Israel, I know that having sex with someone belowe the age of 16 is 16 prison years. I translate from the Israeli Law list about the subject, and editing the page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.132.68.17 (talk) 06:55, 7 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Laos

I think that I read sex between a Lao and a foreigner is illegal in Laos regardless of the age of the parties. Obviously that's not an age of consent question, but it should, it seems, be covered here, if it is true. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.23.224.120 (talk) 22:53, 28 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Russia - Asia or Europe?

Somewhat surprised to find Russia here. I always thought it was considered an Eastern European country. Or maybe it's just a Russian biassed POV? --Goldminer 11:24, 28 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Both Russia and Turkey straddle Europe and Asia, and of course the Urals are entirely within Russia and they are divide the two. On the other hand, the distinction between Europe and Asia has always been both dubious and fuzzy. Eurasia is one single, giant continent, and like India, Europe is merely a subcontinent of it, although the Urals are mere foothills compared with the Himilayas. Culture isn't geography, and the culture of the Indian subcontinent is far more different to its neighbors, China and the Arabs, than that between Europe and it's neighbors. The Arabs and the Europeans worship the same god, for example, and Palestine influenced Europe's religion in much the same way as India did Buddhism in East Asia. On the other hand, North Africa has been part of the shared culture of Asia and Europe rather than of black Africa. Afroeurasia should be regarded as a giant continent with the Mediterranean seen as a gulf within it, just as the Black Sea clearly is within the giant Eurasian subcontinent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.23.224.120 (talk) 22:49, 28 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There used to be an editors' note somewhere here explaining that the divisions are based on the Seven Continent model and since most of Russia lies on the Asian continent it was thrown on that page.

There's many different views of this geography but we went with roughly the techtonic plates/continents model. It's not the only model but for the sake of dividing the World into roughly equal regions of Countries/States so that in the end of the excersise all the subpages are roughly the same size it was done this way (The US has 51 Jurisdictions for example). --Monotonehell 05:32, 29 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Europe/Asia division is problematic. Eurasia is common reference nowaday while Europe, Orient (East Asia), Asia Minor are treated as different "geographical" area. I'm quite sure PC movement would eventally catch on. Vapour

The divisions currently in place are more to have a similar number of countries/states on each subpage. There's at least 7 different schools of thought as to how to divide up the continents continent. This reminds me - I keep forgetting to put a link on the Europe page for Russia. *does such* --Monotonehell 10:11, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thailand

There's some concern with Thailand. I can't find the actual legislation in English, although I suspect it's on this page... [1] there are English translations but not of the penal code so far. Firstly there's Interpol's extracts here. Annoyingly Interpol never cite their sources (very unprofessional) and it looks like Interpol's extracts have been superceeded by a new act Art 279 CC. But I can't find a reliable source (or any source for that). Lending this weight is the fact that the provention and supression of prostitution act and this 1997 admendment to the penal code both have age borders at 15 and 18.

I would simply make the AOC 15 and cite that law however the recent addition of the text below citing the procescution of an adult band member for sex with a 17 year old casts doubt on this. Unless the aledged event occured more than 2 years prior? Can anyone cast any light on this?

- - - to shed some light....first, the female was not 17 as indicated in the main article (17 was her age when she consented to have the baby DNA tested). Secondly, as is frequently the case in the Western world, the lower court conviction was overturned on appeal. Hence, this case is irrelevant. Here's the article from the Bangkok Post:

"Relief for big ass, Firepower trial, Vengeance is tweet, Love boat beckons"

• Published: 4/09/2011 at 12:00 AM • Newspaper section: News

One less pain in the life of Big Ass singer. Big Ass lead singer Ekkarat "Dax" Wongchalard is delighted after the Court of Appeal overturned a March 2007 conviction for sex with a minor, ending a five-year legal battle to clear his name.

READ IT YOURSELF AT: http://webmail.bangkokpost.com/news/local/254889/relief-for-big-ass-firepower-trial-vengeance-is-tweet-love-boat-beckons or you can google keywords "Ekkarat Wongchalard and Bangkok Post".

N0w8st8s (talk) 13:14, 30 December 2011 (UTC)n0w8st8s[reply]

The text I moved from the article According to several websites, the age of consent in Thailand is 15 years of age. If the person is engaged in prostitution, whether in a licensed premises or not, then the age of consent is 18 years ILGA Legal Survey based on 1999 data ^{[citation needed]}

However, the accuracy of this information is questionable. In February 2006 a statutory rape charge was filed against the lead singer of the Thai band Big Ass for allegedly having had sex with a 17 year old girl DNA test clears 'Dag' The Nation, 20 May 2006. --Monotonehell 08:42, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See User_talk:Lerdsuwa#Big_Ass where Lerdsuwa, who lives in Thailand, claims the age of consent is 18. If you can read Thai, you may also be interested in the references given in Big Ass. I will try to contact someone from the Thai Wikipedia to get clarity on this. For now I have restored the text above, since I think it's important that we state what we know and that we counter what might very well be misinformation on a number of websites; also all statements in the given text are properly sourced. AxelBoldt 09:27, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"...For now I have restored the text above, since I think it's important that we state what we know and that we counter what might very well be misinformation on a number of websites..."

That's the point, we don't know anything. The only way we can counter all this conjecture is by citing actual up to date legislation. I can understand how some old references say 13, as that was the law before amended. But the only reference to the amendment Art279CC cites 15 as the current AoC. As it stands we have one citation of law that states 15, and a vague newspaper reference that confuses the issue. This is why I withdrew the section to the talk page. Currently none of the statements are verified and in fact they are contradicting each other. As per established consensus on the Age of consent pages, the prefered reference for law is a citation of the legislation, a link to the same if possible or an extract.

Above I've put a link to the site in Thai that I believe has the Penal Code that we need to verify. Unfortunately I can't read Thai. So if you can get help from That speakers that would be great.

--Monotonehell 10:21, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

*** Talk below is moved from Thai Wikipedia:Talk Main page***

Please excuse my writing in English here. A question came up over in the English Wikipedia at the article about the Thai group Big Ass. The lead singer Dax was accused of having had sex with a 17 year old girl, and statutory rape charges were filed. Our Age of consent in Asia page listed an age of consent for Thailand of 15 (and 18 when prostitution is involved). Is that information correct, or is sex with a person under the age of 18 always illegal in Thailand? Thanks a lot, en:User:AxelBoldt 09:35, 5 มกราคม 2007 (UTC)

OK, I want to know as well so I searched online for information a little bit. I cannot find anything that talks about "Age of consent" or its concept directly. From what I found, I semi-conclude the age of consent is 15 based on the criminal law #277. It mentions about rape under 15 years old girl^[1] either forcibly or not can result in 4-20 years of prison, 8,000-40,000 baht or both. There are however other related laws which Big Ass is charged for (and also other special cases and so forth). Based on #283 it states that anyone who take away the person from 15 to 18 years ago and perform obscene? (I believe it could tranlate to rape or Statutory rape) can result in max of 7 years in jail, max of 10,000 baht or both .... Hmm.. may be someone else with expertise with Thai laws can help you --Jutiphan | พูดคุย - 11:51, 5 มกราคม 2007 (UTC)

*** Talk above is moved from Thai Wikipedia:Talk Main page*** --Jutiphan 12:12, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Criminal law #283 must be the one. Do we have an English or Thai version of that article, maybe at [2]? It is now also confirmed that the girl was 16 years old when the alleged sex act took place that lead to the recent high-profile case against the prominent Big Ass lead singer. AxelBoldt 19:00, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As I always heard from the media, they always say that the age of consent in Thailand is 18. And my understanding is that prostitution in Thailand is illegal ? --Manop - TH 23:18, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

After I've done some research, I got the conclusion that the age of consent in Thailand is 15. It was changed from 13 to 15 in 1987 (the Criminal Law 8th edition, 1 September 1987). For the semi-prostitution (since it's illegal in Thailand), the age is 18. In the BigAss case, it seems to me that it's kind of prostitution but the media never talked about this. --Manop - TH 00:04, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since this is discussed so much. I will try to get the article about this started in Thai Wikipedia --Jutiphan 01:57, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I just wrote an article about this in Thai. Hopefully once people see it may comment and make corrective changes to it --Jutiphan 03:28, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I copied the following from User talk:Lerdsuwa who first documented the affair on Big Ass. AxelBoldt 18:22, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I can only find Thai version. The full criminal law is at http://www.kodmhai.com/m2/m2-2/thailaw2-2.html and the relevant section about sexual abuse is at this page: http://www.kodmhai.com/m2/m2-2/m2-309-321.html for Section 317 (age not over 15, with or without consent), 318 (age 15-18 without consent) and 319 (age 15-18 with consent)

Section 317 Those who takes child age not over 15 years old from parent or guardian, 3-15 years sentence and 6000-30000 baht fine. This includes those who buys, sells or acquires child obtained via the earlier means. If it's for profit or obscenity, 5-20 years sentence and 10000-40000 baht fine.
Section 318 Those who takes child age over 15 but not over 18 years old from parent or guardian without child's consent, 2-10 years sentence and 4000-20000 baht fine. This includes those who buys, sells or acquires child obtained via the earlier means. If it's for profit or obscenity, 3-15 years sentence and 6000-30000 baht fine.
Section 319 Those who takes child age over 15 but not over 18 years old from parent or guardian with child's consent for profit or obscenity, 2-10 years sentence and 4000-20000 baht fine. This includes those who buys, sells or acquires child obtained via the earlier means.

-- Lerdsuwa 16:43, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are these sections above speaking about age of consent or; prostitution and child trafficing? Because these are separate issues, unless the Thai law enforcement agencies are (mis)interpreting them to apply in any and all cases. --Monotonehell 03:40, 7 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it seems to hinge on the interpretation of the term "obscenity" in 319. Does this refer to ordinary sexual intercourse, or does it mean something like pornography, prostitution or extraordinary sex acts?

Also, we should look at a translation of 283 that was mentioned above. AxelBoldt 22:04, 7 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

From what I've seen so far it looks like the article needs to be worded something like this;

"The age of consent in Thailand is 15, (cite referrence to legislation) however the laws regarding protitution and obsenity are often interpreted by the local authorities in such a manner as to ostensibly make the age of consent 18 (cite referrences supporting this here)."

Or something similar, once we have worked out all the legislation and issues involved. It seems like it's a complex one. That's why I moved the section from the article to here initially. --Monotonehell 02:07, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It should be noted that in cases of prostitution, the age of consent is 18 based on 282 and 283. OK I see it's already included. --Jutiphan 18:33, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

For completeness of discussion, here is a rough translation of other sections from http://www.kodmhai.com/m2/m2-2/m2-276-287.html . It was not given above in Big Ass discussion because the victim still lived with parent and the stiffer section 319 applies. (Child's parent(s) is also counted as crime victim.) Section 317-319 is in the part about crime against freedom. The sections below are under crime against sex.

Section 277 Those who has sex with girl age not over 15 years old who is not own wife, with or without consent, 4-20 years sentence and 8000-40000 baht fine.
If girl's age is not over 13 years old, 7-20 years sentence and 14000-40000 baht find or life sentence.
If it's gang rape or done with weapon, sentence to life.
For those who has sex with girl age over 13 but not over 15 years old with consent and later the court allows marriage between the male and the girl, offender do not have to penalized. If the court allows marriage while the male is jailed, he will be released.
Section 277bis for offense according to Section 277 clause 1 and 2 causing the victim
- to be severely injured, 15-20 years sentence and 30000-40000 baht fine, or life sentence
- to be dead, death sentence or life sentence.
Section 277tri ... (like Section 277bis but for gang rape or with weapon, harsher penalty.)
Section 283bis Those who bring child age over 15 but not over 18 years old for obscenity, with or without consent, sentenced not exceeding 5 years, or fined not over 10000 baht, or both fined and sentenced. This offence can be settled by both sides.
Those who bring child age over 15 but not over 18 years old for obscenity, with or without consent, sentenced not exceeding 5 years, or fined not over 10000 baht, or both fined and sentenced.

(Section 282, 283 are for those who arrange the sex trade, again stiffer penalty for those under 18 and under 15.)

As far as I know, prostitution is not legal. But it isn't enforced because many women rely on it for living. Can't say this for girls/boys not over 18 years old though. Here are some more news for references:

-- Lerdsuwa 09:06, 16 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I wish my reply can help you to clarify these topics.

First Topic: Age of Consent

In my opinion, Offences relating to sexuality of the Thailand Penal Code are composed of 5 concepts :-

Concept of general sexual abuse
Concept of youth sexual abuse (Age of Consent is showed indirectly from this concept.)
Concept of parental power avoidance
Concept of trafficking
Concept of pornography

These concepts are separate issues but still in the same code.

The concept of prostitution is not directly showed in the code, however, it is stated in The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 (a strict law) and The Entertainment Places Act of 1996.

So, let's separate the above cited sections in this discussion page into the group of concepts:-

Concept of general sexual abuse: Section278
Concept of youth sexual abuse: Section277, Section277bis, Section277tri, Section279, Section283bis*
Concept of parental power avoidance: Section283bis*
Concept of trafficking: Section282, Section283
Concept of pornography

* Section283bis is recently added into the Thai Penal Code in 1997. It is not yet determined that which concepts is the ground of this section. In my opinion, the concept of youth sexual abuse is manipulating behind this section.

** Section 317, 318, 319 are offenses against Liberty and Reputation. So they would not be considered in the topic of the Age of Consent.

If we accept that Age of Consent derive from the concept of youth sexual abuse, only Section277 (Section277bis, Section277tri), Section279, and Section283bis would be considered.

*** So, The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 would not be involved with the Age of Consent. Because of it does not depend on the Concept of youth sexual abuse.

Section277, Section277bis, Section277tri, and Section279 show that child who is not yet over fifteen, is not old enough to decide whether he/she should agree to have sex with other person who is not his/her spouse.

While, Section283bis indicate that person who is over fifteen but not yet eighteen, is not old enough to decide whether he/she should agree to be taken away for indecent act by other person.

In conclusion, Although Thailand's age of consent is usually said to be 15 (Section277,279), the laws can be interpreted to allow prosecution for sex with someone under 18 (Section 283bis).

Second Topic: Case of the Lead Singer and Prostitute

In the case of the lead singer "Dax" of the Thai band Big Ass, He had sex with a 16 years old girl. Thus, He was charged under section 283bis and 319.(Reference to accusation of Dax - in Thai).The girl who had sex with him is not considered as prostitute in this case.

Third Topic: Prostitution Status in Thailand

In the beginning, There was The Prostitution Suppression Act of 1960. Customers are protected since they have a right to buy sexual satisfaction as part of long-standing Thai tradition. There was no penalty for customers and only a minor penalty for the prostitute.

This law was passed in 1960 partly as the result of UN pressure. The Act replaced the Contagious Diseases Prevention Act 1908, which aimed to control prostitution. The Act provided that convicted prostitutes should be reformed through medical treatment and a period not exceeding one year in an assistance centre where they were to receive vocational training.

Then, The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 a very strict law was enacted that makes it a serious crime to engage a prostitute, if she is under age 18. The Act also helps the prostitute who is not over 18 year of age who shall receive protection and vocational development for a period not over 2 years

However, in 1966, when the Government was seeking to increase state revenue from the "Rest and Recreation" activities of the US armed forces stationed in Vietnam, the Entertainment Places Act was also enacted. It paved the way for sexual services under the guise of special services to be legalized in entertainment places. The Entertainment Places Act is still in force,sexual services is available in a number of forms, in the guise of “special services” if they are offered at entertainment places, such as bars, go-go's, massage places, etc.

Finally, consenting prostitution is illegal in Thailand (although only officially, not in practice). --Vetbook (talk) 21:46, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Age of prostitution now 20 in Thailand?

This quite a controvery and the fact that local authorities may be interpreting the 15 to 18 part of the law in their own interests in contradictory ways complicates the matter also. In my experience it is common knowledge to me from Thais on the street that the non-prostitutional age of consent is 15 and even the age of 18 for prostition seems to have changed to 20 in recent years. I have no idea if this is the national law or perhaps local council regulations as councils do regulate gogo bars and this 20 age was true in Pattaya a couple of years ago: ~2004. I am surpised that with all the Thai usernames I see on the postings here this and the 15 years controversy hasnt been adequately resolved yet. Mattjs 15:20, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest two things:

(1) In the interests of discouraging under age sex and child prostitution in compliance with the CRC etc (United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child including another on child pornography and prostitution) that we keep the age of consent in the Prostitution in Thailand article as it stands at 18 (or 20 see below) whatever the other age of consent line of articles may or may not say about a non-prositution age of 15 as for virtually all visitors or tourists the legal age will be 18 and perhaps as I have indicated now 20. Mattjs 15:20, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

(2) Contact someone like EMPOWER an NGO who are not just adult prositution neutral but sex worker rights pro-active (both as i am) so they should indeed have all the answers from practical experience operating on the street with their clients. I am tempted to email them seeking the answers - particularly given this new 20 year question - and providing links here and asking them to contribute as they can certainly provide a sex workers perspectives to the Prostitution in Thailand article. Regards, Mattjs 15:20, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It would be great if we can get some clarification on this issue. The information I have I only found by a lot of digging around. Not being able to read Thai I can't go to the government's site that I mentioned above to read the legislation directly, so I'm forced to go to third party translations. Please note that we need direct citation of legislation and if possible translations of the relevent sections to verify any claims we make in the article.

It's also important that we do separate the age of consent information from the prostitution information. Normally the articles in the AoC group do not speak about prostitution at all. However if the local authorities are using these laws to charge consentual acts above the age of 15 then as a side note we should include the fact.

Where did this age of 20 come from? I haven't seen that anywhere in my research as yet. --Monotonehell 15:47, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The 20 comes form my practical experience on the gorund from the mouth of the many thai bar girls and bars in Pattaya around two years ago (~2004). Go there, phone there, or talk to someone like EMPOWER unless they have changed it again. This may be specific to Pattaya alone I have no absolutely no idea but reason I mentioned local councils.

One last point, and I know only a little about the Big Ass case as does everyone else it seems, one may take it as an anomaly. Perhaps the laws are deliberately, even politically phrased, so that they can then be at times interpreted and used to the advantage of certain vested interests as this is very typical Thai politics. This is only amplified by the fact that the case never went to court as the charges were dropped so therefore no legal precedent was ever set and so the Big Ass case should then be taken with a grain of salt. Other cases and local council antics that actually lead to prosecutions would be of interest. Its a shame we dont get enough real experts on subjects like this at Wikipedia - an english speaking Thai lawyer who has actually worked on under age sex cases would have all the answers here and since this sort of thing is fairly wide spread in Thailand should be alot of case law. Although gain I would be circumspect about cases at the lowest level of the Thai courts until they have made it up several rungs of the hierarchy on appeal. In the same vien though perhaps only those cases that are politically motivated i.e. with a politcal sponsor actually get to court and through the courts as bribery and influence can prevent them ever seeing the light of day... bummer ... guess this could mean we will never have a defintive answer on the 15 to 18 (or 15-20?) range.

Maybe, where the prostitution age is mentioned at all then the "politics" or influence and corruption and the controversy surrounding should be menitoned as well in any article that refers to thsi age. Mattjs 15:57, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is it confirmed that the Big Ass case has been dropped? If so, then this should be documented on Big Ass and would provide yet more evidence that the 15/18 age-of-consent is correct. Was there every any allegation of prostitution in the Big Ass case? AxelBoldt 23:51, 13 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes a mention of the 15-18 age controversy given the wide "offensive behaviour" interpretation should be mentioned. Given that any foriegner sleeping with a 15 - 18 year old may be taken by the thai authorities as sex for money purely by virtue of being a tourist regardless of whether any money or kind is offered. In this case suggesting a 15 year age rather than 18 (or 20) could be disingenius without elaborating upon this issue. I think I have made a valid and sigificant point here but dont worry as I have no axe to grind. BUT if I were a foriegner (as i am) I would want to know this full story. For this reason alone my conclusion is that it is just not worth emphasing this 15 year old age. Mattjs 16:05, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

So what you're saying is the article is good how it stands? --Monotonehell 17:10, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Except for (and without any case law to verify the following): the 20 years..., and the risk of 15 possibley being applicable to Thai nationals only (with even the partners needing to be seemingly of verisimilar ages given the "offensive behavour" type wording of the statutes and suggestion from the Big Ass thing) and therefore very risky for a non-thai foriegn national, Yes. All this will might even be influenced - but now I am entirely guessing - by an "age of marriage" law that is lower or non existent one has to remember that there are hill tribes or native peoples who for all I know - again guessing - might even marry at a very young age like 13... All very complicated stuff. "age of marriage" is not the same as "age of consent" as I have learned and often undermines the latter as you may be aware (this is an issue I have learnt of from a loophole I have discovered in the extra-terrirotrial Australian Child Sex Tourism laws). Some countries - e.g. some moslem ones as an example - have a very young "age of marriage" indeed. 220.240.58.190 17:55, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This group of articles are not concerned with Marriageable age except where it dictates age of consent (eg in places where sex outside marriage is illegal). Nor are they concerned with prostitution, again except where it dictates age of consent (as it looks like it may do in Thailand). What we need are concrete references to actual laws and practices in Thailand (and most of the other entries on this page). Unfortunately non-verified conversations someone had with a local in a bar and speculation do not meet wikipedia's verify guidelines. --Monotonehell 18:10, 11 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

On the contrary it is _all_ local female sex workers at _all_ bars in Pattaya Thailand who if they have an answer to the question will reply with 20 and is entirely verifiable with a phone call to police or visit there. I do suspect though that it may well be a local council by-law as there is significant regulation particularly in Pattaya and it might even just be the bar or liquor license that prohibits sex workers under 20... I will endeavour to find out more and contact someone like EMPOWER etc. If I visit again the near future I will get hard copy evidence. BUT you are right little of this is relevant here rather in Prostitution in Thailand and other places... 220.240.58.190 08:41, 12 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The article on Soi Cowboy (Bangkok) documents the signs at all these gogo bars: "no one inside below the age of 20". This seems to be a regulation on the age of people allowed in these places and unrelated to age-of-consent issues. It seems understandable that any woman working in such a bar will state her age as 20 or above. AxelBoldt 23:51, 13 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

So much on this. About 20, it is the now the minimum age to go to bars and stuff, but not related to age of consent or age of marriage or anything like that. Don't get confused. --Jutiphan 23:38, 14 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thailand second issue

What wrong with the sentence that "age of consent in Thailand - misunderstood - for women only," clarify please. --Manop - TH 06:17, 9 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh sorry! I forgot to include that in the rewrite. I was going to ask, do you have any referrences that back up this claim? Thanks for reminding me. I'll put the point back in. --Monotonehell 08:12, 9 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since the past, "Boy" has already taken in as a meaning of "Child" in Thai Penal Code, such as Section 279, But has not been included in "Girl", like Section 277, 282, 283, 284.

Nowadays, there are many amendment acts that revised "Girl" to be "Child". Thus, all of the youth sexual prevention sections would also cover "Boy" in protection.

Reference:

The Penal Code Amendment Act (No.14) B.E.2540 (1997) Revising Section 282-284.

The Penal Code Amendment Act (No.19) B.E.2550 (2007) Revising Section 277.

The Penal Code Amendment Act (No.20) B.E.2550 (2007) Revising Section 277bis-277tri.

--Vetbook (talk) 23:02, 3 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please Add Singapore

What I just said! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 124.183.122.166 (talk) 06:23, 25 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Do you have any information regarding Singapore's AoC laws, citations of those laws, and links to online copies of that legislation? If so please add it. If not demanding others do it isn't helpful. If we had this information already it would be here. --Monotonehell 11:17, 25 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay now I'm confused, you already have added it? --Monotonehell 11:20, 25 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Malaysian age of consent

I'm adding the age of consent for Malaysia. My reference is the following report from Interpol:

http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaMalaysia.pdf --Pavithran 18:39, 30 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Japan

On the interpol site linked in that section it pretty clearly states the article 177 of Japanese law sets the Age of Consent at 13 not 10, I'm changing that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.179.37.86 (talk) 14:53, 18 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Someone thought it funny to say age of consent in Japan was 3. Obviously, as stated 5 months ago it's 3. I'm changing it yet again.Nadiasama (talk) 05:28, 12 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

India

quoted my comments from Image talk:AOCWorldMap.png

http://www.avert.org/aofconsent.htm Age of consent in india is 16.. Lately(2006-2007) some amendment was proposed(to raise to 18), but not implemented yet(for best of my knowledge).

Give a look here, Age_of_consent_reform#Kerala.2C_India, saying that it was 16 earlier. But article age of consent says india is 18 years and interpol site, Thanks. Lara_bran 10:40, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

News dated nov 2006 says age of consent is 16. [3] Lara_bran 10:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It is here: http://ncw.nic.in/legal_amendments_proposed.htm these were proposed, but not sure if it is passed. See [4] this link appearing in that page. Thanks. Lara_bran 10:51, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

it was proposed amendment of "Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2006", i could not follow any more. help would be appreciated. Lara_bran 11:01, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Only this source says age of consent is 18 [5] . and this source existed in 2001 [6] which is outright contradiction and false. Changed india's age of consent to 16 Lara_bran 13:38, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

South Korea

May I ask why reference 81 for South Korea refers to North Korean Law? The [Not-So] Democratic Republic of Korea is North Korea while The Republic of Korea is South Korea

Please remove reference 81 from South Korea and transfer it to North Korea. Also, the ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE actually does supersede Criminal Law in Practical usage (Maybe it can be written so?) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 106.249.210.242 (talk) 01:06, 13 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think the age of consent in Korea is 13. The article referenced seems to say between 13 and 18 is off-limits. 59.17.15.135 (talk) 15:53, 24 June 2008 (UTC) Sorry, wanted to sign this properly (didn't realize I wasn't logged in) Darkpoet (talk) 15:56, 24 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

According to SMPA (Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency), it is illegal to have sex with anyone under 19, western age. http://www.smpa.go.kr/smpa2007/bbs/board/viewMain.asp?code=for_eng&num=120&page=31&s=&c=&sort=&sk=&print= . The site used as the source for South Korea is unsourced itself. This is not a verified fact.Tarkaan (talk) 09:12, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I hate to say that but that source you are using is a forum kind of like any forum people can put opinions. Someone tried to use that for another website as a source, it was found to be faulty. So far there is no real site that defines age of sex there. The locals say that it is parent's choice what is consenting age. As for a legal age of consent, I think there once was a website from the government that did say 13, it was not a forum.--Truthfulchat (talk) 12:56, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The only thing I could find is consent of marriage. That is 16, so I assume the sex consent age would be the same. http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?q=consent+south+korea&d=GenderStat&f=inID%3a19%3bcrID%3a109%2c126%2c79.--Truthfulchat (talk) 13:11, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the official age of consent is 13, regardless of the sex of the victim and the offender. The article 305 of the criminal law of South Korea explicitly states that. But the authority tends to be very strict on applying the law when minors are involved - it is very difficult to prove that minors involved in the activity were completely voluntarily. So practically if an adult has sexual activity with a minor over 13, once prosecuted, one will be pretty likely to be convicted. I guess this is where all the confusion came from. I updated the wiki article and added a reference link (it's in Korean though). --Anonyguru (talk) 23:09, 3 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Section 305 of the Criminal Law lost its validity because the ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE supersedes the Section 305 of the Criminal Law.^[2]^[3] According to the ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE, the age of consent in South Korea is 19 years of age by date of birth and it is about 20 years of age by Korean age reckoning^[3]^[4] The punishment is penal labor for the duration that exceeds 5 years.^[2]^[3] According to the Article 2 Verse 1 of the ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE, a person who is under 19 years of age is considered a juvenile^[2]^[3] and according to the Article 7 Verse 5 of the ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE, if a person engages in a sexual intercourse with a juvenile by force or deception, it is considered rape.^[2]^[3] The phrase "by force" is an ambiguous translation of Korean word "Wi-Ryeok(위력)" According to Supreme Court precedents, the word "Wi-Ryeok" means : being physically stronger, or being older, or having more money, or being a government employee, or having anything that can put a person in a better position than a juvenile.^[5] For example, if a person who is older than a juvenile engages in a sexual intercourse with the juvenile, it is considered rape.^[2]^[3] In Korean language, the Korean word "Gan-Eum(간음)" can be translated to either "rape" or "adultery".^[6] In the original Korean text, Article 7 Verse 5 says: if a person with "Wi-Ryeok" commits "Gan-Eum" with a juvenile, it is considered rape.^[3] The closest translation of this sentence is this : If a person (who is stronger than a juvenile, or older than a juvenile, or richer than a juvenile, or a government employee, or in a better position than a juvenile) commits adultery with a juvenile, it is considered rape. Westerners have hard time understanding the exact meaning of the word "Wi-Ryeok" because the common translation of "Wi-Ryeok" is "force" but in western culture, being older or being senior has nothing to do with "force." Furthermore, the word "Gan-Eum" is often translated to "rape" but this word also includes "adultery" in its meaning. Consequently, even though the ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE clearly states that: it is considered rape when a person who is older than a juvenile engages in a sexual intercourse with the juvenile,^[3] many westerners are misinformed about this law because of the ambiguous translations. And also ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE clearly states that a person who is under 19 years of age is considered a juvenile. (Korean age reckoning is never used in South Korean laws therefore the age of consent in South Korea is 20 in Korean age)^[3] In South Korea, the judges have right to interpret the law and this is how the majority of the judges interpret the ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE.^[5]

^ www.lawonline.co.th/Document/code330.doc
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "국가법령정보센터". http://www.law.go.kr/. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
^ ":::: 법률지식정보시스템 ::::".
^ ^a ^b "대법원 종합법률정보 서비스".
^ "간음".

Please write down your reasons for changing what I wrote. I am a lawyer from South Korea and I have some experience in statutory rape cases.

305

305 never lost it's validity. If it did, they would remove it. Here is the actual wording from the new law that applies to 305, it has absolutely nothing to do with changing the law and only to do with clarifying terms.

Article 16 (Victims' Intentions)
Notwithstanding Article 306 of the Criminal Act, public prosecution may be initiated for any of the following offenses committed against children or juveniles, even though no complaint is filed by the victims thereof: Provided, That no public prosecution of the offense defined in Articles 10 (1), 11 and 12 of the Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment, etc. of Victims of Sexual Crimes against a child or juvenile shall be initiated against a victim's express intention: <Amended by Act No. 10260, Apr. 15, 2010> 1. Offenses as defined in Article 7;
2. Offenses as defined in Articles 297 through 300, 302, 303 and 305 of the Criminal Act;

This particular section refers to what is known as a personal crime in Korea. Personal crimes require that the victim consent to a police investigation. This meant that even if someone broke a law and raped a minor, the police could not charge them unless the victim consented. This removes that part of the law and allows the police to charge them regardless of the victim's wishes. It does not add or change any other existing laws.

Article 2 (Definitions)
The terms used in this Act shall be defined as follows: <Amended by Act Nos. 10258 & 10260, Apr. 15, 2010> 1. The term children and/or juveniles means persons under 19 years of age: Provided, That persons for whom the first day of January of the year in which they reach 19 years of age has arrived shall be excluded; 2. The term sex offenses against children or juveniles means offenses falling under any of the following subparagraphs: (a) Offenses as defined in Articles 7 through 12 (excluding those defined in Article 8 (4)); (b) Offenses against children or juveniles as defined in Articles 3 through 10 and 14 of the Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment, etc. of Victims of Sexual Crimes; (c) Offenses against children or juveniles as defined in Articles 297
through 301, 301-2, 302, 303, 305 and 339 of the Criminal Act;

This is also where article 305 is mentioned. What this new article is doing is helping to define terms. It neither adds nor modifies any offenses only clarifies definitions of terms. Many people who have read these two things seem to think it means that the things defined in 2(C) are somehow changed when all it's doing is saying that the term applies to those laws. The confusion has come mostly from people incapable of properly parsing English/Legalese..even though the legalese really isn't complicated.--211.215.156.184 (talk) 10:49, 30 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

and you can see from here that article 305 is still valid, and on the books. If the law had been replaced, modified or superseded the law would be struck out and removed. The law also indicates that it was updated in 2012 which is after the other law came out in 2010-2011.[7] search for article 305 to find the text I'll quote here:

A person who has sexual intercourse with another who is under thirteen years of age or commits an indecent act on such person shall be punished under Article 297, 297-2, 298, 301, or 301-2. <Amended by Act No. 5057, Dec. 29, 1995; Act No. 11574, Dec. 18, 2012>

--211.215.156.184 (talk) 00:24, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sex offences are NOT personal crimes in Korea anymore since June 2013. In Japan,rape is no more a personal crime if committed by multiple offenders. There are also the following differences now: 1)Suspect is assumed guilty unless the suspect proves himself to be innocent.This is extremely difficult even for high profile persons; the so-called "letter of consent" does not constitute a legal document anyway. 2)Megan's law,forced chemical castrations, lengthened custody terms up to 15 years, publishing name and photo on media even before final conviction.(multiple jeopardy),prohibition of holding jobs for 10 years, showing up on police stations for having height,weight and all-side photos(to be fed into the nationwide interconnected CCTV system) each year. failure to show up is pubishable for up to 1 year in jail.Neighbors are notified per snail mail that the specified sex offender lives nearby, together with address,photos,body size etc. This has resulted in lynching which is highly encouraged by the government. 1) and 2) would not stand constitutional challenge in most other countries,especially those of Continental Law jurisdictions. (prohibition of multiple jeopardy, prohibition of retroactive law application ,curel and unusual punishment etc) 3)Laws are broadly interpreted instead of strictly according to the letters of the book. 4)If victim is under 16 years, the jail terms are at least 10 years up to life in prison without possibility of parole,suspended sentence or reduction of term due to exemplary behavior as a prisoner,which means effective death penalty(as Korea does not carry out executions anymore). 5)Under 13 years: mostly life sentences.No statute of limitations, retroactive law application happened at least once. 6)Proportionality: Instead of issuing sentences proportionally to the nature and severity of an offence, the maximum possible punishment is taken.A teacher got 10 years in jail for having sex with a girl who was 18 full years old. Murderers without prior convictions get 5-7 years only, 7)Convicitions without physical evidence ,just relying on statements. This is why Korean jails have become overcrowded,together with lengtehing of jail sentenced by 2-3 times. In addition. sexual offences against those under 19 years are no more personal crimes since 2008. Article 305 was superseded in July 2000 with the introduction of the youth sex protection act. The law in the penal code remains in the book for cases on which the statute of limitations are not over yet and, (for example: cases that happened before 1991 for which Megan's law is not applicable,Statute of limitations in the applicable cases start when victim turns 18.This is the same in Germany) in case the new law becomes unconstitutional as a result of constitutional appeal, to fall back to the old law. Let's assume that the laws of 2000,2008 and 2013 become unconstitutional for some reason and Article 305 was struck out for some reason. Then the court can do nothing unless it is a case of child abduction,seduction, forcing to sex etc which applied to the age of 18. Cases in which older men walked away freely after having sex with minors have been extremely rare in Korea, due to the complexity of laws and the way they are enforced.The situation is totally different from Japan(where things have changed recently as well, although not as draconian as in Korea) or some other countries. The following rules apply when enforcing laws: 1)Special laws precede general laws(특별법 우선의 원칙)-here, the order of precedence is "성폭력 처벌 특례법(2013)">"아청법">"청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(July 2000)" >Penal code(1953). 2)New laws precede old laws-same precedence as in 1) 3)Internal treaties precede national laws(not applicable here,most Koreans oppose this)

The entire article here is outdated, even in the case of other countries. Many countries, especially in Latin America, have multiple ages of consent and thus the highest should be that one that applies, NOT the minimum age. In practice,the law almost never applies to everyone equally,in the way it appears to be written. I have also checked about the situation in Japan ,the only country in the world where sexual offences are still perswonal crimes. The age of consent there is now 18 full(Western) years, and this will be the answer if you ask any one at the hotel desk, police, education authorities or adult service providers. Meanwhile, the age "13" in Korea has been changed to 16 recently. A teacher received 10 years jail for having sex with a 18 year old girl, which is higher than murder(mostly 5-7 years unless aggravated). This would not constitrute a criminal offense anywhere else ,maybe just disciplinary actions. This suggests that the minimum age in Korea will become 19 years instead of 16 now at some point in the future. The real world is not a college campus, it is a legal minefield,especially in British law jurisdictions like US,Canada,Singapore or (now) Korea. Things in the court don't run the way laws seem to be written-ask any practicing lawyer. For lenient sentences or walking away freely, a preior connection of the lawyer with the judge("전관 예우")is required. There have been similar things going on wrt age of consent, just Korea has gone the most extreme and somewhat unusual way.

Conclusion: Absolute minimum age in Korea now 16, with general age of consent being 19.No more personal crime for under 19 since 2008,

          for all ages since June 2013.

In Japan, minimum (federal) age still 13 but local /new/special laws precede, age of consent now 18. Still a personal crime for over 13.

         I am not a Japanes and I am not in a position to judge whether their laws are right or wrong. It is up to the Japanese people 
         to decide about it.

Please check for other countries as well. Wiki articles are not accurate to the real situations, as I checked with people of other countries. Wiki even says that a tyrain station now dismantled and turned into a car road is still an unmanned station. This article is a good example of the problems inherent in Wiki generally. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.87.15.105 (talk) 09:33, 10 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Supreme Court Decision

There is now a Supreme Court Decision where they overturned a double guilty verdict into NOT guilty. http://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2014112314012395858&type=1 It specifically makes it clear that the original law of article 305 is in effect and age of consent is truly 13 in Korea. And the later law of article 7(5) ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE has to clearly prove the "force/authority" that adult supposedly used to take advantage of a juvenile. Just being older by age, is not enough. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.192.52.180 (talk) 06:45, 13 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Though I fully expect lower courts to continue to make mistakes with this law and I think it would be crucial to get the contradicting information of this new law into actual article too. Nobody should engage in sexual activity with a juvenile under 19 at the moment in Korea thinking they're protected by law. Technically they are, but they're most likely looking years of legal battles because even courts themselves don't understand the law. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.192.52.180 (talk) 06:49, 13 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Image used

The information in the image is inconsistent with the information following the article. Could we change or remove the image? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.60.241.153 (talk) 12:41, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Afghanistan

The Afghan entry currently states "but this is ignored by the police" and yet the reference after that statement does not, I believe, back up the statement - and merely confirms that the AoC is 16. I plan to move the reference tag to follow the statement of AoC - however I have not removed the offending statement without the possibility of discussion. MrMikeEsq (talk) 22:08, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Currently the Afghnistan entry is a mess. It lists that sex is illegal outside of marriage, but does not state how old you need to be married, so it is not very informative. The two references listed also do not seem to be relevant, perhaps they were changed since they were added in the past? One is AIDSPortal which doesn't even mention Afghanistan, and the other is a link to Iran which only mentions Afghanistan once, in regards to border security, nothing to do with marriage or laws. So we really need to find new references and more thorough information about it. You'd think since it's been occupied for years by American/Canadian/English troops we would have an idea by now. Bonechamber (talk) 03:49, 19 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yemen

After posting this message, I will amend the section on Yemen, as, the citation provided^[1] does not link to an article on the topic.

^ 8-year-old girl asks for divorce in court - law in Yemen http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1145&p=front&a=2

I see on preview that another reference (www.lawonline.co.th/Document/code330.doc) shows up from the citation I copied and pasted here from the article. I can only assume this arises from the coding of the citation I've pasted, and maybe it's a way to find the original citation. I did try, but to no avail. Nevertheless, it may prove a useful url for someone to explore.

Regarding the original citation, while Google searches bring up returns for a search using the phrase "8-year-old girl asks for divorce in court" they pertain to the case of Nujood Ali. However, she was apparently 10 years old when she sought divorce, per references.

I have also been unable to find any specific citation for the claim about article 15, so will amend the text accordingly. Regards Wotnow (talk) 02:35, 8 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Map

Half of the countries on the map have the wrong color, especially in Africa. Someone needs to go carefully through Ages of consent in Africa, Ages of consent in Asia, Ages of consent in Europe, Ages of consent in North America and Ages of consent in South America and correct the map. Or better, create a new map, the colors on this map are problematic, as they are barely distinguishable (eg 13, 14 are nearly the same on the map). The map cannot stay any longer in such a state. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.25.170.51 (talk) 10:28, 9 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A map only for Asia would be helpful for this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.25.27.111 (talk) 15:37, 8 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Philippines

Sex with a child under 12 is considered rape. There are several laws dealing with children 12-18 but they are complex and subject to interpretation.2A02:2F0A:504F:FFFF:0:0:BC19:A0A5 (talk) 01:28, 2 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Anon 2A02, you removed the section as "unsourced", but in fact it has several sources (one is a dead link, which I tagged). Your personal opinion is not sufficient reason to delete. Provide challenges to the sources here and wait for discussion; otherwise leave it alone. Cresix (talk) 17:39, 30 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am curious why INTERPOL determines the age of sexual consent in the Philippines? Does INTERPOL determine the sex laws for all nations? Or just the Philippines? Further, if only the Philippines, why?184.155.134.43 (talk) 18:17, 22 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Age of Consent in India

An issue has been raised that the age of consent in India is now 18 per [8] and [9]. To prevent an edit war please discuss this change here :-) ♥ Solarra ♥ ^{♪ Talk ♪} ߷ _{♀ Contribs ♀} 12:13, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well the age of consent in India is now 18, it was recently changed. There are plenty of sources:

[10]

[[11]]

[12]

[13]

I tried to update the article, but I was reverted three times and received hostile messages on my talk pages, so I'm done. If somebody else wants to update the article, they can do it, but personally I won't make any change any more.188.25.27.35 (talk) 12:31, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Since there are verifiable sources presented from The Huffington Post and LA Times and any others, there's no reason for this to be reverted and changed again to the previous revision. But I see that the revert was just a misunderstanding because maybe he doesn't know much about these things. Just give the editor considerations. Should we add the new age of consent in India as 18 instead of 16? Mediran (t • c) 12:45, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Age of Consent at 16 years never practically came into existence. It was reverted back to 18 after stiff opposition. I suggest immediate reversion to 18. TheStrike Σagle 13:40, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Japan Child Welfare Law

I undid this edit, the only edit of the suspiciously-named XxAntiOtakuXX (talk · contribs), as the paragraph is not supported by the reference and contradicts other sources. Here it is:

However in April 1999 the Japanese parliament wrote into law The Child Welfare Act which changed the age of consent to 18 and the age of majority to the age of 20. (The Child Welfare Act [1999] Articles 2 and 3 respectively) It also restated that the legal age of marriage to be no less than 16 for females and 18 for males but only after parental consent. ^[1]

^ http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail_main?id=11&vm=2

—Ashley Y 01:59, 30 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Israel

In Israel, although sex with a child under age 16 (with the child's consent) is illegal, it's only rape if the child is under age 14. Having sex with a 14- or 15-year-old child is considered "בעילה אסורה בהסכמה" (forbidden sex with consent). עוד מישהו Od Mishehu 13:58, 21 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Japan revisited

This recent edit was made by an anon user and I think brings up a topic worthy of examining. While not formatted correctly, the IP address of the user is indeed Japanese and the link provided to the Japanese Wikipedia ("Obscenity ordinance") appears to corroborate the claim. Furthermore, it was my long time suspicion that this was the case in Japan, i.e. that the national law set a certain age but all the individual prefectures/states/local government within the nation set it much higher, just as the United States has no age of consent per se, but all 50 states do. If anyone has any ability to read Japanese I would appreciate your help in verifying this information.Legitimus (talk) 12:53, 15 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Found some English-language publications from the Japanese government for the national law; did some clean up accordingly. Also was able to stumble awkwardly through other Cabinet Office sources using Google Translate. It sounds, from the parts I can decipher, to corroborate the changes. Source added to the article.Legitimus (talk) 20:19, 15 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Examining Google's translation of the JA article, the situation seems to be a bit more complicated. The prefectural "obscenity ordinances" do not seem to have any close-in-age exceptions, but they do seem to exempt sex in the context of a "sincere dating relationship" or an engagement. Poking around the web for "淫行条例" suggested that parental approval was a big factor in the case law for making this determination. Obviously, attention from someone familiar with Japanese law would be helpful. Pretty much all English-language sources of the web derive from here. Saint-Exubérant (talk) 10:12, 22 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a source that is more-or-less readable when Google-translated, that seems to agree: http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2138268709849051801 Saint-Exubérant (talk) 09:09, 23 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That source does not appear to be very reliable though. It looks like a blog or similar unofficial/unprofessional sites. I know that there are numerous, uncountable sites about American age of consent law that are flat out wrong and based only on rumor or conjecture. "Parental approval" is actually a red flag of this topic because it is commonly believed to be part of US law too, when in fact no such law exists. People might simply get the mistaken impression that it's law because it's usually the parent that contacts authorities to report it, rather than the child themselves (who, by the very nature of such matters, is going to have a distorted appraisal of the situation).Legitimus (talk) 12:39, 23 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

OK, the exemption for "sincere dating" can be found on the Japanese page. As for parental consent, I believe consent for or approval of the relationship is simply considered sufficient evidence that it is "sincere dating". It doesn't mean consent for each sex act as such. I consider the parental approval thing more likely true than false, but you're right, I haven't found a proper Reliable Source for it. I won't object if you take it out, though I think the sincere romantic relationship bit is secure. Saint-Exubérant (talk) 00:54, 24 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Here's what the "Obscenity ordinance" page has to say, and my best attempt to clean up the Google translation, knowing no Japanese:

ただし当事者双方が「『真摯な交際関係』の上で性行為があった」と考えていても、「淫行」に当たると判断され逮捕されるケースもある。このような場合、青少年の親権者が告発し、それに基づき逮捕されるケースが多い。

However, even when both parties believe the sex act was part of a "serious dating relationship", there can still be a case for arrest if it's determined that it counts as "fornication". In such a situation, if the youth's parent/guardian made the accusation, this can result in an arrest in many cases.

But I may have got it wrong in places. Presumably they talk about arrest rather than conviction because of the very high conviction rate in the Japanese criminal justice system. Saint-Exubérant (talk) 01:17, 24 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Vietnam

There appears to be conflicting reports on what the actual age of consent in Vietnam is. The Wikipedia article claims that the age of consent is 18 in Vietnam, sourcing this BBC news report regarding Gary Glitter and this human rights report by the US Government which states that punishments for "sex with minors between the ages of 16 and 18, depending upon the circumstances, vary from five to 10 years in prison". However, the criminal code does not mention that any relations between those aged 16-17 and older adults are illegal. It only states that forcible sexual activities (i.e. rape) involving 16-17 year olds are punished more harshly than those 18+. It appears that the report by the human rights report misinterpreted Article 111 in the Criminal Code, which stipulates that those "Committing rape against a juvenile aged between full 16 and under 18 years old [...] shall be sentenced to between five and ten years of imprisonment"; that provides penalties for rape against minors aged 16-17, not making the age of consent 18. Furthermore, the news reports reporting the age of consent in Vietnam are inconsistent; a later report about Gary Glitter by the BBC stated that the age of consent in Vietnam is 16, as do several other news reports from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the New York Times and CNN. I believe the article should either say that the age of consent is 16, or should mention the conflict between sources and list Vietnam's age of consent on the map as "Other". Sega31098 (talk) 19:56, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Indonesia

I have serious doubts as to the veracity of the ages stated for Indonesia. It really ought have some proper citation or be removed.Suastiastu (talk) 07:03, 19 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Ages of consent in Asia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

Y An editor has reviewed this edit and fixed any errors that were found.

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 08:17, 27 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Taiwan

The Wikipedia article states the age of consent in Taiwan is 16. However, in the English translation of the The Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act, paragraph 9 of Article 49 states that "No one will [...] Force, seduce, remain, or act as broker for children and youth to undertake obscenities or sexual behaviours". The act further states "Anyone who violates one of the regulations described from Paragraph 1 to 11 or from Paragraph 15 to 17 of Article 49 will be fined a sum of no less than NT$ 60,000 and no more than NT$ 300,000 and their name or title will be announced." in Article 97. In this act, "children and youth" means anyone under the age of 18. Could this technically make the unfettered age of consent in Taiwan 18, or am I just misinterpreting the act?Sega31098 (talk) 03:24, 11 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Ages of consent in Asia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eap/135989.htm
Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071215043802/http://www.interpol.com/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaOman.pdf to http://www.interpol.com/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaOman.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 13:36, 5 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 5 external links on Ages of consent in Asia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 18:33, 19 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 5 external links on Ages of consent in Asia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 23:51, 27 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Ages of consent in Asia. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 23:31, 18 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned references in Ages of consent in Asia

I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Ages of consent in Asia's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "legislationline.org":

From Ages of consent in Europe: "Criminal codes". Legislationline.org. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
From Child sex tourism: "Criminal codes of Russian Federation". Legislationline.org. Retrieved 17 January 2017.

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 11:56, 26 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

South Korean age of consent

The current age of consent in south is well cited to an explanation in English by a south korean lawyer. For some reason there are a group of people who can't seem to properly read the laws and seem to think that a different law is somehow involved in this. That law is addressed in the lawyer's cited explanation of the age of consent. This has been an on-going issue in Korea for many years now as there is some element of the expat community who were never able to properly parse the law in the first place and have spent several years spreading misinformation on blogs, forums, facebook, wikipedia, etc. The law introduced a definition of a minor as someone under the age of 18, they took that to mean that sex with anyone under 18 was now illegal, of course that wasn't what it meant, since it was only the definition section of the law. The reason it defined Minor was because it added increased penalties for sex crimes against those under 18. It didn't really define any new crimes and mostly changed existing penalties. It didn't change the age of consent in any way and there are numerous court cases here in Korea where the police or prosecutors have tried to charge an adult for having sex with someone between the age of 13-18 and they've been found not guilty only cementing that. The content that this person keeps trying to reintroduce has no bearing on the actual age of consent at all and is only related to other abusive crimes. It's no more relevant than pointing out that it would you would be breaking other laws by forcing someone into prostitution under the age of 18 in the US for example.--125.129.16.99 (talk) 00:44, 31 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Bangladesh: 16 years as the age of consent.

I think the age of consent in Bangladesh is 16 years of age.
Though according to The Penal Code, 1860 (375), fourteen years of age is documented as the age of consent, it is defined as rape in Women and Child Abuse Prevention Act, 2000 | 9 (1) to have sexual intercourse with a woman with or without her consent, when she is under sixteen (16) years of age. And this kind of Special Law gets privileged in the courts of Bangladesh.
– Jihan (talk) 07:33, 24 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Xinhua source on Mainland China

http://web.archive.org/web/20151027105159/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/video/2015-08/26/c_134555667.htm WhisperToMe (talk) 06:32, 23 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Philippines

The section on the Philippines must be updated. As mentioned in the beginning, the age of consent has been raised to 16. The latter part of this section is outdated, though. It mentions earlier legislation for the age group 12-17 and plans to raise the age of consent to 16 (which now has been done). The section need updated information about the law regarding 16-17 year olds. 84.215.133.169 (talk) 18:21, 24 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This part of the article is still outdated: "Articles 337–338 of the same Anti-Rape Law of 1997 specifies the crime of "simple seduction"; this requires gaining the consent of a 12-17-year-old through the use of deceit (generally a false promise of marriage),[103] and Article 343 that defines eloping with a girl 12–18 as consented abduction, which is also outlawed." Sex with someone 12-15 years of age is no longer "simple seduction", but rape. I am not sure about the legal situation when it comes to having sex with 16-17 year olds, whether this is still classified as "simple seduction" and therefore illegal. --84.215.133.169 (talk) 17:46, 6 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This is still not completely updated. The article talks about the laws applying for sex with 12-17 year olds. This is outdated, as sex with under 16 is completely outlawed. I am not sure about the rules applying to 16-17 year olds. --84.215.133.169 (talk) 12:18, 10 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Japan age of consent

I am not sure about Japan's recent age of consent (13 before, now 16), even BBC news announced it, I don't want to confirm and simply go there if you want Sniper4721 (talk) 17:13, 22 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The BBC article explicitly states "aims to", meaning the government is currently planning to pass such a law, but it is not an active law yet, it hasn't even been passed yet.

So the penal code (Article 176 & 177) are currently unchanged:

https://elaws-e--gov-go-jp.translate.goog/document?lawid=140AC0000000045&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

So in my opinion this sould be changed back to 13 in the article. 2003:D1:744:6B00:84D7:6F8F:E3DF:645E (talk) 04:09, 22 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The age of consent in Japan is just another case in which demonstrates that tracking this information in tabular format results in more confusion, not less. Fabrickator (talk) 20:49, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Where is Cyprus?

Cyprus is geographically in Asia. It should also be included in the Asia section. TomTom7474 (talk) 16:56, 16 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] www.lawonline.co.th/Document/code330.doc

[moleg.go.kr-2] "ACT ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND JUVENILES FROM SEXUAL ABUSE".

[국가법령정보센터-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "국가법령정보센터". http://www.law.go.kr/. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)

[4] ":::: 법률지식정보시스템 ::::".

[대법원_종합법률정보_서비스-5] "대법원 종합법률정보 서비스".

[6] "간음".

[7] 8-year-old girl asks for divorce in court - law in Yemen http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1145&p=front&a=2

[8] ttp://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/law/detail_main?id=11&vm=2

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[1]

[1]