Joint effort is being taken to address the issue of young girls visiting foreign fishing boats in Honiara.
Women leaders and representatives from Ports Authority with police held a meeting Tuesday to discuss how they could work together to address the rise in prostitution.SIBC news quotes General Secretary of the National Council of Women, Ella Kauhue as stating that women organizations can only advocate against this problem.
Ms. Kauhue told the SIBC that addressing the issue is not an easy task for women organizations and other organizations as the laws of the country do not cover prostitution.
She stressed that it is time the Penal Code is revisited to fill up the gaps that would suit the attitude and the way people live today.
"One thing that we recognize is that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Poverty and the absence of money and job opportunities and the high rate of inflation are contributing factors that are forcing women and young girls to engage in prostitution," she told SIBC news.
It is said that local people are involved in an illegal operation where young girls and women are taken to the boats.
According to reports, some of the girls stay on the boats for weeks, providing sex and other illegal services until the boats set sail again.
Eight young girls were caught in a fishing vessel last week in an operation undertaken by Police, Customs and Excise and Quarantine.