Prostitution in Trinidad and Tobago is legal but related activities such as brothel keeping, soliciting and pimping are illegal.
In Trinidad , Port of Spain is the main place of sex work, [3] [4] including street prostitution on Roberts and Murray Streets. Some regularly commute between their home nation and Trinidad. Prostitution in less common in Tobago , some prostitutes from Trinidad move to Tobago for the tourist season.
The country is a sex tourism destination. Sex trafficking is a problem in the country, [11] as is child prostitution. Being a former British colony , much of the prostitution law mirrors that of the UK :. During the slave period, slaves could sometimes be hired as prostitutes.
Prostitutes were required to be registered and have regular examinations for STIs. In Port of Spain, a Sergeant Holder was given unlimited power to enforce the ordinance. He abused his position and, following an investigation brought about by a complaint, was dismissed from the force. The sugar slump of the s [15] brought many more women to the towns, turning to prostitution to try and make a living.
During the Great Depression in the s, more women turned to prostitution. In his book, Calypso and Society , Gordon Rohlehr noted: "Some singers, indeed, presented the vocation of prostitution as the only alternative to that of housewifery, and warned young girls against leaving their mothers' homes.
