Prostitution Prostitution laws in PeruPerú
Prostitution by adults is not a crime in Peru, and paying an adult for sex is not an offence unless the person is a victim of sexual exploitation, which carries 9 to 12 years for the client. Law 30963 of June 2019 rewrote the third-party offences: promoting or favouring the prostitution of another person (4 to 6 years), managing the economic or other benefit of another's prostitution (4 to 8 years) and directing or managing another's prostitution (4 to 6 years), each rising to 6 to 12 years where committed in tourism, through a legal person or in the context of any economic activity. Despite these offences, press reports describe brothels holding municipal operating licences, while some municipalities have ordinances banning the activity.
Legal model
Legal, organisation banned. Selling and buying are legal, but brothels, procuring and organising are criminal offences.
Selling and buying sex between adults are not offences, but the Penal Code punishes promoting or favouring another person's prostitution (art. 179), managing its proceeds (art. 180) and directing or managing it (art. 181), each with heavier penalties when done in the context of an economic activity or a legal person. In practice some municipalities have issued operating licences to brothels, which the press has reported alongside these offences.[1][2]
At a glance
| Question | Status | In short |
|---|---|---|
| Selling sexual services | Legal | The Penal Code does not punish a person who sells sex; the prostitution offences are aimed at third parties who promote, favour, manage or profit from another person's prostitution.[1][2] |
| Buying sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | Paying an adult for sex is not an offence. Paying for sexual acts with a victim of sexual exploitation carries 9 to 12 years (art. 153-E), and with an adolescent aged 14 to 17, 15 to 20 years (art. 179-A).[1] |
| Brothels and managed venues | Illegal Criminal offence | No national licensing regime exists, and running a brothel falls within the offences of favouring (art. 179) and directing or managing (art. 181) another person's prostitution, aggravated to 6 to 12 years when committed through a legal person or in any economic activity. Some municipalities have nonetheless issued operating licences to brothels.[1][2] |
| Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping) | Illegal Criminal offence | Promoting or favouring another person's prostitution carries 4 to 6 years; managing the economic or other benefit of another's prostitution (rufianismo) 4 to 8 years; directing or managing another's prostitution (proxenetismo) 4 to 6 years. Each rises to 6 to 12 years with aggravating circumstances, including acting in tourism, through a legal person or in any economic activity, or where it is the offender's means of subsistence.[1] |
| Advertising sexual services | Restricted Breach: criminal offence | No provision specifically on advertising adult sexual services was found. Advertising another person's sexual services could amount to promoting or favouring their prostitution under article 179; publicising child sexual-abuse material is a separate offence.[1] |
The law in detail
Selling sexual services
The Penal Code does not punish a person who sells sex; the prostitution offences are aimed at third parties who promote, favour, manage or profit from another person's prostitution.[1][2]
Confidence: medium. Municipal ordinances that prohibit or restrict prostitution locally, and any health-card requirements, were not reviewed.
Checked 30 October 2026
Buying sexual services
Paying an adult for sex is not an offence. Paying for sexual acts with a victim of sexual exploitation carries 9 to 12 years (art. 153-E), and with an adolescent aged 14 to 17, 15 to 20 years (art. 179-A).[1]
Checked 30 October 2026
Brothels and managed venues
No national licensing regime exists, and running a brothel falls within the offences of favouring (art. 179) and directing or managing (art. 181) another person's prostitution, aggravated to 6 to 12 years when committed through a legal person or in any economic activity. Some municipalities have nonetheless issued operating licences to brothels.[1][2]
La República reported in December 2022 that a brothel in Los Olivos (Lima) obtained an indefinite municipal operating licence in 2018 for the line of business "prostíbulo, casas de citas y lenocinio", in a district that also has an ordinance banning the activity, and that another licensed venue was later closed by court order. A municipal attorney quoted in the report said a licence is an administrative act that can be annulled and does not shield its holder from criminal liability.
Confidence: medium. How courts treat licensed brothel operators under arts. 179 and 181 was not checked in case law.
Checked 30 October 2026
Third parties profiting (procuring / pimping)
Promoting or favouring another person's prostitution carries 4 to 6 years; managing the economic or other benefit of another's prostitution (rufianismo) 4 to 8 years; directing or managing another's prostitution (proxenetismo) 4 to 6 years. Each rises to 6 to 12 years with aggravating circumstances, including acting in tourism, through a legal person or in any economic activity, or where it is the offender's means of subsistence.[1]
Forcing a person by violence, threats or other means to perform sexual acts for economic gain is sexual exploitation (art. 153-B, 10 to 15 years), and the 2019 law added offences of promoting, benefiting from and managing sexual exploitation (arts. 153-D, 153-F, 153-G). Consent of the person in prostitution is not a defence in the text of arts. 179-181, which do not require coercion.
Checked 30 October 2026
Advertising sexual services
No provision specifically on advertising adult sexual services was found. Advertising another person's sexual services could amount to promoting or favouring their prostitution under article 179; publicising child sexual-abuse material is a separate offence.[1]
Confidence: low. Inference from the wording of article 179; no case law, media regulation or platform rules were reviewed.
Checked 30 October 2026
Key legislation
| Law | What it does here | In force |
|---|---|---|
| Ley N° 30963, Ley que modifica el Código Penal respecto a las sanciones del delito de explotación sexual en sus diversas modalidades y delitos conexos, para proteger con especial énfasis a las niñas, niños, adolescentes y mujeres Law 30963 amending the Penal Code on sexual exploitation and related offences (2019) arts. 153-B to 153-J, 179, 179-A, 180, 181 | Current wording of the offences of favouring prostitution, rufianismo, proxenetismo and the sexual-exploitation offences, including the client offence.[1] |
Timeline
- 18 June 2019Law 30963 published in El Peruano, rewriting the prostitution-related offences and adding sexual-exploitation offences, including for clients of exploitation victims.[1]
Sources
- Ley N° 30963, Ley que modifica el Código Penal respecto a las sanciones del delito de explotación sexual en sus diversas modalidades y delitos conexos, para proteger con especial énfasis a las niñas, niños, adolescentes y mujeres (Law No. 30963 amending the Penal Code on penalties for sexual exploitation in its various forms and related offences). Congreso de la República del Perú (El Peruano, Normas Legales), 18 June 2019. legislation · accessed 30 October 2026
- ¿Los prostíbulos son legales en Perú y pueden obtener licencia de funcionamiento? Conoce el caso de Las Sirenitas y Lady Scort (Are brothels legal in Peru and can they obtain an operating licence? The cases of Las Sirenitas and Lady Scort). La República, 6 December 2022. news · accessed 30 October 2026