Argentina

Argentina follows the abolitionist model inherited from Ley 12.331 (Profilaxis de las Enfermedades Venéreas, sanctioned 17 Dec 1936). The individual sale of sex by an adult was never criminalised, but Art. 15 banned "casas o locales donde se ejerza la prostitución" and Art. 17 penalised those who run or sustain such premises. In 2009 the Federal Chamber declared Art. 17 partly unconstitutional as applied to consensual conduct between adults, but the brothel ban itself remains in force. Ley 26.842 (sanctioned 19 Dec 2012, reforming Ley 26.364) significantly hardened the regime: it criminalises the offering, recruitment, transport, reception or harbouring of persons for purposes of exploitation — explicitly including "la promoción, facilitación o comercialización de la prostitución ajena" — raised the minimum penalty to 4 years, removed victim consent as an eximente, and created the 145 hotline. At the city level, CABA's Código Contravencional (Ley 1472, 2004), Art. 81, sanctions ostensible offer or demand of sex in non-authorised public spaces. Under President Javier Milei (in office since Dec 2023), no statutory reform of sex-work or anti-trafficking law has been enacted.

Street and indoor work continue across Buenos Aires (Constitución, Once, Flores, Palermo), Rosario, Córdoba and northern provinces, with persistent friction between Art. 81 of the CABA code and AMMAR's organising. Roughly 19 provinces still have contraventional codes that effectively penalise street and private work. Trafficking enforcement under Ley 26.842 has produced raids on apartments and "privados". Argentina has a globally significant travesti/trans rights movement — Lohana Berkins (ALITT), Diana Sacayán, and Nadia Echazú built the framework that produced Ley 26.743 (Gender Identity Law, 2012) and Ley 27.636 (2021 trans labour quota), both intended in part to provide alternatives to survival sex work. In Feb 2025 Milei's government banned gender-affirming care for under-18s; a federal court ruled the ban unconstitutional in April 2025.

Personal-data processing falls under Ley 25.326 (Ley de Protección de los Datos Personales, 2000), enforced by the Agencia de Acceso a la Información Pública. Operating a paid platform for "oferta de servicios sexuales ajenos" can itself fall within the federal trafficking/promotion statute, so workers self-publish rather than relying on managed agencies.

Mercosur nationals (Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia) can enter and reside under simplified residency rules; tourism stays for most Western passports are 90 days. Foreign workers risk being framed as trafficking victims or trafficking facilitators under Ley 26.842 if third parties are involved in their travel or lodging — irrespective of consent. The post-2023 currency crisis and the Milei-era removal of capital controls in 2024 mean USD pricing dominates the upper-end market.

Skokka.com (regional leader, Argentina has its own subdomain), MileRoticos.com (Argentina-specific classifieds), Telegram channels and private Instagram. Personal websites carry the lowest legal exposure.

• AMMAR — Asociación de Mujeres Meretrices de la República Argentina (CTA-affiliated)
• RedTraSex — Latin American + Caribbean sex worker network
• Línea 145 — National 24h anti-trafficking hotline