Amnesty International has published its policy and research on protecting sex workers from human rights violations and abuses. Amnesty's new policy recommends the decriminalisation of consensual
sex work, including those laws that prohibit associated activities -- such as bans on buying, soliciting and arranging and organising sex work.
Specifically, it urges governments to ensure protection of sex workers
from harm, exploitation and coercion; to enable sex workers to participate in the development of laws that affect their lives and safety; an end to discrimination, access to education and employment options for all.
Amnesty's policy is the culmination of extensive worldwide consultations, analysis of substantive evidence, international human rights standards and first-hand research carried out over more than two years.
It is based on evidence that laws criminalising sex work often make workers less safe and provide impunity for abusers with workers often too scared of being penalised to report the crime to the police.
The policy also strongly reinforces Amnesty's position that forced labour, child sexual exploitation and human trafficking are abhorrent human rights abuses requiring concerted action and which, under international law, must be
criminalised in every country.
Amnesty International's Senior Director for Law and Policy Tawanda Mutasah said:
Sex workers are at heightened risk of a whole host of
human rights abuses including rape, violence, extortion and discrimination. Far too often they receive no, or very little, protection from the law or means for redress.
Our policy outlines how governments must do more
to protect sex workers from violations and abuse. Our research highlights their testimony and the daily issues they face.
We want laws to be refocused on making sex workers' lives safer and improving the relationship
they have with the police while addressing the very real issue of exploitation. We want governments to make sure no one is coerced to sell sex, or is unable to leave sex work if they choose to.
Protecting
from exploitation and abuse Laws on sex work should focus on protecting people from exploitation and abuse, rather than trying to ban all sex work and penalise sex workers.
Amnesty
also published today research on the impact of sex work in Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Norway and Argentina which shows that sex workers often received no, or very little protection from abuse, or access to legal redress, even in countries where the act
of selling sex itself is legal. This is in part due to criminalisation, which further endangers and marginalises them and impedes their ability to seek protection from violence and legal and social services.
Amnesty
found that rather than focusing on protecting sex workers from violence and crime, law enforcement officials in many countries focus on prohibiting sex work through surveillance, harassment and raids.
Tawanda Mutasah
added:
Sex workers have told us how criminalisation enables the police to harass them and not prioritise their complaints and safety.
In too many places around the world
sex workers are without protection of the law, and suffering awful human rights abuses. This situation can never be justified. Governments must act to protect the human rights of all people, sex workers included. Decriminalisation is just one of several
necessary steps governments can take to ensure protection from harm, exploitation and coercion.
Amnesty joins a large group of organisations from across a range of disciplines and areas of expertise who
are supporting or calling for decriminalisation of consensual sex work. These include the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women; Global Commission on HIV and the Law; Human Rights Watch; UNAIDS; the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health;
and World Health Organisation.
Our stance Amnesty calls on governments to ensure:
- All people can access their economic, social and cultural rights, education and employment options
- An end to harmful gender stereotypes and all forms of discrimination and structural
inequalities that can lead to marginalised groups selling sex in disproportionate numbers
- A refocusing of sex work laws away from catch-all offences that criminalise most or all aspects of sex work towards laws that
provide protection from coercion including trafficking, acts of exploitation and abuse, and prevent the involvement of children in commercial sex.
- The removal of criminal and other punitive regulation of consensual
sex work between adults which reinforces marginalisation, stigma and discrimination and can deny sex workers access to justice under the law.
- The participation of sex workers in the development of laws and policies
that directly affect their lives and safety.
- Effective frameworks that allow people to leave sex work if and when they choose.
- That sex workers have equal access to justice,
health care and other public services, and equal protection under the law.
