WUNRN
PETITION FOR FULL DECRIMINALISATION
OF SEX WORK
Sign-On from Website.
We support Amnesty’s assertion that states have an obligation ‘to reform their laws and develop and implement systems and policies that eliminate discrimination against those engaging in sex work’. Amnesty calls on states to ‘actively seek to empower the most marginalised in society, including through supporting the rights to freedom of association of those engaging in sex work, establishing frameworks that ensure access to appropriate, quality health services and safe working conditions and through combatting discrimination or abuse based on sex, sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression’. This echoes the voices of sex workers around the world who argue that states are responsible for proactively protecting fundamental rights and call on them to undertake measures that will help protect, respect, and fulfil these rights for all.
In environments where many aspects of sex work are criminalised, for
instance, soliciting, living off the earnings of a sex worker [families and
children suffer the most], managers ; sex workers face discrimination and
stigma which undermine their human rights, including to liberty, security of
the person, equality, and health. Evidence suggests that sex workers’ risk of
HIV infection is inextricably related to their marginalized and illegal status,
which drives their work underground and increases police abuse and
exploitation.
According to the UNAIDS Guidance Note on HIV and Sex Work, “even where
services are theoretically available, sex workers and their clients face
substantial obstacles to accessing HIV prevention, treatment care and support,
particularly where sex work is criminalized.” In countries where sex work is
decriminalized, there is evidence that violence directed at sex workers is
reduced, relations between sex workers and the police are improved, and access
to health services is increased.
Punitive laws that criminalise and punish sex work act as instruments
through which sex workers are harassed and regularly have their human rights
violated by law enforcement agencies, health authorities and clients. In many
countries, sex workers are a primary means by which the police meet arrest
quotas, extort money, and extract information. Police wield power over sex
workers in the form of threats of arrest and public humiliation and use condoms
as evidence of illegal activity, undoing years of effective public health
promotion and campaigning around STIs and HIV. 567 Forced testing for HIV is
commonplace, along with breaches of due process and privacy.
Sex workers in many jurisdictions are the targets of frequent harassment,
physical and sexual abuse, and forced “rehabilitation”. Where sex work is
illegal, sex workers often feel there is little they can do to address the
violations perpetrated against them and are deterred from accessing health
services for fear of further stigma and abuse.
Sex workers support Amnesty’s analysis of the human rights context of sex
work and the health considerations and other implications for sex workers. The
removal of punitive laws and policies targeting sex workers is imperative.
International agencies such as The Global Commission on HIV and the Law ,
UNAIDS , the World Health Organization , the Global Alliance Against the
Trafficking in Women (GAATW) and Human Rights Watch have called for or support
the decriminalisation of sex work. Decriminalisation is not an attempt to
legalise ‘pimps’, nor does it increase exploitation of sex workers. Such
arguments are made with a limited understanding of the sex trade and undermine
sex workers’ struggle for the right to health and justice.
Decriminalisation will help sex workers organise and address all forms of
exploitation, including abusive, sub-standard or unfair working conditions
instituted by both state and non-state actors. The sex workers’ rights movement
is aligned with the human and women’s rights movements in condemning the abuse
and violation of the rights of women, including sex workers. Sex work must not
be equated with sexual exploitation or sex trafficking.