Dear Friends,

We write as LGBTQ sex workers to ask for your support against proposals to further criminalise consenting sex.  They are discriminatory and a breach of human rights, and will further endanger the lives and safety of sex workers, our families and anyone we make contact with.

Those promoting criminalisation include homophobic “evangelical Christians” such as CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) which oppose gay marriage and sex outside marriage.

In England the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on prostitution is pressing to criminalise sex workers’ clients – this would also apply to Wales; in Scotland, MSP Rhoda Grant has proposed the Criminalisation of the Purchase of Sex (Scotland) Bill; in Northern Ireland, Lord Morrow’s Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill includes an offence of “paying for sex with a prostitute subjected to force”. In Ireland, the Dail Justice Committee is considering legislation. The European Women’s Lobby has made the criminalisation of clients a priority.

While these proposals claim to target clients and traffickers (based on false claims about trafficking) sex workers will be the first affected.  Forced to work and live underground, we face high levels of violence and exploitation.  Anyone – from rapists and landlords to corrupt police officers – can take advantage of us knowing that we can’t come forward since when we do we are more likely to be arrested than those who attack or rob us. (See here for more information).

While rapists and other violent men are allowed to get away, non-violent clients are targeted – men, gay and straight, engaged in consensual casual sex for payment, are being targeted. We must stop this fundamentalist witch-hunt.

Evidence of homophobic religious groups promoting the criminalisation of sex workers’ clients:

It has taken decades of campaigning by sex workers’ organisations and individuals coming out to change public opinion.  We have done so despite the risk of being arrested and imprisoned, having our children taken into care and our partners criminalised, losing friends, homes, savings.  Mothers had most to lose from speaking out, yet some did.

Most people now recognise that sex workers are neither perverts nor pathetic victims.  We are women (mostly), men (especially young men), and trans people who make a living by providing sexual services – a skilled but maligned job.  Many work part-time to pay for food, rent and bills, childcare expenses, student fees.  Some are destitute.  If we want to leave prostitution, there are few or no jobs to go to, or they pay too little to make ends meet, or we are blocked from them by our ‘criminal record’, or our immigration status.  With rising unemployment and benefit cuts, the number of sex workers is up and so is the number of women and men in jail for prostitution related offences.

Tim Barnett, the former MP who sponsored the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act which decriminalised prostitution in New Zealand, has described the discriminatory way in which the prostitution laws were used against LGBTQ people and people of colour: “During the passage of the Prostitution Law Reform Bill, the police were asked to produce figures on arrests for soliciting.  Half of those arrested were transgender sex workers who were identified as men, showing that the homophobia of the police was driving their enforcement of anti sex work laws.  Racism was also evident in that two-thirds of the women arrested were Maori and other people of colour.”

As a gay man, Mr Barnett believes that for sexual liberation cannot be achieved without decriminalising all consensual sex: “The freedom of two people to have sexual contact with each other has historically been denied to people of different races and classes, and to people of the same gender.  This freedom is still denied to people when payment is involved.  Why should two adults who want to have consensual sexual contact with each other in private not be able to do so?”

This is not the first time that a gay person spearheads legislation to decriminalise sex work.  In 1979, Maureen Colquhoun, the first openly lesbian MP, presented the Protection of Prostitutes Bill (opposed by Ian Paisley MP!)  She was deselected by her party when she came out – we were part of the picket to demand her reinstatement.

Gay sex was partially decriminalised in 1967 in England and Wales, 1980 in Scotland, and 1982 in N. Ireland.  While it is now fully decriminalised, the criminalisation of sex work has increased.

We urge LGBTQ organisations to support the movement to throw off “the last significant vestige of Victorian moral law” by signing the pledge below and forwarding this information to your networks. We would be glad to work with you against the repressive proposals to criminalise clients.

Sincerely,

Niki Adams, English Collective of Prostitutes        Didi Rossi, Queer Strike

ecp@prostitutescollective.net queerstrike@queerstrike.net May 2013

We, the undersigned demand that prostitution – the consenting exchange of sexual services for money – is decriminalised.

Name                                     Email                                                 Organisation if any

The sex industry like most others is feeling the effects of the credit crunch. But in a grim role-reversal, it’s not the booming industry that’s suffering but its workers. As the cost of living rises and wages remain ruefully stagnant, increasing numbers of women have turned to prostitution in order to support themselves.

Its lucrative potential to put a meal on a plate or a bill in an envelope has meant that from the depths of these Dickensian hard times re-emerges the archaic truism: women are driven to prostitution by economic misfortune.

I spoke to a member of the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) which campaigns for the protection and decriminalisation of prostitutes, without endorsing or morally sanctioning prostitution itself. They told me that in light of Mr. Cameron’s cuts, “every time there’s a benefit cut, it forces women onto the game.”

The sucker-punch effects of the economic climate and the scathing cuts to welfare and benefits are even driving many women who had left the trade and turned their lives around to return in order to feed their families. As one travelling sex-worker who works with the ECP explains, “Prostitution is certainly not the worst job I have ever had. I have worked on the fish market and as a cleaner where I was working for people who didn’t care if we were cold or tired or how we were spoken to. I was fed up of being a cleaner, bar maid and shop assistant, often all on the same day.”

There is a gross misconception about prostitution in the UK; about what type of person a prostitute is, and who could never be one. Many have been thrown out of their homes, raped, and are not yet old enough to claim benefits. Many others are women who are forced to supplement their incomes. As the think-tank The Resolution Foundation reported in October 2011, more than one in five employees earn less than a “living wage”.

Another member of the ECP’s network, a part-time street worker, blames benefit cuts and job losses for driving women onto the game, along with negative stereotyping for the lack of awareness surrounding prostitution today: “Everybody has their own view of what a prostitute is. In reality it is your sister, your neighbour, your mother, that has struggled to feed, clothe, heat a home and provide a safe environment for the people she loves. This is becoming more apparent with all the benefit cuts and job losses. The reason it has been so well hidden is because of the criminality of it. That is it.”

Most sex workers are mothers who think “just this once”, “just this week” to cover a heating bill or make something a bit special to eat. Then we get stuck in something we can never get out of. I never thought the first time I went out that I would still be here at my age. Now I have a record so can’t get another job. It was because I care that I did go on the street.”

This sentiment of being trapped in the game is shared amongst women across all demographics. In December 2011, and in light of Mr. Cameron’s initiative to put a tax on knowledge and increase university tuition fees to £9,000 per year, the NUS released a shocking statement that many students were also turning to prostitution to pay for university.

Now that the competition to get a job pulling pints or stacking shelves is fiercer than ever, prostitution has become a viable alternative for students struggling to cover the cost of living and tuition. As soon as Education Maintenance Allowance vanished in a puff of black smoke and university grants metamorphosed into loans, the ECP reported an increase in the number of students who came to them considering sex as a means of financing their studies. Some even stopped studying to work in the sex trade.

But still, even with all Mr. Cameron’s cuts combined with the overarching effects of the recession, there is a much more sinister truth about prostitution in Britain: women are penalised instead of protected by the law.

In an ideal world, women would not be forced into prostitution at all, but British laws on prostitution prevent women from working together safely. The Sexual Offences Act 1956, criminalised keeping a brothel, which forces women onto the streets to be subject to the offence of the Street Offences Act 1959 where loitering or soliciting for the purposes of prostitution are illegal. Prostitution’s place in the British criminal law keeps women with criminal records trapped in this vicious cycle and approximately 200 street workers are arrested each year.

One immigrant sex worker who was trafficked into this country and criminalised for prostitution was able to find a lawyer through the ECP. Now a member of the ECP’s network, she recalls how whilst working as an independent sex worker, the police raided the flat where she stayed: “They say sex workers do bad things, and they threatened to deport me. They even threatened the maid, the lady who worked with me for protection. They said ‘if we find you here again we will arrest you and the girls and put you in jail’. This happens many times, sex workers are put in jail, even if they have been beaten up and raped by the customers.”

This has forced women to use alternative advertisement, such as in phone booths, because according to the ECP, “it’s 10 times more dangerous to work on the streets, and it’s not expensive to advertise.”

But from every corner of the ring, prostitutes are attacked instead of protected. Since the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 branded carding a criminal offence, the police have hunted down these women. They sometimes pose as prospective punters, track their addresses and ensure they are evicted – either on grounds of illegal immigration, or by informing their landlords that their premises were being used to sell sex.

In 1997 prostitutes fought a similar case against BT when they barred the phone lines of women who advertised in phone booths. The ECP cites such cases as just a few of too many examples where “the police refuse to take attacks on sex workers seriously.” They are devalued, second-class citizens and unequal in the eyes of the law and society.

Prostitution is symptomatic of these hard times in which we live. Criminalising these women shows the short-sightedness of the cultural stereotyping, economic reforms and current laws which punishes prostitutes instead of offering them protection from the streets. Lest we forget, such vulnerable women were the victims of the Ipswich serial killer, the Suffolk Strangler, or Steve Wright, who murdered five women who worked as prostitutes in 2006.

Prostitutes are not Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, who get a happy ending with Richard Gere, nor are they the stigmatised, stereotypical street crawler looking to fuel her drug addiction. Sex workers are women like every other woman. These are women looking to put food on the table for their families and to fund their education. These are women looking to just get by. Mr. Cameron’s cuts, combined with the British criminal laws and the poverty that the recession has brought, ensures that these women are forced to continue prostituting themselves in order to survive.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/01/prostitutes-and-the-recession-how-david-cameron%E2%80%99s-cuts-are-affecting-british-women/

We invite you to the launch of an important petition.

Invest in a caring society – a living wage for mothers and other carers
Wednesday 1st May 2013, 7-9pm
Room 10 on Committee Corridor, House of Commons London SW1  Westminster 
Chaired by John McDonnell MP who supports our campaign for decriminalisation.  There will be an open mic.  Come and speak about your situation.

The government is driving many more of us into poverty and destitution – there are no jobs and benefits are being cut.  They are making it impossible for many mothers, young people, trans and others to support ourselves without going into the sex industry and risking criminalisation.

We estimate that at least 70% of sex workers are mothers, mostly single mothers.  Many more are carers for relatives who are older or have a disability; or we have a disability ourselves and have been refused DLA; or we are immigrants sending money home to support families and sometimes whole communities.

On 1^st May we will get together with women and men in different occupations, to demand that the basic survival work of caring for children should be recognised and paid for.  This is our best defence against being forced into prostitution by desperate poverty.  It is the best protection for our children, whose health and well-being suffer when their mothers are poor.

One of the women in our network said:

We can stay in bed, live in squalor, and survive on bread and jam, but personally I feel I deserve more and so does my daughter.  So I choose to go on the street and earn some money because I want a better life.  What I do is not dishonest.  It is hard work.  I wouldn’t do it if I had a choice.  But now that I have a criminal record for soliciting, it is the only job I can do that enables me to earn some money without neglecting my daughter.

Whatever our reasons for going into prostitution, the criminalisation we face drives us underground and into danger.   As the cuts bite we have to work longer and harder and take more risks.

In the 1980s women who came from areas of high unemployment in the Midlands and the North to work in King’s Cross were referred to as ‘Thatcher’s girls’.  Thatcher is now dead and buried – at great cost to all of us taxpayers.  But the destruction of society she began has carried on.

This petition is a tool to reclaim and rebuild society by demanding that the work of caring for others which is the foundation and lifeblood of every society, be recognised and paid for.  This would enable mothers and other carers to make real choices.

Join us at the launch on 1^st May.  Sign the petition.  Pass it onto your networks, and organizations.  Facebook and tweet it.

As our sisters in India say, Naya Zamaana Aayega! A New Age is Coming

Looking forward to hearing from you

Petition to the UK Parliament.

Invest in a caring society.
A living wage for mothers and other carers.

Mothers are the primary carers everywhere in the world. Caring for children, sick, disabled and elderly people is work vital to society.

Carers are impoverished. Income Support is being abolished. Child Benefit is no longer universal. Carer’s Allowance is insultingly low and most carers don’t qualify. 200,000 care workers are denied the minimum wage.

When mothers are impoverished, children suffer hunger and ill-health, and are more often taken into care.

Mothers are told they are ‘workless’ and that earning is more important than caring. They are pushed into jobs regardless of hours, pay or childcare provision.

They are forced into unpaid work to ‘earn’ their benefits (‘workfare’). ‘Workfare’ bypasses the minimum wage, driving down all wages, especially women’s, and undermining pay equity.

Having to fit caring around jobs results in overwork and exhaustion.
Employed mothers (or fathers) who take time off to care for children or relatives, lose pay, promotion and future pension.

When caring work is devalued, people, relationships and life itself are devalued. The result is inequity and social neglect, but also environmental destruction and war.

Demanding resources for caring redirects economic and social policies towards people and the planet – and away from the uncaring market.

We demand that:
1. Caring must be recognised as vital work for the whole society.
2. All carers, including mothers, must be paid a living wage for this indispensable work, including paid time off.

NAME       EMAIL/PHONE          ORGANISATION IF ANY

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

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Issued by: Global Women’s Strike (GWS) $ Women of Colour in GWS
Endorsed by: Single Mothers’ Self-Defence $ WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)
To endorse email: gws@globalwomenstrike.net or call: 020 7482 2496

• 3.5 million UK children (1 in 4) live in poverty; over 50% of children of colour are in poverty. Children with a disabled parent are more likely to live in severe poverty.
• 6 million people (1 in 10) care for a sick, disabled or older person. Over 1 in 3 ‘unemployed’ single parents care for a disabled child. Less than 1 in 10 carers get a Carer’s Allowance of £59.75.
• 1 in 4 mothers skip meals to feed their children. Over 40% of single parent families live in poverty. Single mothers doing a double day of caring and earning get lower wages than men – on average £337 p.w. rather than £491.
• Only 1 in 3 UK babies are breastfed at all at four months; 1 in 4 babies when mothers have to go out to work – with lifelong health consequences for mother and child.
• 88% of mothers of young children with a full-time job would rather work part-time or be full-time carers.
• Over 10,000 children were taken into care in 2011-12. Keeping a child in a care home costs £2,428 a week, foster care costs £489.

BACKGROUND

1945 Family Allowance (renamed Child Benefit in 1975): universal, paid weekly to every mother, after campaigning led by independent feminist MP Eleanor Rathbone, in recognition of the work mothers do and their right to be financially independent: “Nothing can justify the subordination of one group of producers –the mothers– to the rest, and their deprivation of all share of their own in the wealth of a community which depends on them for its very existence.”

1972 Mothers’ money: government tries to transfer Child Benefit to the ‘wage earner’, usually a man. Wages for Housework co-ordinates a national campaign and CB is kept in mothers’ hands.

1976 Invalid Care Allowance (renamed Carer’s Allowance in 2003): paid to those caring 35+ hours weekly; later extended to those caring for spouses and to over-65s but cancelled out by pension.

1977 US Conference on Women (mandated by Congress): “The elimination of poverty must be a priority for all those working for equal rights for women . . . just as with other workers, homemakers receiving [welfare] payments should be afforded the dignity of having that payment called a wage, not welfare.”

1995 UN Conference on Women agrees that national accounts should include the value of caring work.

1996 US ‘welfare reform’ ends entitlement and becomes the model for UK policies.

2011 US Rise Out of Poverty Act and WORK (Women’s Option to Raise Kids) Act: introduced in Congress. John McDonnell MP tables an Early Day Motion calling for similar legislation in the UK.

2012 Child Benefit no longer universal: mothers in higher earnings households are excluded, while mothers on benefits may lose it through the ’benefits cap’.

2013 The Welfare State is being destroyed – benefits, the NHS, legal aid . . . survival is now under threat.

ECOLOGICAL AND ANTI-WAR
Our planet is on the brink. The market is pushing us to destruction. The market says it is ‘not practical’ to tackle climate change, and takes melting ice caps as a ‘business opportunity’ to drill for oil! By demanding resources for caring we demand the economy be redirected away from the market and its profit-driven wars, and towards caring for humans and all living things. Only the people can decide what should and shouldn’t be produced, and how to use technology to meet needs, work less, waste less and save the planet.

WHERE IS THE MONEY TO COME FROM?
The Welfare State was created after WWII when the UK was bankrupt. Since then, money is always found for war against the will of the people: war in Afghanistan and Iraq cost $4+ trillion; £20bn paid by the UK on top of its £35bn annual defence budget. While services and benefits are cut, the richest 1,000 people got richer by £155bn in three years – enough to pay off the UK deficit with £30bn to spare.

INVEST IN CARING NOT KILLING – GLOBALLY
This is an international perspective. In countries receiving aid, we demand that the money goes to mothers and other carers: used to attack poverty rather than to buy arms and line a few pockets.

Sex workers in London reported crimes against them under a trial scheme that lets them add information to a database anonymously.

Since July, women and men taking part have logged nearly 60 incidents – half of which were rapes or sexual assaults. But less than a third were prepared to make a formal complaint to police.

‘We’re talking serious crimes such as rape, violence, homophobic and racist hate crime,’ said Andrew Boff, leader of the Conservatives on the Greater London Authority.

‘The police must start regularly and formally engaging with sex workers to remedy this.’

The English Collective of Prostitutes said victims were afraid of being arrested.

‘Until the police prioritise prostitutes’ safety over prosecuting them, we do not think things will get better,’ said spokesman Niki Adams.

The Ugly Mugs scheme helps police to gather intelligence.
http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/19/prostitutes-scared-to-report-sex-attackers-study-shows-3640948/

ECP full statement here:

It is important that Andrew Boff has raised that he is concerned, as we are, about the high levels of violence against sex workers.

But we have no reason to believe that if attacks on sex workers are categorised as hate crimes it will make any difference.  Has it done so with racist attacks?  Will it deal with the prejudices of the police and the crown prosecution service who prioritise prosecutions over our protection?   Will it change that, because we are criminalised, attacks on us are rarely taken seriously by the police?

If sex work were decriminalised, as it is in New Zealand, then we could come forward and report any attacks to the police and demand to be taken seriously.

This month Carrie and Laura from the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) visited us to discuss their work in protecting the rights of sex workers and pushing for the decriminalisation of prostitution in general.

The central theme of the meeting was if the UK were to update the legal status of prostitution, should we move in the direction of the Swedish model, where it is the purchase of  services that is criminalised, or the New Zealand one, where prostitution is entirely decriminalised?  There is currently a legislative push taking place in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to adopt the ‘Nordic Model’.

The ECP are firmly against the Swedish approach which they argue does nothing to protect sex workers as it simply pushes prostitution more underground (and also to neighbouring countries) and makes it harder for sex workers to get protection from rape and other violence. Indeed, shifting the focus of the illegality from the supplier to the consumer would appear to be simply making it lawful to sell something that, bizarrely, is illegal to buy.

They also claim that those pushing for the Swedish approach are an ‘unholy alliance’ of feminists and Christian fundamentalists who object to prostitution just as they object to gay marriage. Furthermore, the ECP cites evidence showing that discrimination and stigma against sex workers has increased, that sex workers have been put more at risk of attack and are less able to call on the protection of the police and the authorities.

From a rational point of view, the fact that some people find an activity distasteful does not constitute sufficient grounds for criminalising it.  This battle has been fought and won, in the case for example of homosexuality and blasphemy – in the west at least. Recent attempts to tighten up the legal position of prostitution appear to reflect vestiges of religiously-driven Victorian puritan disapproval and have little to do with social harm or benefit.

The case of Claire Finch a couple of years ago clearly illustrated the paradox in the present arrangements whereby to operate legally (i.e. alone on the premises) is inherently dangerous, but to operate safely is illegal.  It is strongly suspected that it was this absurdity that led the jury to acquit, even though technically the presence of more than one ‘staff’ on the premises clearly rendered the operation illegal.

The ECP hold up the experience of New Zealand’s 2003 decriminalisation as a good basis for the right way forward.  They claim that New Zealand’s approach in removing prostitution from the criminal law, allowed people to work together collectively, and distinguishes between consenting sex and violence and exploitation. They also claim that the reforms have been shown to improve sex workers’ working conditions, while making it easier for those who want to get out, to do so.

Carrie and Laura also spoke of how many sex workers felt that decisions were being taken about their futures without any consultation with those most affected – the sex workers themselves.  There seems to be a view point pushed by many organisations that sex workers are unable to make any decisions for themselves and these ‘fallen women’ must be ‘saved’ not just from their clients but also from themselves.  However, the response from the sex workers is increasingly ”Save us from saviours” and a new Global group, The Red Umbrella Fund, has been set up to give workers more control over projects, funding and decisions that directly concern them.

It would certainly seems that, whatever your point of view, few people see the current legal standing of prostitution as workable or even logical. This educational and stimulating evening brought that debate into stark relief by hearing from an organisation in the front line of legislative and societal change.

As always you can add your comments on this issue or Bedford Skeptics in general by going to the bottom of this blog post and clicking on the ‘Comment’ link.  This will open up a window in which you can add your thoughts.

Next month: On Thursday 16th May we blast off on a journey of solar system exploration with Adam Stevens of The Open University who’ll be looking at the potential for humanity to spread beyond our own planet. Full details HERE.
http://sitpbedford.blogspot.co.uk/

A SERIES of debates by the Bedford Skeptics in a Pub group continues on Thursday night as members discuss the legislation surrounding prostitution.

Speakers from The English Collective of Prostitutes will talk about the legalisation of prostitution and what approach should we take in the United Kingdom towards this sensitive issue.

They will debate if banning prostitution or criminalising the client is the best way to protect women involved in the trade.

The event takes place at The White Horse, in Newham Avenue, Bedford at 7.30pm and entrance is free.

The Bedford Skeptics In The Pub was launched in October last year as a group of ordinary people interested in science, economics, current affairs and good conversation in hospitable surroundings.

Their previous debates have included climate change and the future of UK universities.

http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Skeptics-talk-about-prostitution-20130416161932.htm

(Reuters) – Sex workers in London are being forced to slash prices they charge clients because of the impact of the recession on the British economy and an influx of foreign competition, putting themselves at greater risk of attack, according to a report.

The study by the Westminster City Council, the local authority which covers much of central London, said sex workers reported they were being forced to charge 50 percent less now than they had done a few years ago as they coped with the impact of the struggling economy like the rest of Britain.

That meant sex workers, who often worked alone, were accepting clients who appeared more dangerous, putting them at risk of rape, sexual assault, physical abuse and robbery.

“Falling demand and an increase in those selling sex has resulted in a collapse in prices, with female sex workers in particular taking more risks,” said Councillor Ian Rowley, chairman of Westminster’s Sex Worker task group.

“As a result the risk of violence has increased substantially.”

Westminster covers Soho and Paddington, two districts long associated with the sex trade. The report said exact figures were hard to gauge but estimated there were 30 to 40 prostitutes working on the street in Paddington with up to 100 known brothels in Westminster, the highest number in London.

The number of women selling sex on their own off-street had increased considerably in the last few years, with the majority hailing from Eastern Europe, South America, particularly Brazil, and South East Asia, especially China and Thailand, it added.

“In our interviews with sex workers, they reported a 50 percent reduction in prices over the last few years,” the study said. “This means that many sex workers are selling sex in more risky environments in order to make enough money, putting them at more risk of violence.”

The report said the women working in “walk-up” brothels earned from about 20 pounds an hour, seeing six clients in one shift, while those in “mid-tier” establishments, often women working on their own advertising via the internet or telephone cards, would earn up to 200 pounds per hour.

In 2011, The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), a welfare body for sex workers, said desperate British students were turning to sex work to help make ends meet. (Reporting by Michael Holden)
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/04/12/britain-austerity-sexworkers-idINDEE93B09B20130412

Sex workers to campaign against new legal moves
Stephen Naysmith Social affairs correspondent Wednesday 3 April 2013 The Herald Scotland

SEX workers and campaigners are to stage a series of events to protest against criminalisation of their work and warn against driving prostitution underground.

Women and men involved in prostitution should be given human rights and protections at work, according to the organisers of a Sex Worker Open University (Swou) event taking place in Scotland this week.

The five-day event is part of a wider Sex Workers’ Rights Festival in Glasgow, part-funded by the Edinburgh-based sex worker support charity Scot-Pep. The programme includes a public debate on laws and policies affecting sex workers.

However, the main purpose of the event is to campaign against laws restricting sex work and attempts to criminalise the men who buy sex.

Organisers of the festival, including the English Collective of Prostitutes, argue such laws risk driving sex work underground and putting women and male prostitutes at greater risk of violence and abuse. Instead of turning sex workers into victims and criminals, they argue they should be treated as any other workers and offered the same protections.

Jay Levy, a PHD student at Cambridge University, will argue research in Sweden following the passage of laws criminalising the purchase of sex does not support such laws.

He said: “Although the law has failed to demonstrably diminish levels of prostitution; stigma, danger and violence in sex work have increased as have difficulties with authorities and service and healthcare providers.”

A spokeswoman for Swou said: “Despite the important amount of research and evidence pointing towards decriminalisation, misinformed politicians still draft law proposals that only further endanger sex workers.

“We challenge the popular stereotype of sex workers as vicitims or criminals. We believe those who choose to work in the sex industry, for whatever reasons, deserve the same legal and human rights as all other workers and criminalisation only increases our vulnerability and oppression at work.”

George Lewis, co-chairman of Scot-Pep, said: “We know from previous experience the health and safety of sex workers is threatened by driving it underground.”

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant is attempting to bring forward a new law which would make it an offence to attempt to buy sex.

She said: “This mantra that for some reason such laws would make it more dangerous are completely wrong. What is very clear is prostitution is currently very dangerous and anything that reduces demand reduces the number of people put at risk.”

Ms Grant added that the sex trade could not be driven completely underground, otherwise potential clients would not be able to find sex workers.

“This is not a harmless pursuit being carried out by consenting adults, it is damaging people, abusive and a form of coercion. You can’t buy consent.”

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/sex-workers-to-campaign-against-new-legal-moves.20690671

Decriminalise prostitution, campaigners demand
Campaigners demonstrate to call for the decriminalisation of prostitution in Scotland. Picture: Ian Rutherford

By CHRISTOPHER CLAIRE
Published on Sunday 7 April 2013 00:00

CAMPAIGNERS calling for the decriminalisation of prostitution in Scotland took to the streets of Glasgow yesterday for a five-day festival ­focusing on the sex industry.

The Sex Worker Open University will run until Wednesday and includes a public debate on laws and policies affecting sex workers.

The demonstrators are campaigning against laws restricting sex work and attempts to criminalise men who buy sex.

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant is aiming to bring forward new legislation that would make it an offence to attempt to buy sex. The campaigners outside the Scottish Trades Union Congress in Glasgow’s West End yesterday held placards reading: “Rhoda! Don’t erode our rights!”

Jay Levy, a PhD student at Cambridge University, was among those due to speak this weekend and claims research in Sweden has shown new ­anti-prostitution laws there have failed to have any impact on the trade.

“Although the law has failed to diminish levels of prostitution, the stigma, danger and violence in sex work have increased as have difficulties with authorities and service and healthcare providers.”

The festival is part-funded by the Edinburgh-based sex worker support charity Scot-Pep.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/decriminalise-prostitution-campaigners-demand-1-2881485

Complaints by sex workers about violence are rare because they are either not taken seriously or treated as an occupational hazard.

Labelling attacks as hate crimes would oblige police to investigate the crime rather than the sex worker themselves, claims Andrew Boff, leader of the Conservative group on the London Assembly. He is now urging the

Met Police to adopt the approach following the success of a similar scheme in Merseyside, which helped boost conviction rates by more than 80 per cent.

‘Sex workers are in the most dangerous profession a person can be in,’ said Mr Boff. ‘Unless we recognise that these types of crime are going on, we will never get to the bottom of solving them.’ Sex workers are 12 times more likely to be murdered than the average Briton and the move comes as Greater Manchester Police begin recording attacks against goths and emos as hate crimes.

But Cari Mitchell, of the English Collective of Prostitutes, said re- labelling attacks as hate crimes may not make any difference to sex workers. ‘Has it done so with racist attacks?’ she said.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/08/andrew-boff-urges-hate-crime-ruling-to-protect-sex-workers-3586898/

ECP full statement here:

It is important that Andrew Boff has raised that he is concerned, as we are, about the high levels of violence against sex workers.

But we have no reason to believe that if attacks on sex workers are categorised as hate crimes it will make any difference.  Has it done so with racist attacks?  Will it deal with the prejudices of the police and the crown prosecution service who prioritise prosecutions over our protection?   Will it change that, because we are criminalised, attacks on us are rarely taken seriously by the police?

If sex work were decriminalised, as it is in New Zealand, then we could come forward and report any attacks to the police and demand to be taken seriously.