Know Your Rights – A-Z for Sex Workers is right on time. Raids, arrests, prosecutions, convictions and imprisonment of sex workers are on the increase, most recently there’s been a pre-Olympic crackdown in some London boroughs.
Approximately, 200 street workers are arrested each year. Many hundreds more are given “prostitute cautions” and/or anti-social behaviour orders. Prosecutions for brothel-keeping, the charge most often used against women working together consensually from premises, have skyrocketed from four in 2003 to over 80 in 2010.
The A-Z, which was written by sex workers with the help of committed legal professionals, explains the prostitution laws in simple terms. It aims to ensure that sex workers, no matter where we work, know the law, how to protect ourselves from arrest, how to defend ourselves if charged, and where to get help. Also, by informing the public about these unjust and devious laws, which have been passed in their name, we hope that the A-Z will build support for the decriminalisation of prostitution. New Zealand has decriminalised with proven benefits, why not here?
See the launch of the A-Z on youtube
English Collective of Prostitutes Tel: 020 7482 2496
www.prostitutescollective.net ecp@prostitutescollective.net