Action Alert: Online consultation – Brighton and Hove City Council Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2023- 2026
Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC) has issued an online consultation on its Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2023- 2026.
The deadline for responses is 1 Jan 2024.
It asks you to comment on four priorities and then gives you an opportunity to “suggest any other priorities or anything else you feel we should consider as part of the draft strategy”.
The English Collective of Prostitutes just submitted our response and you may find some of the points we raise useful in your response. We highlighted that:
- Sex workers face high levels of violence. But research shows that criminalisation exacerbates the violence, exploitation and harm suffered by sex workers.[1]
- Sex workers are deterred from reporting rape and other violence for fear of arrest and for those of us who are migrant, fear of deportation.[2] Trans, migrant and women of colour are particularly targeted by the laws and are less likely to report violence due to discrimination.
- BHCC’s VAWG strategy acknowledges that: “The lack of economic resources generally makes women and LGBTQ+ people vulnerable to violence. It creates patterns of violence and poverty.” Poverty of women and especially mothers is a key driver of women into prostitution. National cuts that impacted mothers also disproportionately impacted sex workers as the majority of sex workers are mothers.
- Sex workers complain of violence from the state in the form of being threatened with having their children taken and being labelled bad mothers.[3]
- Decriminalisation of sex work is the priority for reducing violence and other harm against sex workers.[4]
We ask that:
- BHCC pass a motion to support the decriminalisation of sex work as part of its anti-VAWG strategy. Evidence from New Zealand where decriminalisation was introduced in 2003 shows that 70% of sex workers said they are more able to report violence, attacks are cleared up more quickly and sex workers are more able to leave prostitution as convictions are cleared from their records. Over 90% of sex workers said they had additional employment, legal, health and safety rights.[5]
- BHCC should target resources at sex workers to enable them to leave prostitution if they choose. This can take the form of priority for social housing, debt relief, health services, improved domestic violence services and instructing benefit decision-makers to not impose sanctions.[6] BHCC should oppose the No Recourse to Public Funds policy as it leaves people destitute and consequently increases the risk of violence.
- BHCC should implement a pilot project to pay mothers a “care income”[7] – similar to the payments of £1600 a month given to young people leaving care in Wales – in recognition of the fact that most sex workers are working to support families.
- BHCC should take action to stop sex working mothers losing custody of their children[8]— no child should be taken from their mother/primary carer just because the family is poor, homeless or unable to afford food, clothing or childcare.
Please comment if you can. We’d be glad to see any response you submit as we can compile this into a more comprehensive document to inform BHCC’s strategy going forward. Please send it to ecp@prostitutescollective.net
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[1] A systematic review of all sex work research conducted in 33 countries from 1990 to 2018, found that criminalisation of sex work is linked to ‘extensive harms’ among sex workers (Platt and Grenfell, 2018).,
[2] https://prostitutescollective.net/migrant-sex-workers-fight-police-illegality-racism/
[3] https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/sex-work-social-services-mothers-children/
[4] Mayhew, P. & Mossman, E. (2007). ‘Key Informant Interviews’ Review of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, Crime and Justice Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington. https://www.otago.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/248760/pdf-811-kb-018607.pdf
[5] Mayhew, P. & Mossman, E. (2007). ‘Key Informant Interviews’ Review of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, Crime and Justice Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington. https://www.nzpc.org.nz/pdfs/Mossman-and-Mayhew,-(2007a),-Key-informant-interviews.pdf
[6] Doncaster reports a 60 per cent increase in prostitution due to sanctions, with charities saying: “Women are being forced to sell sex for £5 because of benefit sanctions.” Sheffield reports a 166% increase. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/EPoverty/UnitedKingdom/2018/NGOS/English_CollectiveofProstitutes.pdf
[7] https://prostitutescollective.net/support-the-campaign-for-a-care-income-now/
[8] Suffer the little children & their mothers: A dossier on the unjust separation of children from their mothers