Action Alert: Urgently ask your MP to support calls to prioritise sex workers’ safety
Dear friends, following the horrific attacks on a number of women and the murder of Sheryl Wilkins and Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, please urgently write to your MP to support calls to prioritise sex workers’ safety and end the criminalisation of sex work.
- Find your MP and their email address here https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
- Send our model letter below, adding in your MPs name, your name and postcode, and personalising it however you wish. Please cc ecp@prostitutescollective.net
- Please forward us any responses you get.
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Template letter.
Subject line: End violence against sex workers
Dear MP,
You will be aware of the horrific case of Simon Levy, who was recently convicted of the murder of Sheryl Wilkins and Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, and the violent rape of another woman. Ms Wilkins was a mother and Ms Valencia-Trujillo a new grandmother. Levy was a serial attacker with a long history of violence against women, including an attack on a woman in our network.
The Levy case is yet another example of how the police and Crown Prosecution Service systematically deprioritise rape and other violence against women. Women Against Rape points to the low conviction rate for reported rape which has barely improved despite vigorous campaigning by victims and women’s groups and the government’s current VAWG strategy claiming safety from violence is a priority. Levy was repeatedly given bail even after he had been convicted of assaults. On a number of occasions, the police delayed for months before even investigating his attacks on women.
What you may not know is that the murder of Sheryl Wilkins took place during a massive police crackdown against sex workers in Enfield and Haringey. The police operation, called Clear, Hold, Build (implemented locally as Operation Pisces), led to sex workers being arrested, displaced from familiar areas, given Community Protection Orders and treated as criminals. Shockingly, the rape survivor who bravely gave evidence in court at Levy’s trial had been arrested for prostitution offences while on her way to hospital to get treatment for her injuries. She gave police a detailed description of Levy and his home address, yet still no action was taken.
As well as pointing to the desperate need for change so that women’s safety is prioritised, we believe this case also points to the need to end the criminalisation of sex work.
The Guardian article about the Levy case highlights how fear of arrest (and deportation for immigrant women), prevents sex workers from reporting violence, and therefore encourage vicious predatory attackers like Levy to target sex workers with impunity. When violent men are allowed to prey on some women without consequence, all women are at risk. We see how domestic abuse victims and women battling against a ex-violent partner in the family court for example, experience the same lack of protection.
The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) has written to the Mayor of London asking for Clear, Hold, Build, to be withdrawn. We know that it is due to be extended to other areas so urgent action must be taken to stop it before more women’s lives are put at risk.
I also want to bring to your attention the growing outrage over the injustice of prostitute’s cautions. The recent Crime and Policing Bill automatically expunged cautions and convictions for under 18-year-olds. Why can’t this be extended to all sex workers? The ECP’s report, Proceed Without Caution, includes testimony from sex workers about the lifelong impact of cautions and convictions on their lives. An open letter to the Home Secretary has also gathered support from more than 80 organisations.
Prostitution is increasing because women and children’s poverty is increasing. The majority of sex workers are mothers, many single mothers, working to support families. Instead of ensuring that women have money in their hands and the resources to leave sex work if they choose, successive governments, including some Labour women MPs, have proposed increasing the criminalisation of sex work. This goes against public opinion which increasingly recognises that criminalisation undermines safety.
I’d be glad to discuss with you what concrete measures would give women choices to leave prostitution. I hope that you will support the call to end the criminalisation of sex work so that all women’s and girls’ safety can be prioritised.
Yours sincerely,
Name
Postcode