With social distancing rules in place and strip clubs and brothels closed, sex workers around the world have seen their incomes disappear almost overnight as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Fearing for their livelihoods, as well as their health, some are offering services online to keep their business going, while others are turning to […]
Sex trafficking has long been separated from the broader crime of human trafficking. But some are beginning to question whether this separation is useful—or even whether it’s actively harmful. Sex workers’ rights advocates argue that the division makes it easier for people to conflate all sex work with trafficking, inspiring misled campaigns to eliminate sex […]
Destitute sex workers are working through the pandemic. It doesn’t have to be that way In the coronavirus pandemic, few professions are as hazardous as sex work. The disease spreads through close physical contact, and sex work is an activity with a high risk of transmitting the virus. But, unlike almost all other professions, sex […]
In 2019, CEDAW (Committee on The Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) called for contributions to its draft general recommendations on TWGCGM. The ECP’s written submission outlined the context of trafficking and sex work in the UK, including the impact of Brexit, the Government’s policy of austerity cuts and a hostile environment for migrants which forces […]
“The virus comes on top of a crisis of poverty, especially among women. Most sex workers are mothers, mainly single mothers, who have been made poorer by austerity cuts. One and a half million people have been made deliberately destitute by government policies and four million children are living in poverty. That means that 100,000s of families […]
Calls have been made for an emergency fund to support sex workers whose earnings have fallen during the coronavirus crisis. A third of escorts have been continuing to offer face-to-face meetings, estimated one sex worker. The English Collective of Prostitutes said there was precedent for a support fund and without one many had to choose […]
Agencies have criticised the lack of action to protect the health needs of sex workers during the pandemic, with the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) warning of a “ticking time bomb of health problems.”Sex workers are at heightened risk of ill health,1 and violence,2 said the ECP, and unless the services they rely on resume normal […]
COVID-19 threatens both the lives and livelihoods of sex workers yet governments look the other way. A new publication seeks to help sex workers get their attention. Decriminalisation debates remain central to discussions about how to best address human trafficking. At the heart of these considerations are questions around whether trafficking can best be […]
“We have nowhere to turn if clients stop coming to see us. Our community is facing a crisis”.Many sex workers in the UK are now are being put in the perilous position of choosing to feed their families or risking their health – and the health of their loved ones, campaign groups have warned.Additional powers […]
This action has now ended but thousands of sex workers and supporters in our network wrote to their MP to demand emergency payments for sex workers during the pandemic. ——— Dear Friends Please demand that your MP raise the situation of sex workers, many of whom have been made destitute and homeless by this crisis. […]
