Submissions & briefings
Evidence, submissions to parliamentary committees and briefings on proposals to change the law.
The Online Safety Bill was published on 12 May 2021 with the stated aim of cracking down on “harmful” content online. A clause has now been added to the bill to include the offence of “inciting or controlling prostitution for gain” as one of the priority offences that tech companies have to look out for – […]
The Home Office launched a VAWG Consultation which sought insights on a range of experiences of violence to feed into its 2020-2024 National Strategy. Prostitution wasn’t mentioned specifically, but many existing local authority VAWG strategies list prostitution as a form of violence against women on an equal par with rape, domestic abuse, stalking, harassment, etc.ECP collaborated […]
In November 2020, the Scottish Government launched a public consultation on “challenging men’s demand for prostitution”. Outrageously, it was presented as part of its “Equally Safe” strategy. The ECP’s response highlights the dangers of criminalisation, including the criminalisation of clients, and sex workers’ demands for decriminalisation, safety and the need for money and other material […]
In December 2020, Diana Johnson MP introduced a Ten-Minute Rule motion which aimed to criminalise the purchase of sex and target online sites where sex workers advertise.With members of its Safety First Coalition, including trade unionists, women’s and human rights organisations, the ECP briefed MPs against the motion. thousands of people wrote to their MP with a […]
In July 2018, the UK Government published its consultation on reform of the GRA in England and Wales. The ECP’s submission supported calls for reform that included the removal of the requirement for a medical diagnosis for achieving legal recognition as well as recognition of non-binary people and those under the age of 18. Read […]
The Irish government criminalised the purchase of sexual services under The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017. In 2020 it reviewed the law, specifically its ability to protect sex workers from harm and to identify victims of human trafficking. The ECP provided evidence that it did not achieve either of the above aims and recommended […]
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 and the Government’s policy of austerity cuts and a hostile environment for migrants forcing […]
In April 2020, the WEC launched an inquiry into the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people with protected characteristics (that is people who are discriminated against on the grounds of “age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity”). The ECP’s submission demanded ‘emergency payments for […]
The remit of the WEC inquiry focused on the “inequalities and harms that sex workers experience at work and the harms associated with prostitution as a whole”. The ECP mobilized its network to submit evidence and ensure that the research didn’t interpret the question of “harm” in a way that reinforces the view that prostitution is inherently […]
In response to the 2016 Home Affairs Committee recommendation that sex workers on the street and working together in premises be decriminalized, the University of Bristol Centre for Gender and Violence Research was commissioned by the government to investigate. The ECP mobilized its network to give evidence to ensure sex workers voices were heard. The […]