As the UK looks poised to decriminalise sex work, Siobhan Fenton meets the English Collective Prostitutes to discuss what life is like for sex workers under the current prostitution lawsSiobhan FentonIn years gone by, sex workers might have been viewed by society as people to be pitied, mocked or even judged, with whispered stereotypes about ‘fallen […]
By Harriet Agerholm London has seen a 191 percent increase in the number of 18 to 25-year-old women arrested for prostitution, according to exclusive police figures obtained by Broadly. Why are young sex workers getting apprehended by cops? Maria* was working as a prostitute on the street in east London when a pimp threatened to […]
PROSTITUTION laws should be urgently rewritten so sex workers are no longer criminalised for soliciting, a major new Commons report has argued. Evening Mail readers voted overwhelmingly in favour of it being decriminalisation. Brothel-keeping rules should also be adapted so prostitutes can share premises rather than placing themselves at risk by working alone, the Government […]
Soliciting by sex workers should no longer be a crime, the Commons Home Affairs Select committee says.The cross-party group of MPs is urging the government to make radical changes to the laws on prostitution in England and Wales.Brothel-keeping rules should also be modified so that prostitutes can share premises rather than risk working alone, the […]
By Frankie MullinAt midnight last night, sex workers waited, fingers crossed, breath held, as the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) report into prostitution went online. There was reason for apprehension: the inquiry’s initial terms of reference seemed geared towards recommending more criminalisation. During the inquiry itself, moral crusaders were given as much air time as […]
Nadia KhomamiHome affairs select committee wants law changed so sex workers are allowed to share premises while urging crackdown on those who exploit sex workersThe criminalisation of sex workers in England and Wales should come to an end, a cross-party committee of influential MPs has recommended.In an interim report published on Friday, the home affairs […]
By Margaret Corvid. From the column ‘Europe: The Final Countdown’ Against the backdrop of the EU referendum campaign, London-based Romanian women sex workers are using EU law to challenge the police and fight for their rights. Under Operation Nexus, the Met are monitoring Romanian sex workers, rounding them up and ordering them to leave the […]
LettersLast week Amnesty International launched its global policy on sex work alongside new research which documents the severe human rights abuses suffered by sex workers (Amnesty in global programme to decriminalise sex work, theguardian.com, 26 May). Amnesty’s call on states to repeal laws that criminalise “the consensual exchange of sexual services between adults for remuneration” […]
Women targeted by Operation Nexus, which aims to deport foreign offenders, say they are legitimately self-employedAlthough freedom of movement is guaranteed within the EU, the right to stay after three months is dependent on new arrivals working or studying.A policy aimed at deporting “high-harm” EU-national criminals and those not entitled to remain in Britain is […]
By Frankie Mullin And here we are in 2016, discussion raging once more. Sex workers sidelined, once more. When the current UK inquiry gathered oral evidence there were three main witnesses: just one current sex worker, Laura Lee; a former prostitute and survivor of abuse within the industry, Mia de Faoite; and UK Feminista’s Kat […]