Statements
Statement: Victory! Amnesty International votes for decriminalisation
The English Collective of Prostitutes and the US PROStitutes Collective welcome Amnesty International’s vote to approve their draft policy calling for decriminalisation of sex work. The decriminalisation policy is rooted in “respecting, protecting and fulfilling the human rights of sex workers” and “preventing and redressing human rights violations”. It is comprehensive, carefully considered and based on concrete […]
Statement: Findings of student sex work survey
Findings from the Student Sex Work Project at Swansea University confirms the experience of the English Collective of Prostitutes that most students go into sex work to cover living expenses (two-thirds) and pay off debts (45%). One sex worker in the survey described sex work as an alternative to ten-hour shifts waiting tables on top […]
Statement: Oppose N. Ireland Bill to criminalise clients
Pushing prostitution further underground will not abolish it nor help sex workers,It will endanger sex workers’ lives and livelihoods. Consenting sex is not a crime. Criminalising clients will not stop prostitution; it will push it further underground, making it more dangerous and stigmatising for sex workers.Most sex workers are mothers, mostly single mothers driven into the […]
Statement: Congratulations to sex workers in France!
On Tuesday 8 July 2014, the French Senate rejected proposals to criminalise sex workers’ clients. The Select Committee considering the proposal consulted sex workers and other organisations over several months and found that people were alarmed about the danger caused to sex workers. The Committee received compelling evidence that clients, anxious about being fined, could […]
Statement: Objections to the methodology & content of APPG report on prostitution
This APPG Inquiry is not independent and was deeply biased from the start. Its remit was to: “develop proposals for government action with a focus on tackling demand for the sex trade.” Unsurprisingly therefore that the Inquiry’s conclusion is to recommend the blanket criminalisation of sex workers’ clients The Inquiry report contains fundamental inaccuracies. The […]
Statement: Sex workers oppose criminalisation of clients
CRIMINALISING CLIENTS UNDERMINES SEX WORKERS’ SAFETY & OTHER RIGHTS The English Collective of Prostitutes strongly oppose proposals being put forward today by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution to criminalise sex workers’ clients. Spokeswoman, Cari Mitchell, commented: “Criminalising clients will not stop prostitution, nor will it stop the criminalisation of women. But it will make […]
Statement: Victory! Closure order on sex workers’ Soho flat defeated; the flat re-opens!
Your support helped win this victory – thank you Two sex workers’ flats in Soho, central London were yesterday re-opened by a judge at Isleworth Crown Court. Judge JW Kingston rejected police evidence that women working in walk-up flats in Brewer Street were being controlled or incited into prostitution for gain. He overturned the closure […]
Statement: Another woman murdered – decriminalise prostitution now.
The tragic murder of Maria Duque-Tunjano last Friday shows the dangers of women working alone. Sex workers are prevented by the brothel-keeping laws from working together from premises and this deprives women of protection they are entitled to and have been able to organise for themselves. Working from premises is 10 times safer than working […]
Statement: We welcome Rupert Everett’s support for sex workers in Soho
We welcome Rupert Everett’s perceptive article and his support for sex workers (see here). Please also see Mariana Popa was killed working as a prostitute. Are the police to blame? by Diane Taylor and Mark Townsend about the policing of prostitution. Mr Everett’s article describes a Closure Order on a sex worker’s flat being granted […]