Crackdowns on street workers

22nd January 2020

Ilford Recorder: ‘A complete disgrace’: National activist group blasts Redbridge Council’s Ilford Lane prostitution crackdown

Redbridge Council’s efforts to reduce prostitution are a “complete disgrace” that will endanger vulnerable women, an activist group has warned.The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECOP) has claimed that a £20,000 trial to change the mindset and behaviour of those soliciting sex will only force sex workers into more dangerous situations.The trial, announced earlier this month, […]

17th April 2019

Independent: Police criticised for warning Swansea sex workers they could be prosecuted in clampdown

‘It is terrifying that this is the police response to women’s situation. Women are out there because poverty has increased – particularly in that area. People are really struggling,’ says campaignerMaya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent @mayaoppenheimPolice have been criticised for warning sex workers in Swansea that they could be prosecuted in a clampdown. Campaigners argued this would put the women in greater danger.Sex […]

14th April 2019

Ilford Recorder: Letters – Don’t punish the sex workers

Niki Adams, English Collective of Prostitutes, Crossroads Women’s Centre, Wolsey Mews, Kentish Town, writes:We are distressed to see “Street Watch” patrols in Ilford Lane which claim to target kerb crawlers as this is likely to push sex workers into more isolated areas where they will be more vulnerable to violence.We have also seen how quickly […]

19th January 2018

Action Alert: please protest Redbridge Council’s proposal for £100 fines against people involved in prostitution.

Dear Friends,Redbridge Council have launched a consultation on a proposed policy to extend Public Spaces Protection Orders to the whole borough. This would give them the power to fine people £100 for prostitution related activities and ban people from areas during particular times of the days using civil injunctions.Please protest by filling in the consultation […]

28th March 2017

Vice: Hull’s ‘prostitution free’ zone isn’t going to stop the local sex trade

The residents, sex workers and activists I spoke to told me it’s only going to force everything into a new area. Last week, Hull City Council won a landmark ruling to create Britain’s first “prostitution-free zone”. The new orders mean that any sex workers or curb crawlers caught around the impoverished Hessle Road area – where 70 […]

22nd November 2016

Statement: Police and UK Border Agency actions targeting migrant sex workers

We are writing to express our serious concerns about a number of joint UK Border Agency and police operations targeting migrant sex workers which took place during the week commencing 17th October, the week during which Anti-Slavery Day, 18th October 2016, is marked.On Thursday 20th October in Soho and Chinatown, London, six premises were raided […]

4th July 2016

Vice: Sex workers in Hackney can’t get support unless the police are involved

By Frankie Mullin”When I first came to Open Doors I was picked up off the street by a drugs worker. I was wearing shoes without any soles,” says K, who suffers from a range of health problems but now describes her life as “harmonised”.”When I first met Open Doors, I was homeless, in prostitution and […]

4th July 2016

Hackney Citizen: National charity warns of ‘seismic shift towards criminalisation’ of Hackney’s sex workers

Sophie Hemery Sex workers are increasingly subject to enforcement by police and local authorities in the form of dispersal orders, fines and prosecution. At a focus group on street sex workers’ health, Angelica is a natural orator. She is funny and passionate, and shares her life’s successes and struggles with hard-won conviction. At almost 60 […]

9th June 2016

Vice: London’s Romanian sex workers are worried that Brexit would screw them

By Margaret CorvidFrom 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 country because […]

1st May 2016

The Guardian: Romanian sex workers challenge UK immigration policy

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 […]