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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The prostitution laws are unjust and devious and lead to thousands of women a year being arrested, raided, prosecuted and even imprisoned.Police crackdowns break up safety networks. (i) Street workers are forced into isolated areas and are prevented from screening clients. Brothel-keeping law makes it illegal for two or more sex workers to work together. […]
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 […]
POLICE SHOULD BE PROTECTING WOMEN FROM VIOLENCE NOT PROSECUTING US FOR PROSTITUTION. On Friday 20th November 2015, Ms MP faces charges of loitering in the area of Tottenham at Highbury and Islington Magistrates Court. If convicted, she could face a fine of up to £1000, be banned from a certain area under an Anti-social Behaviour […]
I work on the streets part-time so it isn’t feasible for me to have a flat on my own, but if I could work with a friend from a flat I would do that because it would be safer. I wouldn’t be having to look over my shoulder for the police all the time. Because […]
In May 2015, a Romanian woman was arrested for loitering for the purposes of prostitution while walking down a road in North London with a friend. The reason given by police for the arrest was that her friend was carrying condoms. She wanted to contest the charge because she wasn’t working at the time so […]
By Sam Dimmer’It’s not rocket science – it’s just consensual sex between adults’As police in Coventry continue their seemingly never-ending battle with sex workers and their clients in the city’s red light district campaign groups are calling for a radical change in tactics.They believe that crackdowns like Operation Scarlet – the name for police efforts to tackle prostitution […]