Decriminalisation increases sex workers’ safety and well-being. New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003 with verifiable success. Over 90% of sex workers said they had additional employment, legal, health and safety rights. One important measure of this is that prior to decriminalisation 47% of brothel workers had refused to see a client in the previous 12 months, after decriminalisation 68% of brothel workers had done this. 70% said they were more likely to report incidents of violence to the police.
For more information see our briefing Why Decriminalisation? and report Decriminalisation of Prostitution: the Evidence.
By Rachel Trafford, Immigration Advice Service content writer Today is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Credit: SWARM Paying for sex could become a criminal offence in England and Wales if Parliament approves a new Bill which claims to protect women from sexual exploitation. But criminalisation will only further harm people who are already marginalised, argues Rachel […]
Sex work is legal in the UK. But whilst the exchange of money between two adults for consensual sex is allowed, lots of activities surrounding sex work remain illegal. Laws on ‘brothel-keeping’ and ‘loitering and soliciting’ in particular have made sex workers’ lives significantly more difficult. This legislation prevents sex workers from working together from premises, and […]
COVID-19 threatens both the lives and livelihoods of sex workers yet governments look the other way. A new publication seeks to help sex workers get their attention. Decriminalisation debates remain central to discussions about how to best address human trafficking. At the heart of these considerations are questions around whether trafficking can best be […]
The posters appeared on London’s underground over the weekend, which saw a sex workers strike on International Women’s Day. (Twitter/pastachips)An adhacking campaign advocating sex work decriminalisation has appeared on the London Undergound – to viral results.The new posters, which appeared during the London-wide sex worker’s strike on International Women’s Day, call for sex work to be […]
Feminist arguments against sex work are as influential as they are dangerous.Frankie Miren Laura Watson EXPERT DISCUSSIONWe asked sex worker rights groups and allies around the world to discuss what works and doesn’t work when arguing for the decriminalisation of sex work. This series reports what they said.Sex workers fight daily battles to defend our rights. […]
“It’s a human right to be safe. So me as a sex worker, why am I not entitled to that?” Charlotte Rose, like many others in her profession, is calling for sex work law reform in the UK because she fears for her safety. While it’s not against the law to buy or sell […]
Over the past year, the movement to decriminalise prostitution in the UK has gained unprecedented traction. Led by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), which describes itself as “a self-help organisation of sex workers”, the #MakeAllWomenSafe campaign expresses an urgent need for legal reform with regard to the current state of criminalisation, particularly in cases […]
Exclusive: ‘People are horrified that sex workers suffer so much violence and understand that the prostitution laws, which force women to work in isolation, increase the danger of attack,’ says campaignerMaya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent @mayaoppenheimCampaigners have called for sex work to be decriminalised as a new study finds more people in Britain support sex work law reform than oppose it.It is […]
More Britons believe sex workers should not be punished for operating out of brothels or on the street than those who think they should, an opinion poll commissioned by RightsInfo has found. Forty-nine percent of British people surveyed are in favour of decriminalising brothel-keeping, an offence punishable by up to seven years in prison. Meanwhile, 44 percent […]
‘Exercising sexuality in our country is still a taboo topic that few of us dare to talk about’Maya Oppenheim Women’s Correspondent @mayaoppenheim Lawmakers in Mexico City’s congress on Friday voted 38-0, with eight abstentions, in favour of a bill to remove a line in the civic culture law which said prostitutes and their clients can be […]