Decriminalisation

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.

12th September 2017

Independent: Trade union leaders to vote on decriminalising prostitution at TUC conference

Calls made for a ‘New Zealand-style’ approach which offers sex workers legal protection but concerns remain over ‘exploitation’Lizzy Buchan and Harriet Agerholm Political CorrespondentUnion leaders will vote on whether to back efforts to decriminalise prostitution to offer greater protection to sex workers.Calls have been made for a ‘New Zealand-style’ approach where sex workers are offered full legal protection amid […]

12th September 2017

TUC Congress 2017: SUPPORT Motion 39 Decriminalisation of sex work

SUPPORT Motion 39 Decriminalisation of sex workReceived from ASLEF supported by GMBCongress notes that austerity measures since 2010 have led to an increase in the number of people working in the sex industry and is concerned by examples such as Doncaster, where on-street prostitution has risen by 60 per cent, an increase primarily attributed to the […]

17th August 2017

Screenshot Magazine: How unions could protect our sex workers

Megan WallaceSurely, we should be entering an age where sex has been demystified and ideas about its supposed sanctity safely abandoned. However, when we consider the social perception of sex workers, it is clear that this is not yet the case.Across the globe, assumptions that sex work is immoral are still rife, with sex workers […]

26th April 2017

Podcast: Very Loose Women – sex workers’ rights and safety

Emma Grinfeld and Leonore Schick discuss young women’s issues. This week VLW are joined by members of the English Collective of Prostitutes who campaign for the decriminalisation of prostitution as well as for sex workers’ rights and safety. We’ll be talking about the real effects that the current laws in the UK have on sex […]

11th April 2017

In Full Sight: ‘The pimp lobby’ at the Amnesty AGM

The ‘pimp lobby’ slur thrown at those who argue for full decriminalization discredits the sex work labour movement. Frankie Mullin reports on the Amnesty UK Annual General Meeting. Frankie Mullin is a freelance journalist covering social issues with a special interest in the politics of sex work. “The English Collection of Pimps.” That was the slur […]

19th October 2016

Statement: In loving memory, Jean Johnson, Hampshire WI

It was with shock and sadness that we heard of the death of our wonderful friend and colleague, Jean Johnson, Chair of Hampshire Women’s Institute. Jean died suddenly on 4 October and her funeral is today. Her passing is a terrible loss not only for her family and friends but for sex workers and single […]

1st July 2016

The Mail: 100 per cent of our readers think prostitution should be decriminalised?

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 […]

1st July 2016

Home Affairs Select Committee Report (2016)

The ECP welcomed the Home Affairs Select Committee recommendation in 2016 that the law be changed ” “so that soliciting [a charge used against street-based sex workers] is no longer an offence and so that brothel-keeping provisions allow sex workers to share premises”. Crucially the Committee also calls for a law to delete “previous convictions and cautions […]

1st July 2016

Decriminalise sex workers, says Home Affairs Committee

The Home Affairs Committee publishes an interim report on prostitution, saying that soliciting by sex workers, and sex workers sharing premises, should be decriminalised.Report: ProstitutionReport: Prostitution (PDF 1.10 MB)Inquiry: ProstitutionHome Affairs CommitteeHome Office should change legislationThe Committee says the Home Office should immediately change existing legislation so that soliciting is no longer an offence and brothel-keeping laws […]

1st July 2016

BBC News: Soliciting by sex workers should not be a crime, MPs say

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 […]