Laws which target sex workers are supposedly set up to protect women. But really, they put vulnerable women in more danger.By Stella Winter and Liliana Gashi from English Collective of ProstitutesA rally for sex worker rights during the Women’s Strike, 8th March 2018. Photo by Juno Mac.After the introduction of SESTA-FOSTA in the US set the precedent for policing online sex work, […]
See open letter here: Demand police prioritise the protection of sex workers over the prosecution for prostitution offences.BACKGROUND INFORMATION On 24 June, Maria Benito [not her real name] called the police after being robbed at knifepoint by five men while working with other women in a flat in Enfield.When officers attended the incident, Ms Benito […]
We write to protest the police treatment of a victim of armed robbery who was working as a sex worker when she was attacked. (Crime ref: 5214132/17).Ms Maria Benito [not her real name] was working in a flat in Enfield when five men broke in with knives and robbed her and other women. As soon […]
Joint Statement by SWARM, English Collective of Prostitutes and National Ugly MugsLess than two months ago, thousands of sex workers and concerned members of the public raised their alarm over the arrest and deportation of three Romanian sex workers in Swindon. This week, West Midlands Police raided a premises in Smethwick, shutting down the workplace […]
Campaigners warn threats from police and Home Office against sex workers who report crimes make women reluctant to report violence committed against them May Bulman The Brazilian woman, who was in the UK on a six-month visa, approached the police after she was robbed at knifepoint along with other sex workers by a group of […]
By Natalie Bloomer “Campaigners for sex workers’ rights say that by focusing on the prosecution and deportation of the worker rather than the attack against her, police were discouraging other women from coming to them for help” Sex workers have warned that they are unable to go to the police for help, after a victim […]
Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent Labour frontbencher Keir Starmer concerned about priorities of Met police after spate of robberies of premises used for sex work in London Scotland Yard has been accused of threatening to prosecute women who work in brothels rather than pursue an armed gang of robbers who have been repeatedly targeting premises […]
Rights sheet vs deportation of migrant sex workers launched for #1DayWithoutUs. Police have stepped up threats against sex workers who are from EEA countries and, unless we protest, the situation is likely to get worse as immigrant people are further scapegoated post Brexit. Women are being given letters by police telling them that sex work […]
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 […]
By Frankie MirenUntil recently, Holbeck in Leeds was unlikely to see a news reporter from one end of the year to another. Lying on the southern edge of the city, Holbeck is partly residential, partly industrial, with a scattering of businesses: a tile shop, piano shop, printers, a tanning salon. Sex workers have hustled on […]