In 2016, the Home Affairs Select Committee (a cross-party committee of MPs) recommended 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 called for a law to delete “previous convictions and cautions for prostitution from the record of sex workers”. The ECP statement gave credit for this victory to the international movement for decriminalisation spearheaded by grassroots sex workers over 40 years.
Unpublished. 9 September 2016 Why should Keith Vaz resign as head of the Home Affairs Select Committee which is considering the prostitution laws just because he may have consorted with sex workers? (Vaz to leave committee after sex claims, Guardian 5 Sept 16) The laws that criminalised sex workers have almost always (with some exceptions) […]
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 […]
By Frankie MullinAt midnight last night, sex workers waited, fingers crossed, breath held, as the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) report into prostitution went online. There was reason for apprehension: the inquiry’s initial terms of reference seemed geared towards recommending more criminalisation. During the inquiry itself, moral crusaders were given as much air time as […]
Nadia KhomamiHome affairs select committee wants law changed so sex workers are allowed to share premises while urging crackdown on those who exploit sex workersThe criminalisation of sex workers in England and Wales should come to an end, a cross-party committee of influential MPs has recommended.In an interim report published on Friday, the home affairs […]
1 July 2016 The English Collective of Prostitutes welcomes the report from the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) which recommends a change in the law “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 […]
Urgent, respond to Home Affairs Committee biased inquiry on prostitution Deadline for submissions: midday on Thursday 18 February 2016 Dear Friends, As many of you will know, the Home Affairs Select Committee has launched an inquiry into prostitution. The remit of the inquiry is entirely biased as it aims to: “assess whether the balance in […]
By Frankie MullinOn Friday the 15th of January, the Home Affairs Committee, a cross-party group of MPs, announced that it will hold an inquiry into how sex work is treated in legislation. So far, so good. We badly need this. Ask most UK sex workers and they’ll tell you the current law is dangerous and […]