Migrant sex workers
Vice: Are the Soho Brothel Raids Really About Saving Sex Workers?
Last week, six massage parlours were stormed by police looking for “victims” so they could “take them to safety”. Often, this meant arresting women and putting them in detention centres. Frankie Mullin On Thursday the 20th of October, around midnight, police stormed six massage parlours in Soho and Chinatown, making arrests, padlocking doors and nailing […]
Huck Magazine: We don’t need saving – London sex workers demand an end to racist police raids
No bad women, just bad lawsWomen from the English Collective of Prostitutes and the Sex Workers Open University protest police attitudes to migrants sex workers. Sex workers don’t need a hero, they say, but to be treated like humans.Prostitution is a tricky subject. Most of us don’t talk about it, and if we do, it’s […]
Letter from Empower in Thailand to the UK Home Secretary protesting raids done in the name of anti-trafficking.
Dear Amber Rudd MP, Home Secretary, Empower Foundation, Thailand. Empower is a Thai organization promoting rights and opportunities for sex workers in Thailand for over 30 years. Empower is predominately led and managed by sex workers. More than 50,000 sex workers have been part of Empower since our founding in 1985. Empower has been recognized nationally, regionally […]
Action Alert: Protest over raids against sex workers which undermine safety
PROTESTS GROW OVER RAIDS & LANDGRABS IN CHINATOWN & SOHO What: Masked protest called by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) with Sex Workers Open University (SWOU) and Sex Workers’ Opera (SWO) When: Monday 24 October, 12-1pm Where: Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF For more information: ECP, (020) 7482 2496, 07811 964171 ecp@prostitutescollective.net […]
Action Alert: Template letter to the Home Secretary to protest raids
Six premises in Chinatown and Soho, where sex workers were working, were raided last night. 18 people were arrested: 12 have been removed on immigration grounds, six for other offences. Thai women were particularly targeted. Westminster police slapped closure notices on the doors of premises and threw women out onto the street. They say they were targeting […]
Press Release: Protests grow over raids and landgrabs in Chinatown & Soho
PROTESTS GROW OVER RAIDS & LANDGRABS IN CHINATOWN & SOHO What: Protest organised by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) with Sex Workers Open University and Sex Workers’ Opera When: Monday 24 October, 12-1pm Where: Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF For more information: ECP, (020) 7482 2496, 07811 964171 ecp@prostitutescollective.net www.prostitutescollective.net Six […]
Broadly: Why more and more young women are getting arrested for prostitution
By Harriet Agerholm London has seen a 191 percent increase in the number of 18 to 25-year-old women arrested for prostitution, according to exclusive police figures obtained by Broadly. Why are young sex workers getting apprehended by cops? Maria* was working as a prostitute on the street in east London when a pimp threatened to […]
Vice: London’s Romanian sex workers are worried that Brexit would screw them
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 Guardian: Romanian sex workers challenge UK immigration policy
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 […]