The Safety-First Coalition which campaigns to decriminalise sex work and prioritise women’s safety is coordinated by the English Collective of Prostitutes and was launched in 2006 following the murders of five young women in Ipswich. The coalition includes anti-poverty campaigners, church people & residents from Ipswich and elsewhere, the Royal College of Nursing, the National Association of Probation Officers, members of the medical and legal professions, prison reformers, sex worker and drugs rehabilitation projects.
Members of the Safety First Coalition condemn prostitution measures in the Policing & Crime Bill. Andrea Spyropoulos, Royal College Nursing: “I can see nothing in these proposals that makes women or men safer. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to criminalise individuals who are consenting adults having sex. TheRoyal College of Nursing is clear that we support decriminalisation on the basis […]
PRESS RELEASE From SAFETY FIRST – A coalition to decriminalise sex work and prioritise safety. Wednesday 25 June 2008: New Zealand marks five years of successful decriminalisation of prostitution. On the fifth anniversary of the introduction of the New Zealand Prostitution Reform Act (PRA), the NZ government has published a detailed evaluation report which confirms the positive […]
Sent to the Guardian letters, 16 May 08Dear Madam/SirFrances Crook’s comment that Pauline Campbell, who died tragically on 15 May, had been the “single most effective and inspiring campaigner” against women’s imprisonment, is closest to the truth (“Prison campaigner, 60, found dead by daughter’s graveside”, Guardian, 16 May).Like the mothers of the disappeared in Latin America […]
At the Million Women Rise march against violence on Saturday 8 March, a woman who was going to speak about sex workers’ safety was dropped from the platform at the last minute. Teresa MacKay from Ipswich Trades Council had been invited to address the rally in Trafalgar Square and had submitted in advance her speech […]
John McDonnell MPMember of Parliament for Hayes & HarlingtonWestminster Office, G10 Norman Shaw SouthHouse of CommonsLONDON SW1A 2JF Tel – 020 7219 1626 PRESS NOTICE… PRESS NOTICE…FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Labour MP welcomes Government’s u-turn on punitive prostitution plans The announcement that the government is dropping plans to introduce compulsory rehabilitation for prostitutes and the threat […]
Experts from New Zealand and Sweden With the debate on prostitution raging in the press, and given the opportunity to hear experts from New Zealand and Sweden, it was no surprise that the meeting in Committee Room 10 of the House of Commons was packed to the rafters. 200 people were joined by 10 Peers […]
“Safety First” Against further criminalisation of sex workers in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill 2007 Wednesday 17 October 2-4 pmHouse of Commons, Committee Room 9 Hosted by John McDonnell MP, long-term supporter of the ECP’s work and recent contender for the leadership of the Labour Party The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill 2007 (CJIB) is part […]
If we are to protect sex workers, basic human rights must be allowed to triumph over the state’s moral squeamishness. You don’t have to take a Hobbesian view of the world to conclude that one of the first duties of a state to its citizens is to keep them safe. Not just some, but […]
Joan Smith acknowledges that “women are driven into prostitution by poverty”, but doesn’t address benefit cuts, low wages, debt, lack of affordable housing, and addiction to expensive drugs. Instead, she targets clients (“Prostitutes are victims not criminals”, 13 April). She claims that police can’t deal with sex workers being beaten or raped because they are […]
WOMEN’S safety campaigners warned on Thursday that Ipswich local authorities’ plans for a “zero-tolerance” policy on street prostitution will compromise prostitutes’ safety. The Safety First coalition, which is co-ordinated by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP), warned that the proposals replicated almost exactly those in place before the horrific murder of five street prostitutes in […]