Decriminalization of sex work

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2019 Asijiki Coalition protest in front of the Parliament of South Africa holding red umbrellas and signs saying "sex work is work". They thanked President Cyril Ramaphosa for his efforts to decriminalise sex work.[1]

The decriminalization of sex work is the removal of criminal penalties for sex work (specifically, prostitution).[2] Sex work, the consensual provision of sexual services for money or goods,[3] is criminalized in most countries.[4] Decriminalization is distinct from legalization[5] (also known as the "regulationist" approach).[6]

Advocates of decriminalization argue that removing the criminal sanctions surrounding sex work creates a safer environment for sex workers,[7] and that it helps fight sex trafficking.[8] Opponents of decriminalization argue that it will not prevent trafficking (or even increase trafficking[9]) and could put sex workers at greater risk.[10] Evidence demonstrates that decriminalization is an evidence-based harm reduction approach.[11][12]

Organizations including: the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the medical journal The Lancet have called on countries to decriminalize sex work in the global effort to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic and ensure sex workers' access to health services.[13][14][15][16] Almost all organisations run by sex workers themselves around the world favour the decriminalisation of sex work, and it tends to be their main goal.[17][18][19][5][20]

However, a European Parliament resolution adopted on 26 February 2014, regarding sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality states that, "decriminalising the sex industry in general and making procuring legal is not a solution to keeping vulnerable women and under-age females safe from violence and exploitation, but has the opposite effect and puts them in danger of a higher level of violence, while at the same time encouraging prostitution markets – and thus the number of women and under-age females suffering abuse – to grow."[10]

Two countries have decriminalized sex work. In June 2003, New Zealand became the first country to decriminalize sex work, with the passage of the Prostitution Reform Act.[21] The one remaining criminal law surrounding commercial sexual activities in New Zealand is a requirement to adopt safer sex practices.[22] Despite decriminalisation, its sex industry is still controversial, with some issues remaining.[23] In June 2022, Belgium became the first country in Europe and the second country in the world to decriminalize sex work.[24][25]

  1. ^ Velani Ludidi (5 June 2019). "Sex workers thank Ramaphosa". GroundUp. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference All Women was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Overs, Cheryl. "Sex Workers: Part of the Solution" (PDF). World Health Organization. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  4. ^ McCarthy, B; Benoit, C; Jansson, M; Kolar, K (2012). "Regulating sex work: Heterogeneity in legal strategies". Annual Review of Law and Social Science. 8: 255–271. doi:10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-102811-173915.
  5. ^ a b Flowers, R. Barri (2011). Prostitution in the Digital Age: Selling Sex from the Suite to the Street. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 49. ISBN 9780313384615. Retrieved 23 February 2021. There are some who support Nevada's legal prostitution industry in specific and the legalization or decriminalization of prostitution in general, such as the sex workers rights' organizations, COYOTO (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) and PONY (Prostitutes of New York). (...) There appears to be stronger support among prostitutes' rights groups and many self-employed sex workers for decriminalization than legalization of prostitution, as "legalization is understood to mean decriminalization accompanied by strict municipal regulation of prostitution."
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Corriveau was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Safety, dignity, equality: Recommendations for sex work law reform in Canada" (PDF). The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform. 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  8. ^ "Why Sex Work Should Be Decriminalized". Human Rights Watch. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2021. Laws that clearly distinguish between sex work and crimes like human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children help protect both sex workers and crime victims. Sex workers may be in a position to have important information about crimes such as human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, but unless the work they themselves do is not treated as criminal, they are unlikely to feel safe reporting this information to the police.
  9. ^ "Open Letter to Amnesty International" (PDF). Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. 22 July 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  10. ^ a b "European Parliament resolution of 26 February 2014 on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact on gender equality". European Parliament. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  11. ^ Platt, L; Grenfell, P; Meiksin, R; Elmes, J; Sherman, S; Sanders, T; Mwangi, P; Crago, A (2018). "Associations Between Sex Work Laws and Sex Workers' Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Quantitative and Qualitative Studies". PLOS Medicine. 15 (12): e1002680. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002680. PMC 6289426. PMID 30532209.
  12. ^ Brooks-Gordon, Belinda; Morris, Max; Sanders, Teela (2021). "Harm Reduction and Decriminalization of Sex Work: Introduction to the Special Section". Sexuality Research and Social Policy. 18 (4): 809–818. doi:10.1007/s13178-021-00636-0. PMC 8519734.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference New WHO guidelines was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Amnesty International was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ "Human Rights Watch Affirm Support for Decriminalization". Global Network of Sex Work Projects. July 2014. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021.
  16. ^ "HIV and sex workers". The Lancet. Elsevier. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2021. This Series of seven papers aims to investigate the complex issues faced by sex workers worldwide, and calls for the decriminilisation of sex work, in the global effort to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
  17. ^ Sanders, Teela; O'Neill, Maggie; Pitcher, Jane (2009). Prostitution: Sex Work, Policy and Politics. London: SAGE Publications. p. 101. ISBN 9781849204361. Retrieved 23 February 2021. Decriminalization continues to be at the heart of many sex worker rights organizations.
  18. ^ Carrabine, Eamonn (2020). Criminology: A Sociological Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 253. ISBN 9781351343824. Retrieved 23 February 2021. Sex workers' organisations have been campaigning against neo-abolitionist policies and the criminalisation of commercial sex as detrimental to their lives and working conditions, and advocate for the complete decriminalisation of prostitution (see Plate 12.2) (Macioti and Garofalo Geymonat 2016).
  19. ^ Tremblay, Francine (2020). Organizing for Sex Workers' Rights in Montréal: Resistance and Advocacy. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 87. ISBN 9781498593908. Retrieved 23 February 2021. Sex workers' organizations and their allies favor decriminalization of prostitution because of the harms that stigmatization, discrimination, and criminalization bring to sex workers' lives and work.
  20. ^ Cruz, Katie (2020). "10. The Work of Sex Work. Prostitution, Unfreedom, and Criminality at Work". Criminality at Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 192–196. ISBN 9780198836995. Retrieved 23 February 2021. The central and uniting demand of the sex worker rights movement around the world is the decriminalization of consensual adult sex work. (...) Sex worker rights activists and their allies are united on the need for decriminalization of prostitution-related activities.
  21. ^ "Prostitution law reform in New Zealand". New Zealand Parliament. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  22. ^ "Prostitution Reform Act 2003 No 28 (as at 26 November 2018), Public Act 9 Sex workers and clients must adopt safer sex practices – New Zealand Legislation". www.legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  23. ^ "Prostitution law reform in New Zealand". New Zealand Parliament. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  24. ^ "LOI - WET". www.ejustice.just.fgov.be. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  25. ^ "Wet decriminalisering sekswerk vanaf 1 juni in voege: "Dit is een overwinning voor de mensenrechten"". DeWereldMorgen.be. 2 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.