Thread by @ukdecrimnow

Yesterday @STOPAIDS issued a position paper on why they are supporting the full decriminalisation of sex work. We will be tweeting extracts today. stopaids.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

“STOPAIDS cannot afford to be ambiguous or shy about our position. We are committed to implementing our programmes, policies and advocacy in line with this decriminalisation position, and we encourage the sex workers’ movement to hold us to account on this.”

“Sex workers are entitled to the same human rights as all people. Rather than a faceless profession, (they) are individuals with diverse identities and roles, and are integral members of communities. A legal framework for sex work must protect and uphold... human rights”

“The right to health, the right to live free from violence and the right to economic security will all have a significant impact on the HIV and AIDS response. Guaranteeing these rights for all people, including sex workers, will play a key role in helping to...end AIDS by 2030.

“Sex workers should have access to the highest attainable standard
of health. To uphold the right to health, states have an obligation to provide accessible health services and social conditions necessary for all citizens to realise the highest attainable standard of health”

“Sex workers must be able to access appropriate, accessible, acceptable and affordable health services. Health services should not be limited to addressing sex workers’ sexual and reproductive health needs,
but should include a holistic package of support services”

“Sex workers should not encounter stigma or discrimination within health services. To ensure health services are as effective as possible, sex workers should be meaningfully involved in the development of tailored health services and should lead implementation and monitoring.”

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees everyone “the right to life, liberty and security of person”. The right to security requires that states protect individuals against intentional bodily or mental injury”

“A legal framework for sex work must therefore ensure that sex workers can live free from sexual, physical and psychological violence and harassment. It must also guarantee that, when sex workers encounter violence or harassment, they have recourse to justice”

“Experiences of violence will directly and indirectly affect a person’s right to health, and these experiences are strongly associated with an increased risk of acquiring HIV. Eg, women in high-prevalence settings who have experienced (GBV) are 50% more likely to acquire HIV.”

“Sex workers should be able to earn a secure income. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights gives everyone “the right to work, to free
choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment”.”

”It also states that anyone who works has the right to earn enough income to support themselves and their family to live dignified lives.

“ The International Labour Organization (ILO) recognised sex work as a form of informal labour in its discussion on ‘Recommendation 200 Concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work’. “

“ILO member states agreed that sex workers are covered by this instrument, therefore giving sex workers the same rights and entitlements as other informal workers, within Recommedation 200”

“A legal framework for sex work must ensure that sex workers have the right to choose the work they want and a working pattern that fits with education or caring responsibilities.
(They) must be able to earn an income that provides secure housing, adequate food...and education.”

“Sex workers must have access to safe and fair working conditions.... All sex workers...must be protected from discrimination. If a sex worker is mistreated in the workplace, they must be entitled to the same protections as other groups of workers.”

“If a sex worker chooses to engage in other forms of work, they must be able to freely choose a new form of employment without facing discrimination in future jobs. These social conditions, along with a safe working environment, will directly influence health outcomes.”

“Criminalisation and violence directly and indirectly affect sex workers’ HIV risk, sexual and reproductive health, and broader physical and emotional health.”

“In a review of 800 studies on the links between HIV and human rights violations against sex workers, criminalisation was found to increase HIV susceptibility and undermine effective HIV-prevention and intervention efforts”

“A literature review of the associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health further supports this conclusion, finding that sex workers who had experienced repressive policing were twice as likely to have acquired HIV or a STI compared to those who had not.”

“Under criminalisation, sex workers are not entitled to labour protections, which further limits their ability to negotiate safe sex. n some countries, carrying condoms is used as evidence of sex work during arrest, which discourages sex workers from carrying and using condoms”

“A systematic review of literature... found that...up to 80% of sex workers had experienced police confiscating, destroying or using condoms as evidence against them and more than one third of sex workers reported not carrying condoms due to fear of law enforcement.”

“ A further literature review of 86 studies across 33 countries found that sex workers who had experienced repressive policing were 1.5 times more likely to have sex with a client without a condom, compared to those who had not experienced repressive policies.”

“Criminalisation also acts as a barrier to accessing quality health services, including HIV testing and treatment. Criminalisation impedes sex workers’ ability to gain citizenship, tax documentation and legal personhood”

“This lack of legal personhood frequently means that sex workers lack forms of identification required to access social services, including health insurance and health services”

“Criminalisation can also fuel stigma and discrimination experienced within health and social services, undermining sex workers’ access to HIV and wider health services.”

“Sex workers have also documented human rights abuses within health services, including breaches of confidentiality, denial of health services including HIV testing and treatment, stigma and discrimination and forced or mandatory rehabilitation.”

“Health services for sex workers will be most effective when they are sex worker-led and developed with a real understanding of sex workers’ realities. This kind of dialogue and partnership with sex workers is more difficult where sex workers are criminalised.”

“PEPFAR, the agency that delivers the US Agency for International Development’s HIV and AIDS programmes – operates an anti-prostitution pledge, requiring.. grantees to oppose prostitution...and prohibits funds from being used in advocacy against the criminalisation of sex work.”

“A Canadian study...showed that attempts to avoid areas of high police enforcement and violence hindered sex workers’ access to harm reduction programmes that provided clean needles and syringes.”

“Criminalisation, stigma and discrimination significantly affect sex workers’ emotional and mental wellbeing. For example, in central and eastern Europe, sex workers identified frequent displacement and fear of arrest and police abuse as an all-consuming stress factor”

“Three studies from India and Canada further support this finding. These studies found that recent incarceration, arrest and increased police presence were associated with poorer mental health.”

“Media collusion during raids is common, as is publishing the names and photographs of individuals arrested for sex work. Sex workers also report the fear of being ‘outed’ by police or media as emotionally stressful.”

“Criminalisation deters sex workers from reporting violence and harassment to the police because they fear arrest or abuse at the hands of the police. Migrant sex workers
are particularly deterred from reporting violence to the police because of the risk of deportation.”

“Criminalisation of sex work and the resulting lack of trust in police protection leads to impunity for the perpetrators of violence against sex workers and to an increase in violence against sex workers.”

“the South African Law Reform Commission stated that “the criminalisation of prostitution and the attendant social stigma contribute to a climate in which society treats prostitutes with discrimination and violence, often with impunity”.

“A systematic review of 28 studies summarising factors correlated with violence against female sex workers found that experiences of policing practices, such as violence, arrest or coercion, were associated with increased client violence.”

“Rather than protecting sex workers, in a climate of criminalisation, police are often the perpetrators of violence against sex workers. Amnesty International’s sex work policy...., documents widespread human rights abuses against sex workers, including police abuse.”

“Amnesty found instances of sex workers being made to pay bribes or give free sexual services to police to avoid arrest or raiding of a work place. Sex workers also reported violence during police raids, unlawful detention and ill treatment and rape by police while in custody.”

“Criminalisation of sex work also shapes public perception of sex workers and normalises social stigma and discrimination against sex workers. Discrimination and stigma conspire to create a climate in which violence against sex workers is increasingly acceptable and common.”

“Legal frameworks that criminalise sex work prevent sex workers from realising their right to work and to free choice of employment. Criminalisation of sex work means that sex workers are excluded from the labour protections that other workers are entitled to.”

“This includes protections from employers, leaving sex workers more vulnerable to exploitation by their employers. Where working conditions are unsafe, or fall below the decent work standards set out by the ILO, sex workers have no recourse to justice.”

“The criminalisation of sex work interferes with sex workers’ right to organise. It makes it dangerous and illegal for sex workers to form associations for advocacy or peer support purposes.”

“Criminalisation also interferes with sex workers’ ability to engage in collective bargaining to improve labour conditions.”

“Criminal records...are a barrier to sex workers finding other forms of work
to supplement their income while in sex work or when considering leaving sex work. Sex workers find themselves unable to secure alternate forms of employment when companies run background checks”

“Sex work-related convictions may even disqualify individuals from..many female-dominated, liveable wage professions in healthcare, teaching, social work and law, effectively barring sex workers’ pathways to other viable means to meet their economic needs”

“In many countries, sex workers cannot legally open a bank account. This forces sex workers to live in a cash economy, ruling out options for saving, buying property and planning for retirement.”

“Police fines, arrest and detention disrupt sex workers’ ability to earn an income to support themselves and their families. Sex workers report allocating substantial portions of their income in order to pay off police fines and extortion.”

“Criminalisation also impedes sex workers’ right to housing. This creates housing insecurity which, in turn, leads to greater dependence on clients and third parties.”

“Amnesty documented an operation in Norway carried out by the Oslo police between 2007–2011, which involved systematic and rapid eviction of many sex workers from their places of work and/or homes.”

“This practice of targeted evictions, largely with less than one day of notice, disproportionately affected migrant sex workers and continued beyond 2011, leading to the closure of over 400 Oslo apartments used for sex work between 2007 and 2014.“

“Under some legal frameworks, sex workers are not criminalised, but their clients are....There is no evidence that criminalising clients has resulted in an overall decline in levels of sex work, although some countries report a drop in visible street sex work.”

“There is extensive evidence, however, that criminalising clients affects sex workers’ safety. While sex workers are not directly criminalised under this model, they continue to face police harassment...and are often dispersed and pushed into... more isolated environments.”

“ This displacement to less safe environments is compounded by the power imbalance between sex workers and their clients, which leads
sex workers to absorb client risks and compromise their own safety to protect clients from detection.”

“The combination of heightened policing of street-based sex work and clients’ fear of arrest disrupts sex workers’ safety systems and pushes them into less well-lit and more isolated environments.”

“For street-based sex workers, clients’ fear of detection and
arrest shortens the time sex workers have to decide whether or not to get into a car.
This means less time to screen clients and negotiate services and price.”

“For indoor sex workers, the criminalisation of sex work can push sex workers to compromise their safety to protect clients”

“In Norway, sex workers reported accommodating clients’ fear of being arrested at hotels or apartments used for sex work by agreeing to go to their clients’ houses, where they had less control over how many people would be present, less knowledge of exits...

“and no access to surveillance that their own collective workspaces or hotels had provided. Criminalisation of clients also makes clients reluctant to give their real names, making it difficult for sex workers to search online to screen them, or report them if they are violent.”

“Laws against third parties – including managers, brothel keepers, receptionists, maids, drivers, landlords, hotels that rent rooms to sex workers and website operators that run sites where sex work is advertised – lead to a wide range of violations of sex workers’...rights.”

“These harms include barriers to condom access and... health services, evictions and increased discrimination by landlords and social service agencies, lack of legal recourse against workplace labour rights violations, police harassment and violence during brothel raids...”

“while these laws may be intended to target individuals who are not engaged in but who profit from sex work, they ultimately leave sex workers vulnerable to unlawful arrest and police abuse during raids.They also criminalise and
deter sex workers from working together for safety”

“The objective of a criminalising framework is normally to reduce the prevalence of sex work and the demand for sex work, not to protect the human rights of sex workers. From the implementation of the Nordic model, it’s unclear whether even that objective is achieved.”

“The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare concludes: “It is ... difficult to discern any clear trend of development: has the extent of prostitution increased or decreased? We cannot give any unambiguous answer to that question””

“What these assessments of criminalisation don’t account for is the impact of criminalisation on sex workers... It is clear that criminalisation threatens sex workers’ health, safety and economic security. (It) does not meet the objectives of a human rights-based sex work policy”

“Decriminalisation has been shown to improve relationships between sex workers and police, increasing sex worker comfort in reaching out for police protection.”

A 2007 NZ report on (decrim) noted a range of positive outcomes for sex workers, including awareness of their increased legal, health and safety and employment rights.”

“ Sex workers reported that these increased rights protected them from violent attacks and were mentally empowering, allowing them to feel supported and safe.”

“Under decriminalisation, sex workers were able to report crimes to the police without fearing arrest. If sex workers report crimes to the police on a more regular basis, this can in turn help deter perpetrators of violence and crime against sex workers.”

“Following decrim...a study was conducted through interviews with the New Zealand police, social service providers and sex workers. Respondents across all groups reported that the relationship between street-based sex workers and police had improved...

“expressing that street-based sex workers feel more respected by the police and encountered less stigma and discrimination. The study also found...that street-based sex workers were more likely to report violence to the police.”

“ A 2014 study of structural determinants of HIV prevalence in sex worker populations predicted that decriminalisation could prevent between 33% and 46% of new HIV infections in the next 10 years”

“Decriminalisation and safer working environments were found to be more effective in preventing new infections amongst sex workers than any other intervention.”

“Improved relationships with police and decreased barriers to accessing legal recourse, as well as decreased violence and threat of violence, would also enable sex workers to more easily negotiate safe sex with clients.”

“Decriminalisation would also prevent police from using condom possession as evidence for sex work-related charges and sex workers would be more likely to carry and use them as a result.”

“Under decriminalisation, sex workers would also have the legal recognition and documentation required to access healthcare and wider social services, which would help to reduce the stigma and discrimination sex workers face within health services and more widely. “

“In giving sex workers the legal right to pursue their chosen form of employment, decriminalisation would eliminate many abuses against sex workers’ economic and labour rights.”

“It would allow sex workers to earn a secure income for themselves and their families without the threat of arrest, bribes or extortion from law enforcement or the frequent disruption of work environments and displacement experienced by sex workers under criminalisation. “

“Decriminalisation would also afford sex workers standard labour protections, and sex workers would gain access to justice when their rights are violated by managers or clients, including recourse against wage theft, workplace safety violations and sexual harassment.”

“Decrim could also make exit services more effective by allowing sex workers to be more closely involved in designing, implementing and monitoring of programmes and by changing the common practice of requiring sex workers to stop sex work before they (can access) the service.”

“In 2007, a...study in New Zealand examined differences in data on work environments before and after decrim...Sex workers reported that no criminalisation and increased labour rights gave them increased power to negotiate safe sex and refuse clients.”

“Managed sex workers under decriminalisation were more likely to have refused a client in the last 12 months, and two thirds of survey respondents reported it was easier to refuse a client since the law had changed.”

“The majority of participants also stated that they had more support from management to refuse clients when necessary. Participants in the 1999 pre- decriminalisation study, in comparison, reported management practices that did not allow them to refuse clients.”

“Sex workers must be meaningfully included in designing, implementing and monitoring interventions. Meaningful participation means that sex workers have an equal voice in the partnership and can choose how they are represented, how they engage and whether they engage at all.”

“Interventions should not only address physical and sexual forms of violence but also emotional and psychological abuse, and should promote the full protection of sex workers’ human rights.”

“They should respect the right of sex workers to make informed choices about their lives, reject notions of rescue and rehabilitation, and promote gender equality.”

“The starting point of this paper was to set out a legal framework that protects and upholds sex workers’ human rights, to ensure sex workers are safe, healthy and able to earn a secure income. An overwhelming tide of evidence demonstrates that criminalisation cannot achieve this

”Criminalisation gives the perpetrators of violence against sex workers impunity, acts as a barrier to sex workers accessing health services and obstructs livelihood strategies.”

“Sex workers around the world are calling for full decrim, and @STOPAIDS is proud to support them. Decrim will make a critical contribution towards putting (them) on an equal footing with other citizens, entitling them to police protection... healthcare and a secure livelihood.