The Eliot Spitzer scandal’s true victims
guardian.co.uk
The New York attorney general was disgraced for hiring escorts, but never went to jail – unlike the sex workers he prosecuted.
Melissa Ditmore
consultant on research and rights-based programming
guardian.co.uk
The New York attorney general was disgraced for hiring escorts, but never went to jail – unlike the sex workers he prosecuted.
RH Reality Check
On September 28th, 2010, in an unprecedented judicial move, an Ontario court struck down three provisions that criminalize activities related to prostitution. Prostitution itself is not illegal in Canada but ancillary activities like advertising and management are criminalized. Ontario Supreme Court Judge Susan Himel cited evidence that these laws contribute to a climate in which sex workers are unsafe because they are forced to operate in secrecy.
RH Reality Check
A recent report by Human Rights Watch describes the abuse of sex workers by Cambodian police, who declared open season on sex workers in the wake of a new anti-trafficking law that criminalizes sex work. The new law was a response to the perennial threat of US economic sanctions against nations that are not seen to be ‘doing enough’ to combat trafficking in persons.
guardian.co.uk
As the global economy shrinks, human trafficking is on the rise – and it extends far beyond prostitution.
RH Reality Check
The State Department’s new Trafficking in Persons report suggests that the Obama administration will opt for evidence-based responses to trafficking over putting restrictions on women “for their own good.”
guardian.co.uk
Nevada’s innovative $5-a-time sex tax would have given something back to the state’s prostitutes.
RH Reality Check
Understanding the distinction between trafficking and sex work is crucial, because Congress is poised to re-authorize the federal law against human trafficking with new provisions that will both increase penalties for sex workers and effectively decrease our ability to aid genuine victims of trafficking.
RH Reality Check
Even those who mean well sometimes confuse the human rights abuse of trafficking in persons with the human occupation of prostitution, or sex work. It’s understandable because of the history of the two fields, but it creates rather than solves problems.