Resources

NSWP has released a statement in relation to the arrest of Alejandra Gil.

From our understanding of the situation, the charges in question emanate from new legislation, which in our view conflates sex work with human trafficking. 

The International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) has spearheaded a campaign to critically review the draft report by MEP Mary Honeyball which proposes the criminalisation of clients based on factually incorrect and misleading information. Ninety-four academics have signed this letter of critique.

NSWP statement in response to the decision by The European Parliament Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee's to support proposals to criminalise the clients of sex workers.

Silence on Violence: Improving Safety of Women - the policing of off-street sex work and trafficking in London

This report was written in the run-up to the Olympic Games, held in London 2012 and it considers two overacrhing areas related to womens' safety within sex work: the policing of sex trafficking, and within that the policing for the Olymipics; and the general policing of sex workers. The report focusses on off-street sex work as the evidence shows that it very rarely, if at all, involves trafficked women.

This NSWP Statement responds to attempts to criminalise the purchase of sex in France. We condemn these proposals which are ideologically driven rather than evidence-based, and incorrectly view sex work through the prism of ‘violence against women’ whilst also irresponsibly conflating trafficking with sex work.

This article analyzes the aspirations of michês, straight-identified Brazilian men who exchange sex for money with gay-identified male sex tourists from North America and Western Europe.

The article explores the policy underpinning Sweden’s 1999 ban on the purchase of sexual services in the context of the social and health service sectors and the way that these sectors interact with sex workers. It argues that the rationale behind the sex purchase ban is difficult to reconcile with social policy outwith the 'merits' of criminal justice.

This article looks at how legalisation came to the netherlands; what it was intended to do, and what the impact has been on sex workers. In order to answer these lines of enquiry, the article examines what discourses frame the major actors in this debate, starting with a historical overview of Dutch sex work policies throughout the 20th century. Having established the socio-political backdrop of the Netherlands' approach to legalised sex work, the resource discusses how legalisation (or regulationism) "did not solve a number of serious problems in the sex industry".

Sex Worker Forum of Vienna, Austria - supplement to the Shadow CEDAW report submitted to the 54th Session of CEDAW February / March 2013.

You can download this 36 page PDF report above.

This resource is in English.

Sex-Worker Forum of Vienna, Austria - Shadow CEDAW report submitted to the 54th Session of CEDAW February / March 2013.

You can download this 44 page PDF report above.

This resource is in English.

SZEXE Shadow CEDAW report submitted to the 54th Session of CEDAW February / March 2013.

You can download this 16 page PDF report above.

This resource is in English.

Tais Plus - Shadow CEDAW report submitted to CEDAW in 2008.

You can download this 5 page PDF report above.

This resource is in English.

This is the 3rd edition of the STRASS newsletter, packed with details of their recent and forthcoming activism events in France as well as a round up of other European news realting to sex work.

You can download this 2 page PDF document above.  This resource is in English.

This is NSWP's response to the consultation carried out in Scotland (UK) on the Criminalisation of the Purchase of Sex.  

This proposal would make it illegal to purchase sex in Scotland. Rhoda Grant MSP, who carried out the consultation, believes that ‘prostitution in Scotland is a form of sexual violence against women and sexual exploitation.’  She believes that ‘prostitution is inherently harmful and dehumanising’ and that ‘the majority of those who are involved in prostitution are unwilling participants.’

You can download this 1 page PDF document above.  This resource is in English.

Academic study of discourse and campaigns in the run-up to the 2012 European Football Championship finals as the basis for advising decision-makers. (Executive Summary)

Academic study of discourse and campaigns in the run-up to the 2012 European Football Championship finals as the basis for advising decision-makers.

This study was published by International Organisation for Migration (IOM) with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and was conducted between June and September 2006. Prior to the World Cup in Germany in 2006, there was considerable international concern that this event would contribute to a sharp increase in trafficking for sexual exploitation.  Media reports suggested that sex work would increase and that up to 40,000 women might be trafficked. This report investigates whether the number of victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation increased during the World Cup 2006. 

In 1999, the Swedish government embarked on an experiment in social engineering to end men’s practice of purchasing commercial sexual services. The government enacted a new law criminalising the purchase (but not the sale) of sex (Swedish Penal Code). It hoped that the fear of arrest and increased public stigma would convince men to change their sexual behaviour. The government also hoped that the law would force the estimated 1,850 to 3,000 women who sold sex in Sweden at that time to find another line of work.

Social justice activists internationally have hailed as progressive and humane the 1998 report The Sex Sector: The Economic and Social Bases of Prostitution in Southeast Asia. Edited by Lin Lean Lim of the International Labour Office in Geneva, the book recommends that the sex industry be included in official government accountings, first, because of its enormous contributions to regional economies, and second, as the only way to improve the situation of those employed as sex workers. With a recognised sex sector, governments would be required to extend labour rights and protections to people who work in it. At the same time, the report unequivocally demands the eradication of child prostitution as a serious human rights violation and an intolerable form of child labour.

The Conference was held in La Habana, Cuba, from April 7 - 12, 2003. The first Latin-American conference happened in Rio de Janeiro on 2000. Cuba was chosen because of the low incidence of HIV (lowest in Latin America). Around 39 countries and more than 2000 participants attended the conference. Like always, there was a very low participation of sex workers.