[news] Press release PIVOT

[sharai]

March 2, 2004

Press Advisory - For Immediate Release, March 2, 2004

Minister of Justice supports new Pivot Report on Sex Trade

At a forum organized by the University of British Columbia Faculty of 
Law today, the federal Minister of Justice, Honourable Irwin Cotler, 
publicly supported key recommendations from Pivot Legal Society's report 
on sex trade law reform.

Pivot's report, entitled Voices for Dignity: A Call to End the Harms 
Caused by Canada's Sex Trade Laws, was made public on Monday, March 1st. 
The report presents first hand accounts from 91 sex workers who have 
lived and worked in the Downtown Eastside. Based on the expert opinion 
evidence and experiences of sex workers, the report calls for 
decriminalization of the adult sex trade. The report argues that the 
current laws violate the liberty, security, equality, and expression 
rights of sex workers, protected under the Charter of Rights and 
Freedoms. The full report and affidavits are available at 
www.pivotlegal.org/sextradereport.

Minister Cotler praised the Pivot report, and stressed the importance of 
the evidence from sex workers gathered by Pivot. Cotler committed to a 
national process aimed at reviewing the criminal prohibitions relating 
to the sex industry, one which would involve sex workers in a central 
and meaningful way. He agreed with Pivot's recommendation that the 
approach must be gender-sensitive, and that the socio-economic factors 
affecting sex workers would need to be treated as critical in reducing 
the harms related to sex work. Cotler, a former professor and 
constitutional law expert, expressed interest in Pivot's analysis of the 
constitutionality of the current laws regarding the sex trade, and 
indicated an openness to the possibility of decriminalizing the sex trade.

Pivot will continue lobbying the federal government to ensure that the 
Subcommittee on Solicitation Laws is restruck and hears from sex workers 
from all aspects of the sex industry with the hope that future 
legislation respects the human rights of all sex workers.

For more information about the Pivot Report Voices for Dignity, click here.

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