[SWAF-Potluck] Sex Work resolutions NDP and Conservative Party...

[Andy Sorfleet]

FYI. The Conservative party (current in power) and the official opposition
party (NDP) in Canada have made their official party positions
(resolutions) on sex work public. Both of these (and perhaps other parties
who do the same) will inform discussion after the Supreme Court Bedford
decision (where prostitution laws are currently being challenged).


Sex work resolution from the NDP Federal Council (below if the one from the
Conservative government).
WHEREAS Canadian values include respect for human and labour rights of all
persons, including the right to life, liberty, security, equality and
freedom of expression and association as set out in the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms;

WHEREAS an unacceptable number of sex workers in Canada have experienced
extreme violence, murder or have become ‘missing persons’;

WHEREAS the current legal framework has caused many Canadian communities
and neighbourhoods to experience tensions, conflicts and disruptions –
often pitting neighbour against neighbour;

WHEREAS adult sex workers have the right to live and work in conditions
that are safe, healthy and free from violence and discrimination;

WHEREAS social science and public health research in Canada has found that
criminalization of adult sex work endangers sex workers and deprive them of
the means of preventing coercion and violence, as well as constituting a
barrier to sex workers’ ability to protect their safety and health;

WHEREAS Canadian courts, the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Solicitation
Laws and the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry each concluded that
criminalization of sex workers increases the violence perpetrated against
them.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the federal NDP will:

• Advocate for the rights and safety of sex workers;

• Work with all stakeholders to end exploitation and violence;

• Condemn the countless number of assaults, murders and
‘missing-persons’disappearances continuing to be perpetrated on Canadian
sex workers;

• Recognize that the current legal framework places sex workers in
unacceptably dangerous situations;

• Within the above framework, oppose the enactment of legislation that
prohibits the purchase or sale of adult sexual services given that evidence
shows such laws increase the risk of violence and other harms to sex
workers;

• Work, in consultation with sex workers, affected communities, police,
justice officials and other stakeholders to identify and repeal those
sections of the Criminal Code of Canada pertaining to adult activities
involving sex work that undermine the rights to life, liberty, security,
health, equality and freedom of expression and association of sex workers;
and carry out this work through an evidenced-based, human rights, and
labour rights approach.

• Call for a federal strategy that encompasses prevention, education, harm
reduction, and safety for sex workers and affected local communities,
including safe exit strategies, addressing critical issues that affect the
freedom to choose one's work, including conditions of poverty,
discrimination, inequality, poor housing and under/un-employment.

* Take note of the S C of C decision of Bedford vs Canada pertaining to
this issue.

END


Conservative resolution on sex work:

i) The Conservative Party rejects the concept of legalizing the purchase of
sex;
ii) The Conservative Party declares that human beings are not objects to be
enslaved, bought or sold; and
iii) The Conservative Party of Canada shall develop a Canada specific plan
to target the purchasers of sex and human trafficking markets through
criminalizing the purchase of sex as well as the acts of any third party
attempting to profit from the purchase of sex.
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