[SWAF-Potluck] Sex-worker advocates pan legislation

[Andy Sorfleet]

>From today's print edition... AS

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http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/
METRO NEWS VANCOUVER
Wednesday, June 4, 2014



p. 1.

Sex-worker advocates pan legislation

Nordic model. Criminalizing clients won't keep women safe, research finds

[photo caption]
A sex worker stands on a street corner in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
photo: Jennifer Gauthier/Metro

Women in the sex trade will continue to face harassment, violence and
death if the federal government moves forward with misguided
legislation, advocates in Vancouver warn.

Pivot Legal Society, B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Gender
and Sexual Health Initiative and Sex Workers United Against Violence
joined forces Tuesday to present new research -- published in the
British Medical Journal -- that shows criminalizing clients, instead
of sex trade workers, has a negligible effect on sex workers' safety.

The so-called "Nordic model" (because the policy originates in Sweden)
of focusing enforcement on buyers and third parties is expected to be
adopted in Canada soon, and has already been implemented in Vancouver,
where police stopped arresting workers for sex-related arrests in
2013.

The model is supported by organizations such as the Vancouver Rape
Relief and Women's Shelter, which insists laws are needed to stop men
from buying, selling or profiting off women in the sex trade.

Diverting enforcement away from sex trade workers is intended to
protect vulnerable women, give them more control to work in safe
conditions, screen clients and feel comfortable reporting crimes to
police.

In reality, researchers say shifting the focus on clients has had no
impact in Vancouver and abroad, as sex workers continue to operate in
dark, isolated environments and in dangerous situations because
clients seek to avoid police.

"Criminalizing either party in a sexual transaction means sex work
will continue to occur in a criminalized environment. It's that
environment that makes sex workers vulnerable to violence and
exploitation," said Pivot chair Kerry Porth. "It hasn't worked in
other countries and it won't work here."

A survey of 236 sex trade workers in Vancouver found that 25 per cent
of them experienced violence in 2013, after the Vancouver Police
Department implemented its new enforcement policy.

In 2012, 24 per cent said they experienced violence.

Meanwhile, sex work-related arrests increased from 47 in 2012 to 71 in 2013.

The majority of those arrests were clients, as per the new policy.

Federal consultation results released Monday show more than 50 per
cent of online respondents support criminalizing the purchase of
sexual services, while two-thirds say the act of selling sexual
services should not be an offence.

Pivot's litigation director Katrina Pacey said the results show a
"lack of awareness" the public has about the survival sex trade.

"I think Canadians need a deeper understanding about the harms that
will have," she said. "I think that if the 31,000 respondents had this
report and the findings of the BMJ open study, they would have
answered that question differently. I do not believe Canadians want to
see one more missing or murdered woman."

She added Pivot is prepared to challenge the legislation in court.

Porth supports a decriminalized model similar to New Zealand, where
sex workers are afforded labour rights and protections while police
target predators for criminal code offences.