Violence Against Women in the Sex Industry: Recommendations

Submitted by: First Voice: Global Network of Sex Work Projects, Hong Kong, China

Input for: Expert Group Meeting: "Violence Against Women: A statistical overview, challenges and gaps in data collection and methodology and approaches for overcoming them," 11-14 April 2005, Geneva, Switzerland

Topic: Violence against women in the sex industry

United Nations human rights treaty bodies and independent experts are increasingly raising concerns about violence against women; however, most reports of violence against women neglect to include violence against sex workers. Most sex workers are women, and sex workers face greater violence than women in general. Most sex workers point to the state as their greatest problem. Most locations have laws and/or policies that adversely affect the lives of sex workers. Some limit sex workers' mobility, increasing the probability that determined migrants will seek the services of others to facilitate migration, making them vulnerable to trafficking in persons. Even in places where sex work is not against the law, sex workers have reported difficulties with police. Sex workers around the world have been victims of police violence.

Sex workers suffer greater violence because of the lack of attention paid to violence against sex workers. Sex workers are often seen as adjacent to their communities rather than as community members. This contributes to the ways sex workers are marginalized and stigmatized. One of the clearest examples of the consequences of the disregard for sex workers' rights is the fact that in many places law enforcement pays little attention to violence committed against sex workers, with little recourse even in places that take pride in the rule of law. Sex workers around the world report being taken into police custody and in some cases detained without legal reason. Sex workers also report being extra-legally detained by anti-trafficking non-governmental organisations. Transgender women in the sex industry suffer greater physical abuse than other women and other sex workers.

It is imperative not to equate sex work with violence. To do so trivializes the violence experienced by sex workers, such as rape and beatings and in some cases trafficking. It further neglects the fact that sex workers in many places opt for sex work from a very small set of choices — and it is imperative to recognize the agency of women even where their options are limited.

The call for an in-depth study on all forms of violence against women, inclusive of a statistical overview of all forms of such violence and aiming to identify gaps in data collection, must include an analysis of violence against sex workers, especially state-sponsored violence. In her 2002 report, the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women stated that:

Violence against sexual minorities is on the increase and it is important that we take up the challenge of what may be called the last frontier of human rights.

Women who engage in sexual transactions, formally or informally, are frequent targets of violence and abuse. Nevertheless, this violence goes under-reported due to biases in data collection tools, threats of retaliatory violence in response to attempts to seek redress, and legal and/or political climates of discrimination which have the effect of "driving women underground" — meaning that women will not choose to seek attainment of rights or services. The problem of course is that when it comes to these populations, because of their mobility, the fact that discrimination and stigma drives them underground, and shame makes collecting statistics nearly impossible. The first step should be less data collection and more how to frame this impossibility into ways which makes it possible for data to be collected.

The role of the state in violence against sex workers

• Sex workers around the world cite the state and its agents as their most common abuser. Many women in sex work distrust various state agents precisely because they regard the state agents as perpetrators or potential perpetrators of abuse, rather that a source of protection or administration of justice.
• Researchers need to be sensitive to the ways in which violence against sex workers is exacerbated by the state and its agents. In other cases, non-state actors perpetrate the abuse, with full knowledge that the criminal justice system will not hold them accountable.
• Women involved in transactional sex — experience threat in relation to reporting which causes them to "go underground," not report or fail to give the "whole story" when reporting.
• Many women in the sex industry fear breaches of confidentiality by police, judges, prosecutors and/or service providers. They fear that information about their experiences and/or identities will be leaked or otherwise not protected. As a result, they fear extortion, blackmail or public repudiation.

Recommendations

1. The study mandated in Resolution 58/185 must include sex workers in its analysis of violence against women.
2. Researchers need to be trained in where and how to gather information on violence against sex workers in order to develop more accurate measures about the extent and location of violence against women. In particular, those working directly with sex workers and with survivors of violence must be adequately trained in seeking information related to the sex industry, related to violence and in ensuring safety, security and confidentiality of those reporting.
3. Researchers should be particularly attentive to assumptions they bring to exploration of violence against women in the sex industry. They, for instance, should be sensitive to the concerns of sex workers and women who engage in transactional sex. Sex workers distinguish between paid sexual services, not being paid for sexual services and violent crimes like rape. Researchers should not trivialize violence experienced by women in the sex industry by conflating sexual assault with sex work. Sex workers who experience violence were not "asking for it."
4. Researchers need to make and maintain contacts with local civil society groups that represent or have access to sex workers and work in consultation with these groups to design and implement the most effective strategies. Where possible, researcher should utilize reporting tools already developed by NGO advocates.
5. One of the best strategies for projects working with sex workers is to accompany sex workers to court and in some cases to represent them legally. Programmes in South Africa, Australia, Central Asia and the United States have legal components and report successes.
6. Sex workers need allies and advocates as much as other women. This level of genuine participation in society remains rare but is growing. In some cases, this participation has been forced by sex workers and other frequently marginalized groups.

Submitted by:

• Network of Sex Work Projects
  HK PO HQ
  POB 7450
  Hong Kong
  Email: rights@nswp.org