On 25 July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in M.A. and Others v. France that there has been no violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

In December 2019, more than 250 sex workers took their case to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge whether the criminalisation of clients was compatible with their fundamental rights: the freedom to pursue a professional activity, the right to personal autonomy and sexual freedom, and the rights to physical integrity and life.

With its ruling that there had been no violation of Article 8, the court refused to affirm the human rights of sex workers. 

The Court nonetheless stated that national authorities have a duty to keep the approach they decided to adopt under constant supervision, especially when the approach was based on a general and absolute prohibition of the purchase of sexual acts. This, the Court said, is to ensure that the approach can be amended depending on the evolution of international standards and European society in this field, and the consequences of the implementation of this legislation.

With this joint statement, our organisations express our deep solidarity with the 261 sex workers, most of them migrants of different genders, who, despite their precarious situation, had the courage to unite and challenge the French state to oppose a law that puts their safety and health at risk.

Our organisations are leading civil society networks and human rights organisations. We have decades of experience and expertise in addressing women’s rights and gender equality, human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV, harm reduction, the rights of LGBTI people, digital rights, human trafficking, migration, racial justice and criminal justice. All ten organisations have come to the same conclusion: the criminalisation of the purchase of sex or of any other aspect of sex work does not protect sex workers’rights. It also fails to address the root causes of the very serious issue of trafficking and forced labour. From our expertise we know that the overuse of criminal laws to solve societal problems actually harms those most vulnerable in our societies. 

Criminalisation policies hinder meaningful inclusion and consultation with sex workers and reinforce social stigma. Labelling all sex workers as victims is patronising and adds to the barriers to accessing community-led health and violence prevention programmes.

We are appalled by the fact that such policies are promoted and celebrated by some so-called feminist organisations. Carceral feminism, which sees criminal law as a tool for achieving gender equality, harms those who are most marginalised in our society and disproportionately impacted by racial profiling, police brutality and over-surveillance.

We are deeply disappointed by this decision of the European Court of Human Rights. Regardless of this judgement, our organisations stand in solidarity with sex workers and will continue to advocate for the full decriminalisation of sex work. 

It is only by adopting a human rights-based approach, decriminalising all aspects of sex work, and meaningfully including sex workers and sex workers’ human rights defenders in decision-making, that people selling sex, as well as victims of sexual exploitation, can be protected and theviolations of their rights can be addressed.

Signatories: 

Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice

ILGA-Europe 

European Sex Workers Rights Alliance (ESWA)

Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women

AIDS Action Europe

Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU)

IGLYO

La Strada International

PICUM

European AIDS Treatment Group

We call on the members of the European Parliament to reject the “Prostitution Report”. The criminalisation of any aspect of sex work further compromises vulnerable groups, increases risks of violence, and will not combat human trafficking and forced labor. This proposal isn’t the solution, we need to protect women and all sex workers. Read our joint open letter.

We, the organisations united under the European Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion, call on all Members of the European Parliament to reject and to vote against the report Regulation of prostitution in the EU: its cross-border implications and impact on gender equality and women’s rights, 2022/2139(INI).

Our organisations are leading civil society networks and human rights organisations. We have decades of experience and expertise in addressing women’s rights and gender equality, human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV, harm reduction, the rights of LGBTI people, digital rights, human trafficking, migration, racial justice and criminal justice. Within these numerous fields of expertise, all 13 organisations have come to the same conclusion: criminalisation of any aspect of sex work, which is proposed by this report, does not protect the rights of women and others engaged in sex work for manifold reasons, and does not help address the very serious issue of human trafficking and forced labour. It is only by adopting a human rights-based approach, decriminalising all aspects of sex work, and meaningfully including sex workers and sex workers’ human rights defenders in decision-making, that people selling sex, including victims of sexual exploitation, can be protected and serious human rights violations against people selling sex experience can be addressed.

We consider the submitted report, which will be put to a vote in plenary on September 14, to be biased and harmful for people selling sex and other vulnerable groups for the following reasons:

• The report calls to punish sex workers’ clients (Para 9, 22, 38) and make it a criminal offence across the EU to solicit, accept or obtain a sexual act from a person in exchange for remuneration, the promise of remuneration, the provision of a benefit in kind or the promise of such a benefit (so-called Nordic model). 
• While proposing the adoption of this model of criminalising the client (introduced, for example in Sweden, France, and the Republic of Ireland), the report ignores the body of evidence^[1] on its negative impacts on human rights of people selling sex. Sex workers report increased precarity and vulnerabilities to violence and infectious diseases (including HIV) and reduced trust in authorities. Sex workers face increased stigma, barriers to accessing services and justice, and increased risks of homelessness in countries where such criminalisation is in force.
• This report ignores the fact that a similar provision is currently under review by the European Court of Human Rights for alleged violations of Articles 2, 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of M.A. and 261 others vs France^[2]. On August 31 2023, without ruling on the merits at this stage, the Court declared the application admissible after acknowledging that the applicants were entitled to claim to be victims, within the meaning of Article 34 of the European Convention on Human Rights of the alleged violation of their rights under Articles 2, 3 and 8^[3] and dismissed the Governments’ preliminary objections. The Court, in its decision acknowledges that “the applicants produce evidence tending to show that the clandestinity and isolation induced by this criminalisation increase the risks to which they are exposed” (Para 38).
• The report also denounces the effects of the legalised model (introduced in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria), but fails to consider the latest legal and policy developments such as the full decriminalisation of sex work in Belgium in 2022, which was adopted based on evidence, and recommendations of human rights organisations, UN agencies and meaningful consultation with sex workers, to better protect sex workers’ human rights and more effectively combat human trafficking.
• The report further misinterprets the findings of multiple health studies. The studies  referenced^[4] in Recital K directly contradict the call to punish clients and criminalise the purchase of sex. These calls are also opposed by numerous UN agencies, such as the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)^[5], the World Health Organization, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and the UN Development Program (UNDP).
• The report misinterprets the definition of trafficking in human beings as set out in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU. According to the report, the “consent of a victim of trafficking in human beings to the exploitation, whether intended or actual, shall be irrelevant where it is obtained through the giving or receiving of payments or benefits“. The quote, however, omits the second part of the sentence. The full text reads that the consent of the victim of trafficking is irrelevant “where it is obtained through the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person. In other words, for trafficking there must always be a third party involved who exercises one of the coercive or deceptive means for the purpose of exploiting that person. The exchange of sexual services (or any other service) between consenting adults is not trafficking. It becomes trafficking when, simply said, person A gives or receives payments or benefits to obtain the consent of person B who has control over victim C with the aim of exploiting victim C.
• The report makes further claims related to human trafficking which are not based on evidence. For example, it claims that trafficking for sexual exploitation is increasing when the latest available data^[6] published by the European Commission actually show a slight decrease in the number of identified victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in the EU. It also claims that countries which have criminalised the purchase of sex (such as Sweden, Ireland, and France) are “no longer big markets” for trafficking for sexual exploitation, when this is not the case – the Eurostat data^[7], again, does not support such a conclusion.
• The report further denies a particular group of women (women who sell sex) their right to bodily autonomy (Paragraph 11, Recital C) by rendering void consent to sexual acts which involve payment or receipt of benefits. Criminalising the purchase of sex denies an entire group of people (most of whom are women) the right to make decisions about their lives. Similarly, the March 8 Principles by International Commission of Jurists (ICJ, 2023)^[8] unequivocally opposed such criminalisation due to its detrimental effects on the human rights of people selling sex. This can lead to dangerous assumption that women who sell sex, in fact, cannot be raped.
• The report further calls for the introduction of criminal sanctions against anyone who profits from prostitution (Recital AK). This proposal fails to distinguish between conduct that is exploitative, abusive, or coercive, and activity that is personal, practical, and supportive or for the purposes of safety of people selling sex. This practice leads to the criminalisation of sex workers sharing premises for safety. It is also routinely used to evict people selling sex from their homes and apartments as landlords can be criminalised for ‘profiting from prostitution’. For some EU MS, like Portugal, the proposed definition has been recognized as unconstitutional^[9].

In June, the prestigious health journal The Lancet^[10] called on you to vote against this report as it is based on false or misleading information and would be harmful to the people it claims it wants to protect. Likewise, we, as feminists and women’s rights advocates, human rights defenders, service providers, researchers, and NGOs with decades-long experience, urge you to vote against the report “Regulation of prostitution in the EU: its cross-border implications and impact on gender equality and women’s rights, 2022/2139(INI).

Brussels, September 5, 2023

Signed by

• Amnesty International
• Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice
• European AIDS Treatment Group
• La Strada International
• ENAR
• The European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe)
• Transgender Europe (TGEU)
• Human Rights Watch
• International Planned Parenthood Federation – European Network (IPPF EN)
• PICUM
• Correlation-European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN)
• ESWA
• AIDS Action Europe

---

^[1] Ireland: “We live within a violent system.” Structural violence against sex workers in Ireland – Amnesty International (2022), W922-0152-WPS-Policy-Paper-6-singles.pdf (lse.ac.uk) (2022), What do sex workers think about the French Prostitution Act? (hal.science) (2019), Assessment of impact criminalisation of purchasing sexual services | Department of Justice (justice-ni.gov.uk) (2019), https://www.icj.org/icj-publishes-a-new-set-of-legal-principles-to-address-the-harmful-human-rights-impact-of-unjustified-criminalization-of-individuals-and-entire-communities/ (2023)

^[2] See the preamble of the report: having regard to the ongoing communicated case 63664/19, 64450/19, 24387/20 et al. of the European Court of Human Rights of 12 April 2021, see also the case file: M. A. ET AUTRES c. FRANCE et 4 autres affaires (coe.int)

^[3] See also the Court’s decision on admissibility  M. A. AND OTHERS v. FRANCE (coe.int)

^[4] Platt, L. et al., ‘Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies’, PLOS Medicine, Vol. 15, No 12, 2018.,

Wong, S., ‘Decriminalising sex work would cut HIV infections by a third’, Imperial College London, 24 July 2014.

^[5] HIV and sex work — Human rights fact sheet series 2021 | UNAIDS

^[6] Trafficking in human beings statistics – Statistics Explained (europa.eu)

^[7] Statistics | Eurostat (europa.eu)

^[8]https://www.icj.org/icj-publishes-a-new-set-of-legal-principles-to-address-the-harmful-human-rights-impact-of-unjustified-criminalization-of-individuals-and-entire-communities/

^[9] Profit is not a criminal offence, judges have held that “a person’s decision to engage in prostitution may constitute a full expression of his or her sexual freedom”. And they argue that it is unconstitutional to punish with jail time those who profit from the prostitution of other persons practiced of their own volition. https://www.publico.pt/2023/05/09/sociedade/noticia/movimento-trabalhadores-sexo-elogia-decisao-tribunal-constitucional-2049084

^[10] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)01179-0/fulltext

If we want to protect the human rights of sex workers, consensual sex work must be decriminalised. Read why and endorse our letter below

When we talk about consensual sex work, we’re talking about adults voluntarily choosing to engage in sex work. This means that they are not being forced or coerced into the work, and are free to leave at any time. They have agency and control over their own bodies, and are able to negotiate the terms and conditions of their work.

To be clear, consensual sex work is not trafficking or exploitation. Trafficking is a serious human rights violation, and an extremely worrying reality across Europe, Central Asia and beyond. Consensual sex work involves a sex worker making a choice about their own livelihood and remaining in control of that choice.

Decriminalisation of consensual sex work is important because it allows for the protection of people engaged in sex work. It allows a safer and more regulated environment where their rights to personal autonomy, privacy and other fundamental rights can be better protected.

Many LGBTI people engage in sex work, some because they want to, some because discrimination and other structural exclusion due to social injustice leave them with little option. The experiences of LGBTI people in the sex work industry can be particularly challenging, due to the intersection of stigma related to both their SOGIESC and their profession. Combatting social injustices, discrimination and stigma is key to all of ILGA-Europe’s work; additionally, people need to be protected, regardless of their reasons to engage in sex work.

What happens when sex work is criminalised?

Research shows that criminalisation of any aspect of sex work has proven to be ineffective. Instead of protecting sex workers, it pushes them further to the edges of our societies in their working and daily lives. For example, in the parts of Europe where sex work is criminalised, sex workers working together are regularly prosecuted for brothel-keeping, even though it’s by working together that they can stay safe. Sex workers who have kids risk losing custody of their children, those who are migrants risk losing their residence permits, and all risk homelessness when authorities force landlords to evict them. Instead of protecting sex workers, criminalising policies impede their access to homes, services, safety and justice, while at the same time propelling stigma, violence and discrimination against them.

5 reasons why the European Parliament must protect sex workers

Policy makers must listen to the voices of sex workers, including LGBTI sex workers, in the development of policies that affect them. Particularly now, when the members of the European Parliament are discussing the proposal on Violence against women and domestic violence, they must reject any attempts to criminalise any aspects of consensual sex work among adults. Criminalisation is not the solution.  

Here are a handful clear and fair reasons for the EU policy makers should ensure protection of rights of sex workers:

Respect for human rights

Criminalising consensual sex work is a violation of the human rights of sex workers, including their rights to privacy, security, and freedom from discrimination provided in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The EU is committed to protecting human rights, and criminalising consensual sex work is contradictory to this principle. 

Gender equality

The EU is committed to promoting gender equality, while criminalising consensual sex work disproportionately affects women and other marginalised groups, including LGBTI people.

Public health

Criminalising consensual sex work can make it more difficult for sex workers to access healthcare and other services, which can put them at greater risk of health problems

Right to self-determination

Criminalising consensual sex work is an infringement on the right of sex workers to make decisions about their own bodies and livelihoods.

negative Effectiveness

There is a lack of evidence that criminalising consensual sex work is effective in reducing the number of sex workers or in improving their safety. Some studies have shown that criminalisation can actually increase risks of violence for sex workers.

If you represent a civil society organisation, you can endorse our letter, prepared along with the members of the Coalition on Sex Workers’ Rights and Inclusion, here.

Racialised sex workers provided a cornerstone to the LGBTI movement as we know it today, yet the protection of sex workers is often overlooked when it comes to queer activism. To mark International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers on December 17, we look at key ways to better protect sex workers from violence.

LGBTI sex workers have always been part of the LGBTI movement; the names of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are not just historical references, their contributions to the 1969 Stonewall uprising provided a cornerstone to the global LGBTI movement as we know it today. And yet, many sex workers are excluded from modern-day LGBTI activism.

Both Johnson and Rivera were racialised sex workers, and back in 1969 their protection was overlooked. Sadly, three decades later, racialised sex workers, who constitute a significant group of sex workers in Europe, are still frequently excluded, neglected and forgotten, and as a result many are victims of violence that is in some quarters deemed acceptable. This year on International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, we feel it is important to look at the recommendations of the European Sex Workers Alliance (ESWA) to end violence against racialised sex workers.

Racism is entangled in anti-sex work

ESWA conducted a report earlier this year to explore how racism is entangled in anti-sex work, anti-trafficking, and anti-immigration legislation in Europe. Following an in-depth analysis of literature review, they collected key policy recommendations to help eradicate the violence experienced by all sex workers, and even more so racialised sex workers, in the European region. They are:

1. Decriminalise sex work now

Decriminalisation is the cornerstone of the protection of sex workers’ human rights. When sex work is not considered a criminal activity, it is easier for sex workers to report crimes to the police, without the fear of facing prosecutions themselves. It also contributes to the recognition of sex work as work and therefore the adoption of safe working conditions and access to health services. Decriminalisation will not eliminate all of the violence racialised sex workers might face in their work, but it will enable them to access support from healthcare providers, law enforcement, and other services.

2. When speaking about oppression and empowerment, look beyond the binary

Seeing oppression and empowerment as two sides of a binary is harmful for sex workers. Simplistic definitions overlook the diverse, rich and complex range of experiences and identities of racialised sex workers. Legislation that falls in this binary fails sex workers by criminalising or ignoring those who do not fit in one or other definition.

3. Adopt an intersectional approach

Through an intersectional lens, we can recognise how systems of oppression are interlinked and harm racialised sex workers through discriminatory laws, institutions and social practices. Using intersectionality as a policy tool, racialised sex workers can be better protected when designing legislation that takes in account race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, migrant status, and more.

4. Adopt an anti-racist approach to combatting exploitation and violence against racialised sex workers and survivors

This means not only addressing racist and xenophobic anti-sex work laws and their effects on racialised sex workers and adopting an intersectional approach to understanding how certain groups of racialised people are criminalised and marginalised under current ASWTI laws and policie, but to listen and believe racialised sex workers, and consult them as they are the experts of their own experiences.

At ILGA-Europe we are committed to raising awareness on the human rights violations which all sex workers are facing and to continue to raise awareness of the specific experiences and added discrimination racialised sex workers face. We will continue to call for decriminalisation of sex work across our regions. Find out also about the vital work of ESWA here.

To mark #InternationalSexWorkersDay on June 2, we talked to Sabrina Sánchez, trans migrant sex worker based in Spain, on her journey, the pandemic and why sex workers rights are central to the LGBTI movement.

Sabrina Sánchez can say she’s mostly happy. Happy and tired. Last month, she attended the Trans United Europe conference in Amsterdam, supported by the No One Left Behind fund from ILGA-Europe. Just before our conversation she was at another meeting and later on the same day, she’s participating in an event organised by the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, the topic is “this sort of gentrification of sex workers’ aesthetics in music”. Finally, the Spanish Supreme Court has recently recognised the right of sex workers to unionise, thanks to the pledge of Spain’s Sex Workers Organisation (OTRAS). All in all, Sabrina is satisfied, but she could also take some time off.

Before joining the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) as Programs Officer, her routine was already very similar to that of an office worker. “Contrary to what people think about sex workers, that we are only, exclusively night creatures, I wake up very early,” she says. “I have a breakfast, check my email. I try to go to the gym three times a week to keep in shape; it’s part of the business, but also to feel okay with myself.” Then, she may have an appointment with a client or may reply to questions from the sex worker’s community, all while keeping up with her personal life, making plans with a girlfriend, maybe, for a day at the beach.

Since she’s joined ICRSE, she goes to the gym less often but enjoys the financial stability. “It helps you to think better, to not worry how you’re going to have enough to pay your rent next month.” Originally from Mexico City, where she lived until the age of 25, Sabrina has been in Spain for over a decade. She doesn’t hold citizenship yet, as the bureaucratic procedures are far from straightforward.

Coming out, and a new life

“I am privileged enough to say that that I come from a family that supported my transition and my life decisions,” Sabrina says. “When my gender identity was revealed, my mother said: ‘Now there are more reasons for you keep studying. You have to go to college to get tools you will need, because it’s going to be a lot more difficult for you now.” This is a normal worry for parents to have, but, unfortunately, it’s often the contrary. Trans females are usually kicked out of the family home.”

After majoring in Communications at the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM), it was time for Sabrina to leave the country of her birth. “I knew that there was no future for transwomen in Mexico. And I always felt that that Mexico was not really my place. I didn’t belong there.”

She had some connections in Catalonia, but she hit a language barrier when she arrived. Spanish, her mother tongue, was not much help in a place where speaking Catalan is mandatory. “I decided to engage in sex work because my savings were already gone. I had no documentation, no language and I couldn’t even get a job cleaning houses.”

When COVID-19 hit

“The complete lockdown in Spain made it almost impossible for sex workers to earn a living,” she says. The measures in public spaces were not the only reason. “Everybody was watching, everybody was surveillant,” says Sabrina. “So, we couldn’t go about our work.”

The state provided insufficient protection. Those eligible for public aid only received about 60 euro per week, so sex workers collectives got together and organised a crowdfunding that raised 35,000 euro. “This sounds like a lot but it’s not much when you have you spread it among 350 people,” says Sabrina. When the lockdown relaxed and a curfew was put in place, street sex workers returned to public spaces in daylight, which got a lot of negative media attention. “Of course, they had to go back to work,” Sabrina says. “Nobody was giving them any money.”

Many regular clients disappeared because of the pandemic. “Guys were scared of getting Covid,” Sabrina explains. “Clients are usually the everyday men that surround us, they are your uncle, your dad, your brother. They didn’t want to get sick and give it to their families. Those thoughtful people, the good clients disappeared, and we were left to deal with the assholes.”

“Restrictions apart, what has affected sex workers most is the attitude of the people. In the context where sex work is criminalised, like in France, violence has risen a lot because you have this narrative of sex workers being criminals, or the ‘other’ — a group of the population who are not desirable. You can do whatever to us because we are not seen as actual workers. We are something to reject easily, or we are victims to rescue. You can give us a couple of cents and a sewing machine and should be happy now, because we are not ‘selling our bodies’.”

While across Europe we start to return to a semblance of the old days, the issues sex workers were facing before 2020 are still present. In Spain, there are two draft bills that could affect sex work, by criminalising their working premises or conflating sex work with trafficking.

“None of these laws addresses the structural problems that make us sell sex in first place,” says Sabrina. “They punish the client, but what if instead they created options for people who are in sex work because they don’t have access another jobs, people like trans women? If they created opportunties, then maybe less people would be put in a position where they have to engage in sex work. But no, they want to address socio economical problems with a penal code. That never works.

“By criminalising sex work, governments are reinforcing the scenario they say they want to save us from. Instead of regularising undocumented migrant sex workers, as has happened in Portugal, criminalisation may lead to directing more funding to anti-immigration enforcement. In countries like Sweden, who are deporting migrant sex workers, they are returning them to the hands of traffickers. They will want to come back to Europe and they will have to pay for that journey again.”

Sex workers and the LGBTI community

Sex workers have found resistance within the LGBTI movement too. Some say sex workers are not good for their image. “I’m talking mostly to the white, cis, gay men, who are the ones that have the privileges, the capital, and the money. But the ones that started the riots that ultimately led to such privilege, were two trans sex workers of colour.”

Sabrina is referring to Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, whose sparking of Stonewall riots over 50 years ago shaped Pride events around the world and the LGBTI movement as we know it today. However, as Sabrina asserts, Johnson and Rivera’s demands have still not been met.

“After all these years, we are still asking for the basic necessities: housing, work, and respect for our identities.”

In ILGA-Europe’s view, LGBTI organisations have a key role to play in fighting against stigma affecting LGBTI sex workers, both within and outside the LGBTI community.

Empowerment, combatting exclusion, and ‘nothing about us without us’ – these principles are at the core of our new policy.

Entitled ‘Empowering LGBTI sex workers towards the full respect of their human rights’, it outlines three key steps that we all collectively must take to ensure the rights of sex workers are protected:

• Combatting structural discrimination and social exclusion of LGBTI people
• Calling for decriminalisation as a cornerstone for protecting the human rights of sex workers
• Working towards the full inclusion of the voices of sex workers in the LGBTI community

LGBTI sex workers have always been part of the LGBTI movement; the names of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Riveria are not just historical references, their experiences at Stonewall shaped Pride events and the global LGBTI movement as we know it today. And yet, many sex workers are excluded from modern-day LGBTI activism.

In ILGA-Europe’s view, LGBTI organisations have a key role to play in fighting against stigma affecting LGBTI sex workers, both within and outside the LGBTI community.

This is why ILGA-Europe commit to raising awareness within the LGBTI community on the human rights violations which LGBTI sex workers are facing, and to addressing stigma against sex workers and supporting them to be more visible within the LGBTI community.

Evelyne Paradis, ILGA-Europe Executive Director

“Educate yourself.” That is one of the very first things that anyone who wants to get involved in activism is advised to do.

Before diving into organising activities or plotting advocacy strategies, it is essential to understand the experiences and elevate the voices of the communities you are cooperating with. And this wisdom is just as crucial for those who are experienced activists as it is for new allies. Sometimes, we in the LGBTI movement need to follow our own advice.  

As I sat down to write this blog about ILGA-Europe’s brand new policy on LGBTI sex workers, I found an old notebook from 2013. This was the year of the first workshop on LGBTI sex workers at ILGA-Europe’s Annual Conference in Zagreb. I was reminded that there was quite a lot of trepidation around opening up the topic for discussion. How would our member organisations react? Would there be a lot of heated discussions?

To our great surprise, the reaction of most people attending this workshop was one of genuine interest – people in the movement wanted to know more about the lived experiences of LGBTI sex workers, and especially wanted to learn about what could be done to ensure their voices were heard.

Ever since then, the workshops organised with LGBTI sex workers every year at ILGA-Europe conferences have been constructive, engaging and empowering spaces. And yet… the nervousness around ILGA-Europe taking on the issue of sex work did linger on. So, as an organisation, we embarked on journey to educate ourselves.

Firstly, we needed to learn. (This included researching what existing human rights instruments protected the rights of sex workers and learning from human rights NGOs like Amnesty International that already adopted policy positions on the human rights of sex workers.) Also, we wanted to engage (stepping up our cooperation with LGBTI sex workers activists to ensure we understood their experiences better and enabled greater participation at ILGA-Europe’s events.) Above all, we worked on creating space to elevate the voices of LGBTI sex workers, so that our policy would reflect the demands of sex workers themselves.

In short, this is not “Day 1” of ILGA-Europe’s engagement on the issue. But we do hope that this policy will bring us to the next step in our thinking and our conversation, including:

• How can we be strong allies in calling for decriminalisation of sex work – where are there possible alliances to facilitate and strengthen? Where can we contribute to raising awareness amongst politicians and other NGOs?
• How can we enable greater inclusion of LGBTI sex workers and activists within LGBTI communities and organisations?
• How can we collectively take on bigger structural inequalities, including by looking more seriously at socio-economic inequalities within LGBTI communities?

Now, I could tell you that the main success of this five-year long learning process is that we have a solid organisational policy on the human rights of LGBTI sex workers. Of course that is an extremely positive thing, no doubt!

But, if you ask me, the most important part of this journey towards adopting this policy is the following: we had to confront some uncomfortable realities about the LGBTI movement.

We had to start acknowledging the power dynamics which do play a role in the trepidation around explicitly taking on the issue of LGBTI sex workers. We did have to name to the fact that political priorities of most organisations reflect the needs of more privileged groups within the communities, and that, as a result, the needs of sex workers rarely feature high on the movement’s political agenda. We did have to be start being honest in recognising that, in our attempts to reach out to the “mainstream”, we often push aside issues seen as controversial and which might complicate our alliance building with other groups.

We have also been reminded of how easy it is to remove important parts of our history by sidelining the crucial role of sex workers, at Stonewall for example. And the LGBTI movement cannot afford to become complacent about our own shared history – as the poet Maya Angelou (who wrote frankly about her own experiences as a sex worker) once said – the more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.

So, as ILGA-Europe publish our new policy position on LGBTI sex workers, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the LGBTI sex workers’ activists who kept pushing us throughout the years. Thank you for asking hard questions and challenging deep-seated privileges. Thank you for your patience and your willingness to share your stories. Thank you for the courage to stand up in a large room of LGBTI activists to remind us that it was not okay for some within the LGBTI communities in Europe to still be criminalised.

Our priority remains to support the LGBTI movement and the most under-privileged parts of it and to ensure that all barriers leading to social exclusion are removed. We have learned a lot as an organisation over the past five years, and look forward to continuing to do so together.

ILGA-Europe have launched a new position paper on the rights of LGBTI sex workers.

Empowerment, combatting exclusion, and ‘nothing about us without us’ – these principles are at the core of our new policy.

Entitled: ‘Empowering LGBTI sex workers towards the full respect of their human rights’, it outlines three key steps that we all collectively must take to ensure the rights of sex workers are protected:

• Combatting structural discrimination and social exclusion of LGBTI people
• Calling for decriminalisation as a cornerstone for protecting the human rights of sex workers
• Working towards the full inclusion of the voices of sex workers in the LGBTI community

LGBTI sex workers have always been part of the LGBTI movement; the names of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Riveria are not just historical references, their experiences at Stonewall shaped Pride events and the global LGBTI movement as we know it today. And yet, many sex workers are excluded from modern-day LGBTI activism.

In ILGA-Europe’s view, LGBTI organisations have a key role to play in fighting against stigma affecting LGBTI sex workers, both within and outside the LGBTI community.

This is why ILGA-Europe commit to raising awareness within the LGBTI community on the human rights violations which LGBTI sex workers are facing, and to addressing stigma against sex workers and supporting them to be more visible within the LGBTI community.

• Our executive director Evelyne Paradis talks about our new position paper: read her blog post here.
• For more information, contact ILGA-Europe Advocacy Director Katrin Hugendubel.

Detention and mistreatment of transgender sex workers and their lawyer.

(Application no. 459/16), 13 July 2017

Find Court’s communication here.

• According to the applicants, from May to June 2013, transgender persons were stopped by police officers on streets or taken out from inside of their cars and subsequently brought to a police station in Greece. The first applicant, a lawyer and human rights activist went to the police station – in order to represent a transgender woman – where she was mistreated by the police and placed in a cell for about 20 minutes. The applicants’ complaints against the policemen in charge were discontinued by the Greece authorities.
• ILGA-Europe together with TGEU, Greek Transgender Support Association and International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe  addressed the following:
  • As the  facts  of  the  case  were representative  of  wider patterns  of  state persecution of  (trans)  sex  workers in  Greece  and beyond,  which  typically  included assault  and  arbitrary  arrests the submission provided available evidence of this within the broader context.  Detailed studies on the situation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia show that sex workers are confronted with high levels of violence from the part of state and non-state actors. Physical and sexual violence by the police reportedly occurs in the course or under the threat of arrest and detention. ‘Facially-neutral’ regulations are often misused to persecute trans sex workers. Studies suggest that trans sex workers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia face higher levels of violence by police than their cisgender peers. Hate crime targeting trans people remains mostly unreported. Even when complaints are duly lodged, police often refuse to register or investigate the allegations in question, effectively blocking the victims’ access to justice and safety.
  • Trans people in Greece experience severe isolation, discrimination, prejudice and exclusion on the basis of their gender identity, particularly in relation to accessing and holding employment. Robust and accessible gender recognition procedures are still lacking, leaving many trans people without documents and educational certificates that match their gender identity and thus hindering their access to the regular job market. In order to make ends meet, many trans women turn to sex work, suffering additional stigma as a result. Trans sex workers often face systematic persecution, in the form of police crackdowns targeting marginalized groups.
  • Regional and global standards underpin the States’ positive obligation to protect trans sex workers from violence. This includes conducting effective investigation of transphobic crime, particularly when perpetrated by law-enforcement agents and taking into account a bias motive related to gender identity at the sentencing stage. Furthermore, gender identity is a prohibited ground of discrimination under regional and international law. The ECtHR has already found a procedural violation of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 3, based on the authorities’ failure to undertake crucial investigatory steps, including an intersectional analysis, by taking into account the applicant’s “special vulnerability“(B.S. v. Spain, no. 47159/08, 24 July 2012). National and other regional courts have followed the same approach.