Sex Workers Organising for Change: Self-representation, community mobilisation, and working conditions

Written on 31 January 2018.

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Sex worker rights organisations are creatively responding to violence, exploitation and other abuses within the sex industry, including instances of human trafficking, according to a new report published by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, Sex Workers Organising for Change: Self-representation, community mobilisation and working conditions.

The report is based on research conducted with sex worker organisations in seven countries: Canada, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, India, Thailand and New Zealand. It highlights cases where sex workers, or sex worker organisations, learnt of situations where a woman was experiencing violence, working under unacceptable conditions, or was brought to the industry through force or deception, for the purpose of exploitation. In these instances, sex workers resolved the issue as a collective, by providing advice and referral to other organisations, negotiating with the brothel owner/madam, chasing the pimp out of their area, or gathering money to help the woman return home.

Beyond support for individual cases, this report also documents how sex worker rights organisations mobilise sex workers and their allies to resist stigma, discrimination and oppression, and to collectively voice their concerns, demand their rights, and participate in public and political life. This type of collective action builds confidence in sex workers and helps them better protect themselves and their peers against violence and abuse.

Despite this important work, sex worker rights organisations are largely unrecognised and even vilified by the anti-trafficking community. In the past decade, the role of workers’ associations and trade unions in preventing and addressing human trafficking in different sectors of the economy has increasingly been recognised by anti-trafficking stakeholders. It is now widely acknowledged that organised workers are empowered workers. However, sex worker rights organisations are generally viewed with suspicion by anti-trafficking activists and, as a result, excluded from anti-trafficking responses. In some of the studied countries, we found that the contribution of sex worker organisations for anti-trafficking work was recognised by at least certain individuals in the local police or anti-trafficking unit. However, we also documented several cases where sex worker organisations had tried to join their national anti-trafficking task force or NGO network, but were either not allowed to or had to withdraw due to hostility.

Ultimately, the report demonstrates that sex worker rights organisations are human rights organisations whose primary mandate is to ensure that the human, economic, social, political, and labour rights of the people they work with are recognised and respected by state and non-state actors. We hope that it will lead to a new approach to addressing human trafficking in the sex industry—one that is based not on criminalisation and indiscriminate “raids and rescues” but on meaningful engagement with those in the industry themselves.

Downloads:

Complete report

Introduction

Thailand Tailandia - español

New Zealand Nueva Zelanda - español

India (English) मराठी (Marathi)

Canada

South Africa

Spain (English) España - español

Mexico (English) México - español

II Critical Assessment of the Implementation of Anti–Trafficking Policy in Bolivia, Colombia and Guatemala

Written on 04 October 2017.

For the second year in a row, Fundación La Paz, Corporación Espacios de Mujer and ECPAT, with the support of the International Secretariat of GAATW, conducted an analysis of anti-trafficking policies and services in Bolivia, Colombia and Guatemala to assess the gap between what the legislation states and the services actually provided.

The reports find that the legislation against human trafficking is still not effectively implemented in any of the three countries. Institutions are not fulfilling all of their responsibilities nor are they facilitating the restitution of the violated rights of trafficked persons. Not only is there an inadequate budget allocation to enforce the law, but most institutions responsible for prevention, care or prosecution are unaware of the budget available for their implementation. There is no uniformity in the collection of information, which results in a high degree of ambiguity and, therefore, a lack of knowledge about the crime and associated violations. A proper recording of trafficking cases would make it possible to classify and quantify information for the purpose of designing more appropriate public policies.

One need identified in all three countries is ongoing training of specialists involved in the processes of identification, care, protection and prosecution. Finally, it is worrisome that states generally continue to fail to link prevention strategies with public policies that deal with structural aspects, such as poverty or the guarantee of basic rights.

Download the Executive Summary

Por segundo año consecutivo Fundación La Paz, Corporación Espacios de Mujer y ECPAT, con el apoyo del secretariado internacional de GAATW, han llevado a cabo un análisis de la implementación de las políticas anti-trata en Bolivia, Colombia y Guatemala respectivamente.

Se puede afirmar que la legislación contra la trata de personas sigue sin aplicarse efectivamente en ninguno de los tres países. Las instituciones no cumplen con el total de sus responsabilidades ni se está propiciando la restitución de los derechos vulnerados a las personas objeto de trata. No solo falta la debida asignación presupuestaria específica para poder ejecutar la Ley, sino que además la mayor parte de las instituciones responsables de acciones de prevención, atención o persecución desconocen el presupuesto disponible para la ejecución de dichas acciones. Destaca también la falta de uniformidad en la recogida de información lo que conlleva una gran ambigüedad en la información disponible y por tanto un desconocimiento del delito. Un registro adecuado de los casos de trata permitiría tipificar y cuantificar la información en aras de diseñar políticas públicas más adecuadas.

Una necesidad identificada en los tres países es la formación permanente a las personas involucradas en cualquier nivel de los procesos de identificación, atención, protección y persecución del delito sobre el delito de trata de personas y en materia de derechos humanos. Por último, es preocupante que en general los Estados sigan sin relacionar las estrategias de prevención con políticas públicas que afronten aspectos estructurales como la pobreza o la falta de cobertura de derechos básicos.

Descargar el Informe Ejecutivo

II Balance de la implementación de las políticas anti-trata en Bolivia
II Balance de la implementación de las políticas anti-trata en Colombia
II Balance de la implementación de las políticas anti-trata en Guatemala

Enabling Access to Justice: A CSO Perspective on the Challenges of Realising the Rights of South Asian Migrants in the Middle East

Written on 02 June 2017.

In 2015-2016, the GAATW International Secretariat implemented a project to identify cases in which migrant workers from South Asia who had travelled to the Middle East as temporary labour migrants were trafficked, and to identify the barriers those workers faced accessing justice. A total of thirteen partner organisations from seven countries (Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Nepal and Sri Lanka) participated in the project.

This report captures one area of learning that emerged from the project: the barriers that project partners experience or observe when supporting migrant workers to access justice. It concludes with reflections on the lessons learnt by GAATW about the obstacles to justice for migrant workers, but also for organisations seeking to assist migrant workers and the effort to overcome those barriers. It highlights the complexity of human trafficking, and the many challenges along the road to justice.

Download the report

See a thirty-minute video with stories of abused or trafficked Nepali migrant women which exemplify some of the difficulties with accessing justice highlighted in the report:

Access Unknown: Access to Justice from the Perspectives of Cambodian Migrant Workers in Thailand

Written on 02 June 2017.

Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand usually do not pursue justice after rights violations due to a lack of trust in the police and courts, research conducted by GAATW and partners found.

Lack of information about labour and migration laws and regulations was one factor among those interviewed that made them vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. When violations occurred they did not seek justice, either because they are undocumented or because they don’t believe they will receive a fair outcome against a Thai employer. Interviewees spoke of lack of examples of success that might inspire their pursuit of justice - no one they knew had successfully accessed a fair resolution though the legal system.

These are some of the main findings of our new research ‘Access Unknown: Access to justice from the perspectives of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand’, which interviewed 59 migrant workers, men and women working in seven different industries, in Thailand and after returning home. This research aimed to examine why there is still such a significant disconnect between the currently available options in the legal system and Cambodian workers’ unwillingness or inability to practically access them.

Download the report

Critical Assessment of the Implementation of Anti-Trafficking Legislation in Bolivia, Colombia and Guatemala

Written on 31 December 2016.

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) carried out this joint evaluation in three countries in Latin America – Bolivia, Guatemala and Colombia - with the aim of encouraging governments to improve the implementation of anti-trafficking laws and policies to better respond to the needs of trafficked persons. The report highlights (1) the existing gaps between what the anti-trafficking legislation states and the actual services provided by government agencies, and (2) concrete recommendations for the three governments to take forward.

This project was developed by Fundación La Paz in Bolivia, Corporación Espacios de Mujer in Colombia and ECPAT in Guatemala with the support from the GAATW International Secretariat and the Peruvian NGO Capital Humano y Social (CHS) Alternativo.

Download the Executive Summary [EN, SP]