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A GROUP OF MACEDONIAN SEX WORKERS
had joined together to
create an association in 2007, Borche Bozhinov told the conference.
However it was when they attempted
to officially register Star-Star that their
problems began.
‘After two years of campaigning we
submitted a formal application. It was
denied, and we were told to remove the
terms “sex work” and “sex worker” from
all documents. Don’t ask me why – it
was never explained to us,’ he said.
Star-Star learned that it had been
accused of ‘encouraging sex work’ and
even attempting to set up a brothel. ‘It
amounted to denial of free association.
We sank into a legal maze, and we had
the choice of going the hard way or
becoming more pragmatic. We chose that route, because the legal battle
would have taken years and diverted us from our main focus.’
The process had made the organisation more determined than ever.
‘We had to be creative and come up with alternative solutions.’ Star-Star’s
plans were now to strengthen their structure, involve more activists, raise
awareness and improve legislation. In the meantime, sex workers could still
find themselves the victims of harassment and viewed as criminals, he said.
‘Our slogan is “to be a sex worker is my right! To be a brute is a crime!”’
4 –
Daily Update
– DAY FOUR – Thursday 7 April 2011
Canadian sexworkers battle ‘structural stigma’
ALTHOUGH LESS THAN 20 PER CENT OF THE CANADIAN SEX
INDUSTRY
was street-based, more than 90 per cent of criminal
charges were laid against street sex workers, Fred Chabot of POWER
(Prostitutes of Ottowa Work Educate and Resist) told yesterday’s
Sex
work – challenges in peer involvement and harm reduction
session.
Street workers were vulnerable to police harassment, with the
punitive enforcement undermining their ability to implement harm
reduction strategies. ‘And this is not just a few “bad apples” – it’s
institutional,’ she said. ‘The fact that it’s easy to talk about “the kind
of person who is a sex worker” speaks to the stigma that a job
defines who a person is.’
Sex workers were defined as either ‘victims to be pitied or amoral and
dirty, a discourse that has little basis in fact’. These assumptions had
become so common that they were embedded in the criminal justice
system as ‘structural stigma’. Selling sexual services was not illegal in
Ottowa, but the activities of sex workers were nonetheless
criminalised, with legislation often the result of lobbying by
communities who didn’t want sex workers in their neighbourhood.
‘They create laws that play to those stereotypes that sex workers are
risky and dangerous to the community.’
Ottowa police engaged in ‘prostitution sweeps’, invoking images of
‘dirt removal’, she said. ‘They have a “proactive approach” to sex work
– calling women to account for
themselves before an offence has
been committed, arbitrary detention
and forcing sex workers to remain
outside of specific areas.’
This was a violation of human
rights, she stressed. ‘It’s an
interesting coincidence that the
bulk of social services, health serv-
ices, methadone clinics, food
banks and other vital services are
in these neighbourhoods. It
seriously affects the ability of sex
workers to keep themselves safe.’
Sex workers were highly motivated to engage in safe sex prac -
tices, yet police routinely confiscated condoms. ‘Ottowa sex workers
constantly report harassment – it’s hard to imagine any justification
for this treatment by those who are supposed to serve and protect.
They are undermining people’s ability to protect themselves from HIV
and hepatitis while sending letters to the community warning of links
between sex work and disease. They are contributing to the very
problems that they claim to be concerned about.’
Fred Chabot:
‘Vital services.’
‘Underground’Palestinian
sexworkers vulnerable
DESPITE THE FACT THAT PALESTINIAN SOCIETY
WAS MORE OPEN THAN MANY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
,
sex workers were facing
exploitation and violence,
Maysa Kassabry told
delegates.
Sixty years of political
instability and very high levels
of poverty meant that there
was low access to education
and healthcare for women,
she said, and Palestinian
society was also strongly
patriarchal. ‘Sex work is an
‘underground issue’, which
increases the risk of HIV. It is
seen as a despicable crime, taboo and socially unacceptable.’
There were no accurate statistics on the numbers of sex
workers, and its illegality meant high rates of violence and
rape, poor access to services and high levels of stigma. There
was, however, increasing peer-education work to help deliver
key health messages.
Research was needed along with legislation to respect the
rights of sex workers and people with HIV, and campaigns to
change attitudes. ‘In Palestine, we are only allowed to talk
about condom use in the context of family planning.’
Battling a maze of
bureaucracy inMacedonia
Borche Bozhinov:
‘Diverted
from our main focus.’
Maysa Kassabry:
‘Poor access.’