ABOUT US • ICRSE: EUROPEAN NETWORK OF ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS • 99 ORGANISATIONS IN 33 COUNTRIES IN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA • SEX WORKER LED (MAJORITY OF SEX WORKERS ON BOARD AND AS STAFF/CONSULTANTS) • COMMUNICATION: LIST-SERVS, SOCIAL MEDIA... • ADVOCACY: CAMPAIGNS, RESOURCES, PUBLIC EVENTS … • CAPACITY BUILDING OF SEX WORKERS: TRAININGS, RESOURCES, TECHNICAL SUPPORT … • INTERSECTIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON SEX WORK: ICRSE MEMBER OF PICUM, ILGA., EC CSF HIV
OVERVIEW PRESENTATION • CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS • SEX WORK & HIV PREVENTION • SEX WORK AND ACCESS TO HOUSING • GOOD PRACTICE • RECOMMENDATIONS
EXPLOITATION, SURVIVAL, WORK … • DEBATE FRAMING PROSTITUTION AS EITHER WORK OR EXPLOITATION. • MANY PEOPLE SELL SEX AS LAST RESORT AND DUE TO LACK OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES. • INCLUDING SEX WORKERS WHO INJECT DRUGS, LGBT / TRANS, ROMA, (UNDOCUMENTED) MIGRANTS, HOMELESS • TRANSACTIONAL / SURVIVAL SEX VS SEX WORK • WHICH POLICY BEST PROTECT THE MOST VULNERABLE SEX WORKERS?
SEX WORK & HIV PREVENTION • SEX WORKERS = KEY POPULATIONS IN FIGHT AGAINST HIV • WHO AND SEX WORKERS DEVELOPED SWIT – SEX WORKERS IMPLEMENTATION TOOL – GUIDELINES FOR SERVICES FOR SEX WORKERS • RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE: • INCLUSION OF SEX WORKERS IN DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SERVICES • ADDRESSING VIOLENCE • PROVIDING CONDOM, LUBE, TESTING, TREATMENT • COMMUNITY BUILDING • ADDRESSING STRUCTURAL FACTORS INCLUDING CRIMINALISATION
SEX WORK AND ACCESS TO HOUSING • PRECARIOUS / UNFIT HOUSING BOTH CAUSE OF SEX WORK AND CONSEQUENCE OF PUNITIVE SEX WORK LAWS • MOST MARGINALISED SEX WORKERS – TRANS, ROMA, UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS MORE AT RISK OF HOMELESSNESS ‘I STARTED SELLING SEX BECAUSE I WAS UNEMPLOYED, HOMELESS AND NE EDED TO GET THE MONEY TOGETHER TO PUT A BOND DOWN SO I COULD START RENTING, AND BEING QUEER WAS A SIGNIF ICANT FACTOR IN HOW I’D ENDED UP AT THAT POINT.’ S, TRANS BOY SEX WORKER, UK
IMPACT OF CRIMINALISATION • CRIMINALISATION OF SEX WORK LEAD TO INCREASED EXPLOITATION AND RELIANCE OF THIRD-PARTIES • SEX WORKERS ARE UNABLE TO GET CONTRACTS FOR HOUSING OR GATHER SUFFICIENT DEPOSIT • SEX WORKERS CAN FACE DISCRIMINATION IN HOUSING AS WELL AS EVICTION BECAUSE OF SEX WORK • THIRD-PARTIES LAWS CAN TARGET ANY SEX WORKERS WORKING OR LIVING TOGETHER. • EXAMPLE: CHINESE SEX WORKERS IN PARIS • ‘AWARE OF MIGRANT SEX WORKERS VULNERABLE AND PRECARIOUS POSITION , LESSORS CAN EXPLOIT THEIR MIGRANT TENANTS BY PROVIDING OVERPRICED AND POOR HOUSING CONDITIONS. ‘ ICRSE 2016
OPERATION HOMELESS, NORWAY • THIRD PARTY LAWS AND POLICIES • ‘MERCY, A STREET -BASED SEX WORKER, HAD BEEN EVICTED THREE TIMES BETWEEN 2013 AND 2014. THE LENGTH OF NOTICE SHE HAD BEEN GIVEN IN THESE INSTANCES VARIED BETWEEN A WEEK (IN ONE INSTANCE), TO A FEW HOURS AND IN ONE CASE, A FEW MINUTES. SHE TOLD INTERVIEWERS ABOUT AN EXPERIENCE SHE HAD HAD IN MAY 2014: “THE POLICE CAME WHEN I WAS NOT AT HOME. I WAS AT THE SHOP. MY FLATMATE CALLED ME AND TOLD ME THE POLICE WHERE THERE. THEY ONLY GAVE HER TEN MINUTES TO GET OUT. SHE DIDN ’T HAVE TIME TO GET MY THINGS FOR ME. WHEN I GOT BACK, MY CLOTHE S, MONEY AND EVERYTHING WERE STILL IN THERE. I WENT TO THE POLICE TO TRY AND GET THEM BACK AND THEY GAVE ME THE NUMBER OF THE OWNER OF THE HOUSE. I CALLED AND BEGGED THEM TO LET ME IN. EVERYTHING I OWNED WAS IN THERE. I HAD TO WAIT A WEEK WITH NO CLOTHES OR MONEY OR ANYTHING.” • AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. THE HUMAN COST OF CRUSHING THE MARKET
GOOD PRACTICE: HOUSING FIRST • CONTEXT: UK – RISE IN HOMELESSNESS AND SEX WORK DUE TO AUSTERITY AND LACK OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING. • SHELTER REPORTS THAT 28% OF WOMEN SLEEPING ROUGH HAVE HAD UNWANTED SEX IN ORDER TO FIND A BED FOR THE NIGHT. • BASIS YORKSHIRE : ONE YEAR PILOT STARTED IN NOV 2016. 6 HOUSING FIRST TENANCIES FOR 12 MONTHS. • KEY PRINCIPLES: CHOICE, UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT AND HARM REDUCTION • HTTPS://BASISYORKSHIRE.ORG.UK/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2018/03/BASIS-HOUSING-FIRST-FINAL-REPORT-MARCH-2018.PDF
OUTCOMES • WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A WOMAN WHO ABANDONED HER PROPERTY SHORTLY AFTER STARTING HER HF TENANCY, AND ANOTHER WHO MOVED ON AFTER DECIDING THAT SHE DIDN’T NEED THE INTENSIVE SUPPORT, ALL 6 HF TENANCIES WERE SUSTAINED OVER THE 12 MONTHS. • IN SOME INSTANCES SUPPORT DEMANDED DAILY VISITS TO LOCAL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS OVER A SUSTAINED PERIOD OF TIME AND COORDINATION OF MULTIPLE LOCAL AGENCIES. THIS ACTUALLY SAVED TWO WOMEN FROM HAVING LEG AMPUTATIONS, AND ANOTHER WOMAN WAS NOT EXPECTED TO SURVIVE HER ALCOHOL- RELATED ILLNESS PAST THE LIFE OF THE PROJECT BUT IS NOW MAKING POSITIVE PROGRESS IN HER HEALTH. THIS PROJECT HAS NOT ONLY PROVIDED A LIFELINE TO THE WOMEN WORKED WITH BUT ALSO PASSED ON CONSIDERABLE SAVINGS TO PUBLIC SERVICES, SUCH AS ACUTE MEDICAL CARE.
HARM REDUCTION • A HARM REDUCTION APPROACH WAS ALSO A CRITICAL FACTOR IN THE PROJ ECT’S SUCCESS. ONE WOMAN HAS STOPPED SEX WORKING SINCE BEING PART OF THE PROJECT, WHILST OTHERS REPORTED A POSITIVE IMPACT IN TERMS OF SAFER WORKING PRACTICES AND A REDUCTION IN HARM. • HARM REDUCTION IN RELATION TO PROBLEMATIC DRUG USE MEANT THAT WOMEN WERE SUPPORTED TO MAINTAIN DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMMES. FIVE WOMEN HAVE STARTED ON METHADONE SINCE THEY GOT THEIR HF TENANCIES. ALL HAVE STAYED ON ‘SCRIPT’, SOMETIMES WITH SHORT BREAKS BUT MOST HAVE BEEN SUPP ORTED TO GET BACK ON SCRIPT WITHIN DAYS.
RECOMMENDATIONS • DECRIMINALISATION OF SEX WORK (AMNESTY, WHO, NSWP) • ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY & DOCUMENTS FOR (UNDOCUMENTED) MIGRANTS INCL. SEX WORKERS • HOLISTIC NON-JUDGEMENTAL SERVICES • UNCONDITIONAL ACCESS TO HOUSING / SHELTER
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