Canadians call for decriminalisation of prostitution

In a new report the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network has called for the federal government to decriminalize prostitution.

The report says that modernizing the law would protect sex workers' health and human rights.

All Canadians they say are entitled to such protection, including sex workers.

Glenn Betteridge, Senior Policy Analyst and principal author of the report, says that selling sex for money is legal in Canada, but sex workers are unable to do their jobs legally or safely because of the country's outdated criminal laws.

Betteridge says the laws, and the manner in which they are enforced, force sex workers into situations that put their health and safety at risk, and leave them open to stigma and discrimination, violence, and possible exposure to HIV.

Currently, the criminalization of prostitution puts sex workers under constant threat of arrest, meaning they often have less time to assess the risk of taking a particular client or to negotiate terms such as insisting on safe sex.

The criminalization also pits police and sex workers against each other, effectively alienating sex workers from the protective services of the police if, for example, a client becomes aggressive or violent.

Claire Thiboutot, Executive Director of Stella, a Montréal-based support and information group organized by and for sex workers, says society needs to respect sex workers, not persecute them.

She says there is a need to focus on improving their living and working conditions.

Among the 10 recommendations in Sex, work, rights: reforming Canadian criminal laws on prostitution, the Legal Network is calling on the federal government to:

• Protect sex workers' rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international human rights law by repealing the four Criminal Code section that make "communicating," "bawdy-houses" and "living on the avails" illegal,
• Recognize sex work as work under employment standards and occupational health and safety laws,
• Include sex workers in the policy and law reform process,
• Sex workers must have a say in modernizing the laws and policies that affect them.

The report is the culmination of a two-year project on criminal law, prostitution, and the health and safety of sex workers in Canada.

It included consultations with sex workers, sex worker organizations, public health and social science experts, and community-based organizations.

The full report is available at www.aidslaw.ca, along with a concise plain-language booklet and a series of 10 information sheets.