Category: Policy Updates

Amnesty International: essential policy decision

August 5th, 2015 · · Campaigns, Policy Updates One comment
Tomorrow Amnesty International will begin the process of adopting a draft policy that will defend the human rights of sex workers and call for the decriminalization of sex work. The Best Practices Policy Project is joining with organizations and human rights advocates to support the policy. The most important sources of information for the Best Practices Policy Project are sex workers themselves–such as a sex worker from New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance who has shared her experiences in a video–many of whom have spoken out publicly for the very first time in defense of the policy. After considering the issues, we urge you to send a letter to Amnesty International, just as the Best Practices Policy Project and our allies at Desiree Alliance and NJ Red Umbrella Alliance have, to ask the Amnesty International Council to stand firm and protect the human rights of sex workers. For those unable to write a letter, the global Network of Sex Work Projects has a petition that only takes a few seconds to sign. Representatives of Amnesty International can also show their support by ensuring that their representatives adopt the policy.

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Thanks for the Mention? Sex Work and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States

July 31st, 2015 · · Policy Updates No comments

Today, the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) released the “National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States (Updated to 2020)” and once again fails to address the needs of sex workers. The rights of sex workers and the movement to fight HIV are interconnected in very real ways, yet government agencies continue to erase the needs and rights of sex workers by excluding them from community consultation sessions and refusing to hear what sex workers have to say. When ONAP sought community consultation to update the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, not one word was mentioned to sex worker advocates. They asked leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS to give their opinions about various topics related to addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but somehow failed to find sex workers important enough to hear out their opinions. In response, the recently established research team directed by Best Practices Policy Project and Desiree Alliance to author “Nothing About Us, Without Us: HIV/AIDS-Related Community and Policy Organizing for US Sex Workers,” the nation’s first report on HIV and sex work with a particular focus on people who are transgender, sent a letter to ONAP to voice our concerns.35 my feet and some signs

In our letter we noted that the 2010 National HIV/AIDS Strategy makes no mention of sex workers, despite the fact that sex workers have been organizing for decades around these very issues. The updated policy is almost the same in this regard, taking a tiny step to mention the term “sex work” once, but nothing regarding the systematic exclusion of sex worker organizations from HIV policy decisions has changed. Cris Sardina, the director of Desiree Alliance, viewed the live streaming of the release of the policy today. “They mentioned over and over that stigma needs to be removed, yet one of the most vulnerable populations were excluded from these discussions,” she concluded. “Sex workers are stigmatized within stigmatized populations. Sex workers affected by HIV/AIDS didn’t have a voice in the national discussions today. That these voices, so important a component to these policy-making platforms, were merely an afterthought on a couple of pages is disheartening.” Our joint letter to ONAP already expressed our disappointment to policy makers that the very communities they claim to be helping are left out of the consultation process. Finding barriers to preventing the spread of HIV are impossible to find without working with communities living with and affected by HIV. Despite this, sex workers are continually left out as a community partners and transgender women are continually misgendered by the Centers for Disease Control as being classified as “Men who have sex with Men” – an inappropriate classification that ignores the profound sociological (and biological) differences between transgender women and gay, bisexual, or questioning men.

The letter also addresses concerns about the continued criminalization of the sex trade, as it has caused numerous health consequences for those involved and perceived to be involved as sex workers. Undoubtedly, the President’s goal to reduce HIV incidence is hindered by law enforcement policies across the nation to continue using condoms as evidence of prostitution and human trafficking related cases. Without proper labor rights and working conditions, sex workers may make decisions that affect their health. When accessing health care, sex workers face open discrimination and poor medical counseling due to their status for working in the sex trade. These are serious health considerations that impact addressing HIV in the United States, but apparently not relevant enough to be included in the United State’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Sex worker organizations that engage in grassroots harm reduction–often entirely without funding to do so because of the erasure of our communities as leaders in prevention strategies–have long recognized the gulf between what is said in the national policy and the lived experiences of sex workers. A representative of SWOP Maryland and harm reductionist working with migrant sex workers and survival workers who are often homeless, read over the new policy this afternoon. “They said the word ‘sex work’ in the policy, I liked that. I jumped up when I saw it,” she said, “but the policy is contradictory and fails to analyze the implications of certain interventions for criminalized groups. They are talking about testing people and their partners, but if you are a sex worker, what does it mean that  you are going test me and my partners? How will that work since we are criminalized and stigmatized?”

Thanks to Derek Demeri and NJRUA for this blog post with input from Penelope Saunders (BPPP), SWOP MD and Desiree Alliance

Letter to ONAP, 2015

July 14th, 2015 · · Policy Updates No comments - Tags:
Douglas M. Brooks, Director
Office of National AIDS Policy
The White House
Washington, DC 20502
Re: Policy Recommendations

Dear Director Brooks:

We are writing to you to ensure that the perspectives of sex workers and sex worker-led organizations are included in discussion of HIV/AIDS policy nationally, specifically in terms of updating the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The Best Practices Policy Project is a national organization dedicated to supporting rights based approaches to policy and harm reduction work with sex workers, people in the sex trade and related communities in the United States. We produce materials for policy environments, address research and academic concerns and provide organizations and advocates with technical assistance. Everything that we do is guided by principles that protect the rights of people who engage in commercial sex in all its forms. The Best Practices Policy Project works with a wide network of organizations across the United States. This letter was written in consultation with the New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance (NJRUA) and Desiree Alliance. NJRUA is a sex worker led group that has a focus area of preventing HIV among sex workers in New Jersey, and Desiree Alliance is a national sex workers rights organization dedicated to the decriminalization of sex work and elimination of ineffective HIV policies by empowering those most impacted to have a voice in the decisions that directly impact them.

We are pleased that the National HIV/AIDS Policy will be soon updated this year and would like to provide our input into the process and be included in forthcoming processes. The current National HIV/AIDS policy makes no mention of sex workers at all, despite the fact that sex workers in many different locales across the country have organized together for years in order to address factors that can increase their risk of HIV/AIDS.

Background and barriers: Across the United States, the harsh policing of anyone assumed to be, or profiled as a sex worker, directly undermines the ability of sex workers to protect themselves from HIV and, in a broader sense, alienates these communities from the support they need to defend their health and rights. Sex workers, and people the police assume to be sex workers, are harassed, assaulted, sexually assaulted, extorted, and falsely arrested by police. The law enforcement practices of using condoms as evidence and/or destroying condoms, confiscating medication(s), and seizing safe sex materials directly contravenes efforts to halt the spread of HIV in the United States. People of color, transgender people, immigrants, homeless people and youth of color are disproportionately affected by these law enforcement activities. People living with HIV who are profiled as being in the sex trade are subject to additional harassment, harsher policing and intensified legal sanctions (including felony convictions) in many jurisdictions across the US.

Different forms of U.S. anti-trafficking legislation and policies affect sex workers in the United States and globally. Federal U.S. anti-trafficking policies undermine the health and rights of sex workers both domestically and internationally by requiring that many organizations seeking funding adopt a policy against sex work (“Anti-Prostitution Loyalty Oath”). This requirement is applied to many seeking funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Organizations within the U.S. have also been subject to the pledge under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. These restrictions mean that many organizations are confused about what kinds of services they can provide to sex workers and have, in some situations, lead to shuttering of excellent harm reduction services. New forms of state level legislation to end “domestic trafficking” focusing on “ending demand” for prostitution have been proposed and/or adopted in many U.S. States, intensifying policing of sex workers and their clients. Instead of improving working conditions for sex workers and people in sex trades, these laws lead to more arrests and imprisonment of sex workers, and erode their abilities to utilize tools and strategies they need to keep safe.

1 – In terms of how to reduce new HIV infections in this context, we recommend:

  • addressing the root causes that marginalize sex workers–such as criminalization, stigma, and police violence–from treatment and prevention services.

  • ending the criminalization of condoms for sex workers, trafficking victims and those profiled as such, and ensuring adequate access to condoms for all

  • providing funding for harm reduction and rights-based health care services for sex workers of all genders (including men and women, those who are transgender, and gender non-conforming people,) and all ages

  • Lifting all restrictions on federal funding for harm reduction programs, including the ban on syringe exchange programs, and expanding funding for evidence-based health approaches to drug use, including harm reduction and drug treatment.

2-  In terms of how can we increase access to care & improve health outcomes for people living with HIV, we recommend:

  • training healthcare professionals to end stigma and discrimination against those who are involved in the sex trade

  • providing funding for harm reduction and rights-based health care services for sex workers of all genders and all ages

  • encouraging states to remove laws and enhancements to standard sentencings that criminalize people living with HIV; expunging the records of those arrested and charged under such laws that mandate sex offender registration; and removing people charged under these laws from sex offender registries.  In addition, the U.S. Government should adopt a bill such as H.R.1843/S.1790 REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act, in order to bring the U.S. in line with international law standards to end criminalizing based on HIV status

  • Encourage dialogue between national borders and migrant sex workers to ensure HIV-related health care is provided to those detained in ICE facilities, with a view to ending their detention and ensuring post-release treatment

3 – In terms of how to reduce HIV-related disparities & Health inequities, we recommend:

  • providing support for community mobilization of sex workers to respond to violence and discrimination and urging states to work toward the decriminalization of commercial sex

  • eliminating policies that prevent and hinder individuals with commercial sex- and drug-related convictions from applying for and/or receiving student loans public housing or housing assistance, public assistance, or other government-funded social services.

4 – In terms of how to achieve a more coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic, we recommend:

  • including sex workers as a priority in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, clearly describing the barriers faced by sex workers and people in the sex trade, and listing these groups in prevention and treatment priorities

  • clearly stating in all policies the needs and priorities of the transgender community and ending the practice of misgendering transgender women as “men who have sex with men” (MSM)

  • improving communications between government agencies working on HIV and communities affected by HIV (recognizing sex workers and drug users in this dialogue), paying particular attention to meaningfully including voices of people impacted by these policies

  • modifying or eliminating existing federal policies that conflate sex work and human trafficking and prevent sex workers from accessing services such as healthcare, HIV prevention and support

  • repealing and removing “anti-prostitution pledge” requirements entirely for U.S. global AIDS funds and anti-trafficking funds.

Thank you for your leadership and consideration of these important matters. We look forward to working with ONAP to expand access to treatment, care and prevention for sex worker communities. We are committed to reducing the number of HIV infections across the United States through prevention and education initiatives. We urge you to adopt these policy resolutions to advance the objective of reducing the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Sincerely,

Best Practices Policy Project

Desiree Alliance

New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance

Ill-informed legislation under consideration in Maryland

March 25th, 2015 · · Policy Updates No comments - Tags: , , , ,

BREAKING 11:45am, March 25, 2015: We just learned that the Senate Bill has been withdrawn and the hearing cancelled. This is a great victory for human rights!

While lawmakers at the federal level are battling over a largely bad piece of legislation allegedly meant to address human trafficking, a proposal in Maryland to increase criminal penalties related to trafficking and prostitution will have a hearing on March 25. In the name of making human trafficking-related crimes felonies rather than misdemeanors, the Maryland Senate will hear testimony on Senate Bill 904. This is the counterpart to House Bill 241, which had a hearing last month. Aside from the fact that a criminalization approach is not effective in addressing coercion or exploitation, Maryland’s human trafficking law is even more problematic than many others. In 2007 lawmakers essentially amended the state’s pandering laws and renamed them “human trafficking” laws–meaning that human trafficking in Maryland only covers force, fraud and coercion in the sex sector, and trafficking in any other sector is not covered.

The proposed law would make the following, among others, into felony crimes:

  • take or cause another to be taken to any place for prostitution
  • place, cause to be placed, or harbor another in any place for prostitution
  • persuade, induce, entice, or encourage another to be taken to or placed in any place for prostitution

As noted by advocates like Power Inside who are speaking out against these bills (as well as those who have spoken out against similar legislation in other parts of the country) such a law would increase dramatically the criminal penalties associated with important harm reduction practices such as sex workers working together. A friend giving a ride to a sex worker, a boyfriend or a girlfriend acting as a lookout when a sex worker takes a date, or an older sex worker giving advice to a younger sex worker could all be liable for felony crimes under such a law, which would include up to 25 years in jail, a $15,000 fine, and no possibility to expunge the conviction.

If Maryland lawmakers are truly interested in helping people who experience force, fraud or coercion in the course of their work, whether in the sex sector, domestic labor, agricultural sector, or elsewhere, they should revise the law to properly define human trafficking. Even more importantly, they should focus on structural reforms that would make people less vulnerable to exploitation, such as increasing labor protections, raising the minimum wage, ensuring a strong social safety newt, promoting worker organizing among migrants and other vulnerable groups, and removing criminal laws associated with sex work.

Power Inside, Best Practices Policy Project, Sex Worker Project, and other groups are sending the letter below to the Maryland Senate and General Assembly encouraging them to table this bill and reconsider their approach.

TO: The Hon. Bobby Zirkin, Chair, and members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee; Hon. Joseph Vallario, Jr., Chair, and members of the House Judiciary Committee

FROM: The Undersigned Organizations

DATE: March 25, 2015

RE: Opposition to Senate Bill 904 and House Bill 241

As service providers, human rights advocates, and experts working on behalf of victims of human trafficking across the country, we appreciate the zeal with which the Maryland legislature has taken on the fight to end human trafficking. However, we believe strongly that SB 904 and HB241 are misguided and we oppose increasing penalties under subsection (a) of Maryland Criminal Code § 11-303 and urge the committees to release an unfavorable report on each of the respective bills.

Firstly, it is important to recognize that trafficking adults with the use of force, fraud, or coercion is already correctly a felony under MCC § 11-303(b)(2). This is in line with the definition of trafficking used by the federal government, and accepted as a model law by the American Bar Association, the Uniform Laws Commission, the United Nations, and experts in human trafficking. SB 904 and HB 241 are unnecessary to protect adult victims of human trafficking.

As it stands, MCC § 11-303(a) criminalizes activities that fall far beyond the widely accepted definition of human trafficking. If the amendments pass, basic safety techniques that those in the sex trade, including victims of human trafficking, engage in as a means of harm reduction would be considered felony human trafficking. For instance, two trafficking victims driving to and from jobs together would be considered felony human trafficking. This increased criminalization of an overbroad definition of trafficking will inadvertently escalate harm to adult victims of trafficking, as well as homeless and otherwise vulnerable adults involved in prostitution who rely on their peers for basic survival.

The increased penalties of these common harm-reduction activities have far-reaching consequences beyond longer and more costly sentences. Many Maryland residents who enter into prostitution have been disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of homelessness, health conditions, and survival related behaviors such as trading sex for shelter. As such, they may have lengthy criminal records for crimes that may eventually be expunged or sealed.  Human trafficking is not eligible for sealing or expungement. As such, anyone arrested and convicted under MCC § 11-303 for prostitution-related activities that fall short of the commonly understood definition of human trafficking will face life-long stigma and discrimination when seeking employment, housing, and education. This is especially true when considering that most employers, landlords, and other gate-keepers will not understand the broad range of survival activities that are considered “human trafficking” under Maryland state law. This unfortunate consequence of criminalization forces people to rely on the sex industry, even when seeking to escape it. This problem is only compounded if non-violent trafficking charges are increased to felonies.  Passing this law could wreak havoc on the lives of the most vulnerable, and we are deeply concerned about the implications.

We, the undersigned, oppose SB 904 and HB 241.