Press coverage of violence against sex workers and people in the sex trade is often sensationalized and insensitive. In April 2011, the New York Times (NYT) chose to present the murders of women on Long Island differently. The article “Prostitutes’ Disappearances Were Noticed Only When the First Bodies Were Found” takes the time to illustrate the details of the missing women’s lives, humanizing them and critiquing the idea that they were “disposable.” Twenty four year old Shannan Gilbert was last seen in a community a few miles from where four bodies were found and is still missing. “Ms Gilbert was a prostitute, but much more,” wrote Manny Fernandez of the New York Times who added that “she was an aspiring actress, and the oldest of Mari Gilbert’s three daughters.”
U.S. sex worker organizations, organizations working with people in the sex trade and related communities participated in the Universal Periodic Review process at the Human Rights Commission at the UN in Geneva. After generating a report on human rights violations against these communities in the U.S., activists successfully advocated for inclusion of their issues in recommendations to the U.S. government. Sex workers and their allies then worked to raise awareness of the recommendations and encourage the Obama Administration to accept them – which it did on March 18, 2011 in Geneva, stating, “we agree that no one should face violence or discrimination in access to public services based on sexual orientation or their status as a person in prostitution.” This statement is an unprecedented acknowledgment of the need to prevent human rights abuses against sex workers and to ensure their access to public services. On March 18 across the United States sex workers and their allies held public actions of support of Recommendation 86.
Ms. Magazine blogger Cara Kulwicki concluded that the recommendations in BPPP/Desiree Alliance submission to the Universal Periodic Review about sex workers’ health and rights “should be seen as straight up common-sense.” The full article is available at the Ms. Magazine Blog.
Penelope Saunders summarized the debates at the United Nations in an article for RH Reality Check.