Decriminalise Sex Work Now!

June 2009 is an important window of opportunity for advocacy on the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa. The South African Law Reform Commission has released its Discussion Paper on "Adult Prostitution" and has invited the public to give input on the topic. It is important that South Africans engage with this process and make their voices heard.

The Law Commission has suggested four options to sex work and law in South Africa:

1. Total criminalisation of sex work (South Africa's current position)

2. Partial criminalisation

3. Non-criminalisation (the same as decriminalisation of sex work where sex work and related activities are no longer a crime)

Many women's and human rights advocates argue that the only legal option that will respect and protect the human rights of sex workers is non-criminalisation. Sex workers are daily subjected to violence from clients, the police and their boyfriends and have no legal recourse. Sex workers find it hard to access legal, social and health services because of the stigma that attaches to sex work and make service-providers unwilling to assist sex workers.

Johannesburg Sex Workers Speak Out

A number of sex workers in Johannesburg have given submissions to the Law Commission drawing on their experiences of the law, the police and their job as sex workers.
 A writing workshop was organised by Sisonke (Johannesburg) and the Wits Writing Centre and supported by the Reproductive Health & HIV Research Unit (RHRU) and the Tswaranang Legal Advocacy Centre. For more information click here.