The ID database might threaten sex workers’ livelihoods October 29, 2008

Concerns have risen within the sex workers community of how the identification techniques employed by the police force are going to affect them in the backdrop of a government crackdown on street sex work.

Dr. Anne Killett from the University of East Anglia worked on the academic evaluation of the Ipswich street prostitution strategy, which saw the enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy on kerb-crawlers and women guilty of soliciting. Her team had observed “evidence of street prostitutes seeking other means to pursue their activities”. One of them is keeping in touch with clients through their mobiles.

The Home Office has recently announced their intention to widen the national database of mobile phone numbers.  Catherine Stephens – spokesperson of the International Union of Sex Workers – has said these initiatives could turn out to be a double-edged sword for vulnerable prostitutes, as they could provide both greater protection, but they could also make them feel persecuted.

Michael Parker, spokesperson of the organisation NO2ID, agrees with the last contention: “one of our main concerns is that by forcing everyone to have an identity card we are going to push people who are living in the fringe of the law further and further away from the services that are meant to protect them. Life is going to be harder for them as they will loose the trust in the police and the criminal justice system. Many sex workers have a great deal of problems. If they have mental health problems having suffered from traumatic life experiences, or if they suffer from drug addictions, they will run away from these additional pressures. You may end up in a situation were people become “unpeople” and cease to exists because they are not part of a national database”.

A spokesperson from Sex Workers and Allies Action Network (SWAN UK) said: “If sex workers are expected to carry ID Cards at all times that could obviously threaten their personal security and many could potentially be exposed to blackmail”.

Anne Killett has said that she is “very concerned” about the potential consequences of this strategy.

In the following 18 month the police will be provided with a portable device – known as Mobile Identification at Scene (Midas)- that will take and identify fingerprints in the street. Campaigners have asked for guarantees that fingerprints of non-offenders will not be stored.

 

The New Zealand’s success story May 18, 2008

On June 23, 2005 the Prostitution Reform Act made prostitution, pimping and the owning of brothels legal. This reform act was designed to safeguard the human rights of sex workers and protect them from exploitation. The Act was conducive to public health. For example, among its health and safety requirements there is the compulsory use of condoms. Most importantly, it made an offence for sex workers to be under the age of 18.

According to the just published report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee, the number of sex workers in New Zealand has not increased. A 2007 estimate in five centres – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hawkes Bay and Nelson- found a total of 2332 sex workers.

• 93% of them cited money as the reason for getting into and staying in the sex trade.
• Fewer than 17 per cent said they are working to support drug or alcohol use
• More than 60% felt that they were more able to refuse to provide commercial sexual services to a particular client since the enactment of the law.
• A significant majority felt that there had been improvements in the incidences of violence occuring in their profession.
• More than 90% feel they have legal rights under the act.      
• 1.3 percent of sex workers were underage

The committee found that the most significant barriers to exiting are loss of income, reluctance to lose the flexible working hours and the “camraderie and sense of belonging of their profession”.

Overall the committee has found that in the five years since the Act has come into force there have been some improvements. The Associate Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel has said that the act has had tangible positive effects.

See this blog post: “Good news on the effects of the New Zealand Prostitution law”

Happy Women’s day! March 8, 2008

This post is dedicated to the distinguished Professor Lawrence Summers, a truly dashing personality.  A noted economist, former Secretary of the Treasury and president of Harvard University.  I’ll remember him particularly for his statements regarding the genetic  differences in mathematical ability between men and women.

He basically seems to think women and numbers don’t click. Taking his wise words into account I have to express my admiration for him, especially because it so happens that this man and I share a love for numbers. So much so that I once wrote a poem about numbers.

It goes like this:

“The current world population counts about 6.6 billion people.

Amongst them, 51.3% are men, and 48.3% are women.

There are around 3.19 billion women in the world.

Women produce up to 80% of food in developing countries, but are more likely to be hungry than men.

70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty are women and children.

700,000,000 women are without adequate food, water, sanitation, health care or education (compared with 400,000,000 men)

750,000,000 women live on less than a dollar a day.

1% of the world’s titled land in the world is owned by women.

67% of all illiterate adults are women.

85m girls worldwide are unable to attend school, compared with 45m boys. In Chad, just 4% of girls go to school.

Up to 90% of workers in global supply chains are women.

62% of unpaid family workers are women.

21% of the world’s managers are women.

Fewer than one in six parliamentarians are women. While women’s representation in Rwanda is 49%, ten countries have no women in parliament.

In Africa, women now account for 75% of all young people living with HIV and AIDS.

In Ethiopia, seven out of ten women who have ever had a partner have suffered either physical or sexual violence at home.

99% of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with women continuing to die of pregnancy-related causes at the rate of one a minute.

Data on key aspects of women’s empowerment, including school attendance, violence against women and wages is only available in around a quarter of countries.”

Have a look at my sources.