Group says current rules increase the risk of violence
Susan Lazaruk, The Province
Published: Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Advocates for sex-trade workers have launched a constitutional challenge of federal prostitution laws, alleging they make their job more dangerous and should be scrapped.
The Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society, formed by the Pivot Legal Society, is asking the courts to find laws that govern selling sex for money unconstitutional under a number of Charter of Rights and Freedoms sections.
The group alleges in a writ filed in B.C. Supreme Court that prostitution laws violate Section 15, which makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of occupation, among other things, because "sex workers are treated differently from people who have consensual sexual relationships that do not involve the exchange of money" and they're treated differently from others "who perform other personal services for pay."
The laws, including a ban on brothels, increase the risk of violence for prostitutes because they're forced to work alone in isolated areas on the street, the group alleges.
The laws also stigmatize and stereotype their occupation and prevent them from accessing the laws that protect workers' rights, including employment standards, union laws, employment-insurance benefits and workers' compensation.
The law that prohibits communication for the purposes of prostitution "infringes sex workers' right to freedom of expression" guaranteed under Section 2(b) of the Charter, the writ alleges.
The group also wants the courts to declare that a number of Criminal Code sections violate Section 1 of the Charter and therefore should be made null and void.
The writ names the justice minister of Canada, who has seven days to respond.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
RESPONSE
While I agree that the Criminal Code of Canada could be improved to better protect women, repealing section 212 (1) could have serious repercussions for the security, liberty and equality of prostituted women--the very rights the PIVOT Legal Society wants to defend.
By altering legislation to decriminalize procurement and living off of the avails of prostitution, Canada will ironically create an environment where women and children will be more easily forced into sexual exploitation. In countries that have similarily decriminalized, the sex industry has increased exponentially and along with it its violence and poor working conditions for the most vulnerable of prostituted women. In the society where the pimp and the trafficker become acceptable business people, human trafficking and child exploitation flourish. The “liberty” that has been enhanced in these countries is the liberty for men to use and abuse women and the liberty to buy, sell and traffic women without impunity.
As for creating equality and reducing the stigma of being prostituted, there is a lack of evidence that decriminalization in other countries has brought this about. In Australia, after 15 years of legalization, the Prostitutes Collective of Victoria found that clients had become more arrogant, more violent and more demanding.
If we want to truly unite against violence experienced by prostituted persons, we need to further criminalize the abusers and not enable them through our legislation. Instead of legitimizing and normalizing prostitution, let’s provide reasonable alternatives, support and prevention for prostituted persons—something that seriously lacks in Canada.