Criminalised Interactions with Law Enforcement and Impacts on Health and Safety in the Context of Different Legislative Frameworks Governing Sex Work Globally

Abstract

This chapter focuses on cis and trans sex workers’ experiences with law enforcement, and how various regimes of regulating sex work including full and partial criminalisation, legalisation, and decriminalisation shape the human rights and the work environments of sex workers globally including access to occupational health and safety, police protection, and legal recourse. Criminalisation and policing of sex work constitute forms of structural violence that perpetuate and exacerbate experiences of interpersonal violence and negative health outcomes among sex workers globally. Country spotlights from the global North and South provide examples of different regimes of regulation and draw attention to how laws and regulations interact with specific work environments in various settings to shape sex workers’ lived experiences of health, safety, and human rights. This chapter highlights how various approaches to criminalising and policing sex work undermine sex workers’ safety, health and human rights, including violence and poor health and concludes with an evidence-based call for the decriminalisation of sex work globally.

Decriminalisation and the end of AIDS: keep the promise, follow the science, and fulfill human rights

“…There is ample evidence that “the legal environment, including laws, enforcement practices, and justice systems, is a key structural determinant of HIV risks for sex workers”, and that stigma and punitive laws related to sex work prevent the effective provision and uptake of HIV interventions. 32 , 33 , 39 While abuses have been observed across all policy regimes, these occur most profoundly where sex work is criminalised. 34 , 35 Sex workers living in countries that criminalise sex work were several times more likely to be living with HIV than those in countries that partially legalise sex work.…”

Heightened risk of unintended pregnancy among sex workers and sex worker organizations’ response during the stringent COVID-19 containment measures in East and Southern Africa

“…Fourth, the operational environment, characterised by criminalization and policing of sex work compromises health outcomes by limiting access to and use of health services by sex workers ( (Krüsi et al, 2021 ). It is common in many countries in East and Southern Africa for sex workers to be arrested for suspicion of soliciting sex by simply being found with condoms.…”