Category: Policy Updates

Sex worker rights submission to 2013 TIP Report

March 7th, 2013 · · Policy Updates, Reports No comments

BPPP, Desiree Alliance, SWOP-NYC and SWANK collaborated to provide written information to the US Department of State for inclusion in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report (the TIP Report). This annual report is intended to illustrate the degree to which the United States and foreign governments comply with the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons” that are prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

In our written testimony our organizations strongly encouraged the US Department of State to include information in the 2013 TIP report about anti-trafficking policies that have violated the spirit of UPR Recommendation 86 leading to violence and discrimination against sex workers, people in the sex trade and people who are profiled as engaging in prostitution. Such policies include the use of anti-trafficking funding to arrest, detain, incarcerate, deport and harass sex workers and people presumed to be sex workers, their families, and people who are presumed to be their customers. We also noted that the US government still hinders effective, rights based programming domestically and globally by placing politically-driven restrictions on the criteria for organizations that may receive grants under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  Read the full written contribution.

Hold the US accountable: Give input to TIP Report

February 27th, 2013 · · Policy Updates No comments

The U.S. State Department is seeking input for inclusion in its global Trafficking in Person (TIP) Report from organizations within the United States and from around the world. Historically, U.S. approaches to the issue have implicitly or explicitly endorsed human rights abuses against sex worker communities in the name of combating human trafficking. When members of BPPP and the Desiree Alliance met with staff at the TIP office last year, they welcomed our input into the forthcoming report. BPPP will send in a short submission and we shall see if any of our perspectives are included. We encourage other groups to do the same, if possible. State Department officials will accept additional documentation until March 6, 2013 and reporting occurs annually . Organizations can report on what is happening in the U.S. as well as what is happening abroad.

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A Call to Action on Sex Work and HIV

July 1st, 2012 · · Campaigns, News Archive, Policy Updates No comments - Tags: , , ,

Organizers in the United States representing communities of sex workers and people in the sex trade have produced a call to action in regards to US policies affecting sex workers and people in the sex trade for distribution during the International AIDS Conference (IAC) to be held in Washington, D.C. in July 2012. The group of organizations and advocates organizing to highlight the rights of sex workers during the IAC are demanding that the U.S. government make good on its 2011 commitment “that no one should face violence or discrimination in access to public services based on… their status as a person in prostitution”

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500 People Freed from CANS Registration Requirements

March 29th, 2012 · · News Archive, Policy Updates No comments - Tags: ,

On March 29th, 2012 a judge ruled that continuing to require people convicted for solicitation of prostitution under the “Crimes Against Nature Statute” to register as sex offenders violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. This decision follows the abolishment of the Crimes Against Nature Statute (CANS) and frees approximately 500 people previously convicted under the statute from this discriminatory and disparate punishment. More information is available at Women With A Vision’s website and the Center for Constitutional Rights case page. Special thanks to Streetwise and Safe for bringing this information to our attention.