Resisting Criminalization during FIFA World Cup 2026

July 19th, 2026 · · Art, Campaigns Comments Off on Resisting Criminalization during FIFA World Cup 2026 - Tags:

On June 1, 2026 BPPP and NJRUA released a statement to the press decrying the increased criminalization and policing occurring in NJ, and other parts of the US, that is being justified by misguided concerns about “human trafficking” during the World Cup. Yesterday BPPP and NJRUA hosted a chill online session to share information about arrests that have occurred, resources to assist and to create art/narratives to share during today’s FIFA World Cup Final. N’Jaila Rhee of NJRUA shared that 8 community members that we know about have been arrested and $13,000 was stolen from them by the police. If you know of an incident that has occurred during the World Cup please use our online form to share what happened. The form can be filled in anonymously. Please share any fears, concerns, restrictions, surveillance, harassment, arrests, etc. What else can you do? Sign our open letter that resists the criminalization of sex workers and all our communities in NJ.

We created art in both analog and digital formats yesterday, coming up with hashtags such as #WeResistFIFAWorldCup2026, #rightsnotarrest and #sexworkerswillwin #FIFAWorldCup2026. We have been sharing the art with narratives about what we want and how criminalization is affecting us. There is no justification for criminalization of hard working people – immigrants, trans folks, BIPOC folks, people with disabilities, people working for their families and communities – during the World Cup. What do our communities want? To be able to work, keep our money, and be part of today and the future. No arrests. All art is shared with the permission of the creators.

June 2 Poetry Podcast

June 2nd, 2026 · · Uncategorized No comments

Stay tuned here for the release of the podcast sometime on June 2 (its been super busy for real).

Sign on to an open letter – World Cup No Excuse to Increase Criminalization of Sex Workers

June 2nd, 2026 · · Campaigns Comments Off on Sign on to an open letter – World Cup No Excuse to Increase Criminalization of Sex Workers

Today June 2, 2026, on International Whores Day, we the Sex Workers Rights Coalition and the signatories below, urge public officials in New Jersey to end the criminalization of sex workers’ lives. 

We are concerned that sex workers in New Jersey are criminalized for the work they do to put food on the table. We are concerned that arrests and incarceration under anti-prostitution statutes in the state of New Jersey lead to long-lasting and unjust consequences, such as loss of housing and educational opportunities. We are concerned that each year new legislation is proposed that attempts new ways to harm and/or erase sex workers. We have seen again and again that the criminalization of sex workers’ lives provides opportunities for law enforcement to harass sex workers and violate their rights. The idea that sex work is illegal encourages abusers to perpetrate crimes against sex workers because they (mistakenly) believe that no one cares.

We support sex workers. We acknowledge their role in providing for their families and supporting entire communities. Sex workers are passionate advocates for rights and justice. Sex workers defend public health. Sex workers stand side by side with workers in other professions for the rights of all. 

Sex workers are human rights holders.

SIGN ON

Want to know more about this issue? Read our June 2 press release.

Press Release

June 2nd, 2026 · · Press Release Comments Off on Press Release

June 2, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Sex Workers Rights Coalition: World Cup No Excuse to Increase Criminalization of Sex Workers

Newark, NJ – The FIFA World Cup will be held in 11 US host cities beginning June 13 and ending with the finale in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday, July 19, 2026. For months public officials in New Jersey have been suggesting that human trafficking will increase as a result of the World Cup, repeating a false discourse that has emerged time and time again at events such as the Olympics. Yesterday, the NJ Office of Attorney General released a statement regarding “sex and labor trafficking” concerns during the events in NJ, and announcing “significant resources” for law enforcement operations before and during the World Cup to carry out raids and “rescues.” 

Our organizations are dedicated to human rights, ending violence and getting resources to community members for their wellness, health and safety. What New Jersey does not need right now are more raids and more opportunities for law enforcement to harm communities of low income folk, trans people, sex workers and immigrants. It is folly to provide more resources for widespread law enforcement in New Jersey as we learn of devastating human rights abuses being perpetrated at Delaney Hall, a private prison operated for ICE. Without a doubt, as has happened via increased policing during global sporting events in the past, sex workers, immigrants and trans folks in NJ will be detained, arrested, displaced, and harmed. 

“New Jersey already has a terrible track record of disproportionately arresting and incarcerating Black and Brown folks,” note Penelope Saunders and Erika Smith, co-Executive Directors of the Best Practices Policy Project, “and pumping resources into policing during the World Cup will lead to BIPOC trans folks, sex workers and immigrants being detained in the name of ‘ending trafficking.’ In 2026 no one is safe in any form of detention anywhere in the US.”

“Resources need to be directed to the services that all sex workers in New Jersey need. Not policing. Not incarceration,” says N’Jaila Rhee, Executive Director of NJ Red Umbrella Alliance, an organization representing sex workers. “We call upon our NJ public representatives to stop funding the police to ‘rescue’ sex workers and to instead invest in economic justice and services led by the communities themselves.”

Members of the Sex Workers Rights Coalition, a national multi-organizational group, are raising the alarm today June 2nd, International Whores Day, about the increased criminalization and policing nationwide that is occurring under the guise of combating trafficking during the FIFA World Cup. The purported increase in human trafficking–and justification for policing– is without any evidence. 

For additional comments please contact:

Penelope Saunders and Erika Smith at BestPracticesPolicyProject@gmail.com and cell +19178170324

N’Jaila Rhee – newjerseyrua@gmail.com and +15515878079

Sex Worker’s Rights Coalition – email rightsnotrescue@protonmail.com

An open letter expressing concern can be signed here https://forms.gle/w1jLeF2JSCFkrGRz7