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.
Best Practices Policy Project was happy to help craft and subsequently sign this statement for International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers:
Statement of U.S. LGBTQ and Allied Organizations on the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
The undersigned lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, Two Spirit and allied organizations mark the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers by calling for support for efforts worldwide to defend the lives and rights of all people involved in the sex trades.
We recognize that systemic homophobia and transphobia, racism, disproportionate poverty and homelessness, widespread discrimination, and an absence of pathways to immigration status, frequently limit the economic and survival options of LGBTQ people, particularly LGBTQ youth and adults of color and transgender people. These conditions not only inform and can contribute to the involvement of LGBTQ people in the sex trades, whether by choice, circumstance, or coercion – they also increase the vulnerability to violence and abuse against LGBTQ people in the sex trades.
Robyn Few, founder of SWOP USA and friend of the Best Practices Policy Project, passed away September 13, 2012 after a valiant four years managing a serious form of cancer. Robyn and a circle of colleagues re-booted the struggle for sex worker rights in the United States in the mid-2000s by creating a way for sex workers and allies to organize locally via SWOP chapters and be connected by national network. Robyn also co-founded the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (December 17). Read more about Robyn, hear her voice and view some of our photos of her in the struggle.
Advocates and researchers Kari Lerum, Kiesha McCurtis, Penelope Saunders, and Stephanie Wahab who were involved in the Universal Periodic Review process at different points in 2010 and 2011, have produced an article about the importance of Recommendation 86 and the UPR for publication in the Anti-Trafficking Review (a peer reviewed journal published by the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women).