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).
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”
A coalition of New York City based organizations released a report in mid-April 2012 highlighting the devastating impact of the use of condoms as evidence on a wide range of communities of people involved in sex work and who trade sex, as well as people profiled by the police as prostitutes. The Huffington Post commented that “advocates for sex workers want New York to become the first state to ban police officers from confiscating condoms as evidence in prostitution cases, saying it has a chilling effect on disease protection.” The advocates report release and press conference in Albany NY received much press attention nationally-including coverage in Business Week and the Washington Post, as well as internationally.
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.