The fight to decriminalise sex work

Decriminalisation debates remain central to discussions about how to best address human trafficking. At the heart of these considerations are questions around whether trafficking can best be reduced by increasing the policing and criminalisation of prostitution, by criminalising the purchase of sex but not its sale, or by decriminalising sex work entirely. However, with few exceptions such discussions exclude the people they impact most. Sex workers and sex workers’ rights organisations – particularly those from the Global South, trans, and sex workers of colour – are rarely granted seats at the table. They are not allowed into the dialogues set up to weigh the different policy prescriptions, even though those prescriptions will have life or death consequences for them once they take effect.

Spanning multiple continents and disparate legal and policy environments, the authors of this volume offer a radically different view of what they believe is best for sex workers.

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