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UN New York Headquarters

EQUALITY NOW ACTION – 51.1

SEPTEMBER 2013

United Nations: Listen to survivors – don’t jeopardize efforts to prevent sex trafficking

"When people tell me that women choose this life, I can’t help but laugh. Do

they know how many women like me have tried to escape, but have been

beaten black and blue when they are caught? To the men who buy us, we are

like meat. To everybody else in society, we simply do not exist." – Ayesha,

India, survivor

“Society’s understanding of human trafficking and prostitution needs to

change. In my country, people believe that prostitutes are criminals and

buyers are the victims. This is wrong…We need to change this thinking and

educate young girls about the abuses of the sex industry, to let them know that

they do have choices. Women are human beings, not commodities to be

bought and sold.” – Alma, Philippines, survivor and activist

Combating sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation around the world requires the insight and

leadership of survivors who have experienced these human rights abuses . Survivors know first-hand the

human rights violations inherent in sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, and are of vital

importance in informing effective anti-trafficking efforts. Equality Now has worked for more than 20 years

to help ensure that survivors’ experiences shape international policy on these issues.

Equality Now and 97 anti-trafficking organizations worldwide, many of which are survivor-led, are

gravely concerned about two reports released last year with the backing of the United Nations (UN) and

which are being seen as official UN policy. These reports not only make recommendations in direct

opposition to international human rights standards, but also largely ignore the experiences and views of

survivors of prostitution and sex trafficking.

These two reports, the Global Commission on HIV and the Law’s report HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights

and Health (2012), published by UNDP, and the UNDP, UNFPA and UNAIDS-backed report, Sex Work

and the Law in Asia and the Pacific (2012), tell countries that in order to support efforts to reduce

HIV/AIDS and to promote the human rights of people in prostitution, all aspects of the commercial sex

industry should be decriminalized. While the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of

Discrimination against Women (the International Bill of Women’s Rights) calls for countries to “suppress

all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women,” the UN reports at issue call for

the opposite: the decriminalization of pimping, brothel-keeping and the purchase of sex. In addition, the

recommendations of the reports go against mounting evidence that decriminalization and legalization –

including of brothels – does not protect people in prostitution or improve their situation.

In 2000, Equality Now, sex trafficking survivors and our partners worked to ensure that the UN Protocol to

Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (the “UN

Trafficking Protocol”) defined trafficking to reflect the wide variety of sex trafficking survivors’

experiences. The UN Trafficking Protocol’s definition was the result of years of discussion and negotiation

by countries and reflects a carefully drawn political consensus that should not be challenged by UN

agencies. However, the two UN reports recommend revising and narrowing this definition, which would

prevent many victims of trafficking from being recognized as such. This would also jeopardize their ability

to access support and justice, and reduce accountability for their traffickers.

"I believe the clients should be fined or [there should be] some other deterrent to stop them paying

for sex. If there were no clients, then traffickers and pimps wouldn't be able to do what they do. ” –

Michelle, survivor from New Zealand, where prostitution is decriminalized

"I believe that Australia should adopt the Swedish Model in regards to prostitution. The demand

should be criminalised. Women are in a position in society where circumstances push them into

prostitution, but men have a choice. They don’t need to have sex available to them. By legalising

prostitution men are being told by the government that it ’s perfectly ok to purchase a woman.

Women are not commodities to be bought and sold. Legalisation normalises something that is far

from normal.” – Sam, Australia, survivor

Survivors have long said that to combat sex trafficking, we must address the demand for commercial sex

that fuels it, including through laws that criminalize the purchase of sex. The effectiveness of combating

sex trafficking through addressing demand for commercial sex has been affirmed by the UN Trafficking

Protocol, the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the

former head of UN Women.

The Swedish (or Nordic) model on prostitution addresses demand by decriminalizing the person in

prostitution and criminalizing the buyers and pimps. This approach recognizes the inherent inequality in

the power dynamic between the buyer and the person bought in a commercial sex transaction, and that

demand for commercial sex is the main driving force behind sex trafficking. In fact, UNDP, UNFPA, UN

Women and UN Volunteers issued a report in September 2013 which found that rape perpetration is

strongly associated with the purchase of commercial sex, and noted that both stem from gender inequality.

This recognition of the connection between various forms of violence against women and the importance

of addressing its root causes has been a central component of the UN’s work. However, the two UN

reports at issue seem to ignore this, instead calling for laws that address the demand for commercial sex to

be repealed.

Promoting the human rights of people in prostitution – including their right to health, safety and freedom

from violence and exploitation – and protecting them from HIV, are imperative. However, the UN

reports’ recommendations are in direct opposition to efforts and policies that have been and are

widely supported throughout the UN. They also jeopardize efforts to prevent and address sex trafficking

and promote gender equality. These cannot be side effects of efforts to prevent HIV.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Please join survivors such as Ayesha, Alma, Michelle and Sam, Equality Now, and a coalition of 97

survivor-led and anti-trafficking organizations worldwide who have been disputing the UN reports since

November 2012, in urging UNAIDS, UNFPA and UNDP to:

 Clarify their position on the decriminalization of pimps, brothel owners and buyers ;

 In all future development of policies and programs on issues that affect people in the commercial sex industry, consult, involve and reflect the views of survivors of commercial sexual exploitation

as well as a more diverse range of groups working on the issue of prostitution and sex trafficking.

Letters should go to:

Michel Sidibé

Executive Director

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

20 Avenue Appia

1211 Geneva 27

SWITZERLAND

Email: [email protected]

Fax: +41 22 791 4179

Helen Clark

Administrator

United Nations Development Programme

One United Nations Plaza

New York, NY 10017

USA

Email: [email protected]

Fax: +1 212-906-5778

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin

Executive Director

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

605 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10158

USA

Email: [email protected]

Fax: +1 212-370-0201

With a copy to your country’s Ambassador to the UN, and to:

H.E. Ban Ki-moon

Secretary-General

United Nations, S-3800

New York, NY 10017

USA

Email: [email protected]

Fax: +1 212-963-2155

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Executive Director

UN Women

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

405 East 42 nd

Street

New York, NY 10017

USA

Email: [email protected]

Fax: +1 646-781-4444

Please keep Equality Now updated on your work and send copies of any replies you receive to:

Equality Now, P.O. Box 20646, Columbus Circle Station, New York, NY 10023 USA, Fax: +1 -212-586-1611 Equality Now, P.O. Box 2018 - 00202, Nairobi, KENYA, Fax: +254-20-271-9868 Equality Now, 1 Birdcage Walk, London, SW1H 9JJ UK, Fax: +44 -20-7973-1292

Email: [email protected] / Website: www.equalitynow.org