U.S. Department of State Takes International Stand Against Sex Worker Discrimination

On March 10, 2011 (Geneva) the U.S. State Department issued the following response to a recommendation in United Nations Universal Periodic Review:

"We agree that no one should face violence or discrimination in access to public services based on sexual orientation or their status as a person in prostitution, as this recommendation suggests." (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/upr/157986.htm)

The Universal Periodic Review is a relatively new procedure created by the United Nations Human Rights Council, that is responsible for reviewing the human rights record of all member states, most recently the United States. Both "civil society organizations" and states may submit reports. The focus on discrimination against sex workers was launched by a group of sex worker organizations led by Best Practices Policy Project and Desiree Alliance which submitted a "Report on The United States of America, 9th Round of the Universal Periodic Review in November 2010." (http://www.bestpracticespolicy.org/UPRreport20101.html)

"This is a groundbreaking statement. For the first time the US acknowledges the adverse effects of discrimination against sex workers," says Liz Coplen, Board Chair, Sex Workers Outreach Project. (http://www.swopusa.org)

"We were long overdue for the United States to take the needs of sex workers seriously, particularly the need to stem violence and discrimination," says attorney Sienna Baskin, Co-Director of Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York. (http://www.sexworkersproject.org)

"Human beings cannot be excluded from accessible services because they work in economies outside of society's accepted norms. The fact that the U.S. has acknowledged the recommendation in full speaks to the current administration's willingness to recognize the abuses sex workers have been subjected to for far too long," says Cristine Sardina, co-director, Desiree Alliance. We look forward to working with this administration." (http://www.desireealliance.org)

"The Universal Periodic Review process allowed groups working with sex workers, people profiled as sex workers and people in the sex trade in the United States to come together to describe the human rights violations experienced by their constituents. This is the first time our organizations have received this kind of acknowledgment internationally," says Penelope Saunders, coordinator of Best Practices Policy Project. (http://www.bestpracticespolicy.org)

The hard work of these groups paid off when, in November 2010 Uruguay reflected these concerns in their State recommendation (#86) to "Ensure access to public services paying attention to the special vulnerability of sexual workers to violence and human rights abuses." This set the wheels in motion requiring that the U.S. address international and national concerns that U.S. policies resulted in discrimination and violence against sex workers.

In the ensuing months, sex workers and sex workers' rights groups, human rights advocates, academic researchers and family members of sex workers staged an unprecedented advocacy collaboration, forming a group called Human Rights For All: Concerned Advocates for the Rights of Sex Workers and People in the Sex Trade (HRA). HRA urged the U.S. State Department and other policy makers to accept Recommendation 86, part of the report of the Universal Periodic Review, and called on the U.S. to look into the special vulnerability of sex workers to violence and human rights abuses.

This effort reflects widespread criticism that the U.S. has received after developing what has been referred to as the "Anti-Prostitution Loyalty Oath." The policy prohibits the use of USAID funds to assist sex workers in the context of HIV and trafficking unless the recipient NGO explicitly condemns prostitution.

"Policy initiatives should support the human rights of sex workers in general, as well as individuals who have been trafficked," says Dara Barlin HRA (Human Rights For All: Concerned Advocates for the Rights of Sex Workers and People in the Sex Trade).

"The U.S. has been exporting a moral agenda in funding policies denying lifesaving services and advocacy to NGO's and charity organizations." says Carol Leigh of Trafficking Policy Research Project ( http://www.traffickingpolicyresearchproject.org) "The U.S. should own up to the adverse impact of some of these anti-trafficking policies, such as the Anti-Prostitution Loyalty Oath, and revise these policies."

On Friday March 18th sex workers will stage demonstrations in cities across the country to celebrate adoption of Recommendation 86. “The U.S. has finally acknowledged that sex workers face issues separate from those of human trafficking victims,” says Natalie Brewster Nguyen, an artist and member of the Sex Workers Outreach Project of Tucson who is organizing the demonstrations on the 18th, ”Now we need to demand that steps be taken to address the issues that will actually improve the daily lives of sex workers.”