December 17 is the International Day for the Protection of Sex Workers from Violence and Cruelty
December 17 is the International Day for the Protection of Sex Workers from Violence and Cruelty
On this day, female sex workers and allies around the world remember those who died from violence and unite their voices in a single call to respect the human rights of female sex workers and stop violence.
Violence against sex workers is supported by legislative prohibitions, law enforcement practices and impunity of criminals.
In Kyrgyzstan, individual sex work was decriminalized in 1998, that is, it is neither a criminal offense, nor a misdemeanor, nor a violation. But sex workers continue to be treated as criminals: the police systematically arbitrarily detain sex workers, take fingerprints from many, personal data are entered into a "file cabinet". All this is accompanied by humiliation, extortion and other forms of violence.
For 11 months of 2019, there are data on 294 cases of violations of rights by the police, which were experienced by 243 sex workers.
In 2015, the CEDAW Committee recommended that Kyrgyzstan establish a supervisory mechanism to monitor police violence against sex workers.
The State in its V-th periodic report reports that measures have been taken, but in reality the mechanism does not work – monitoring of illegal actions of the police is not carried out, and the results of documentation indicating police arbitrariness are ignored.
In Tajikistan, sex work is an administrative offense: according to article 130 of the Administrative Code, the penalty is a fine or administrative arrest
Arbitrary detentions of sex workers are a common practice of the police, which is accompanied by forced testing for HIV and STIs, extortion of money and blackmail.
In 2019, 36 cases of offenses by the police against sex workers were documented. These are cases that sex workers were not afraid to tell about. The amounts extorted by police officers vary from 50 to 620 US dollars.
In 2013, the CEDAW Committee recommended the abolition of the administrative article for sex work, in 2018, the Committee expressed concern about discrimination, extortion, forced HIV and STI testing, arbitrary detention and physical violence against sex workers by the police and recommended that complaints of police abuse be recorded and investigated properly in a way.
The CEDAW recommendations are not being implemented: moreover, the State is strengthening its punitive policy against sex workers. The punishment for sex work was tightened twice - in 2015 and in 2019. Currently, the fine is from 110 to 170 US dollars), and in case of repeated involvement under Article 130 within a year, the amount of the fine is from 170 to 285 US dollars or administrative arrest for 10-15 days.
In Russia, sex workers are prosecuted under the Administrative Code - Article 6.11, the penalty is a fine of 24-32 US dollars.
The CEDAW Committee recommended in 2015 that article 6.11 be repealed, but this recommendation has not been implemented to date. In the ixth Periodic state report of Russia to the CEDAW Committee, published in the fall of 2019, there is no mention of article 6.11.
The OSCE/ODIHR recognized 18 cases of violence against sex workers that occurred in 2018 as hate crimes, of which in 3 cases the crimes were committed by police officers, in 15 cases the source of violence is clients of sex workers and groups that appeal to moral values.
There is no article for sex work in Kazakhstan, at the same time, according to Article 449 of the Administrative Code, harassment in public places for the purpose of providing sexual services can be punished. This article is used as the basis for numerous raids against sex workers.
In 2019, the number of raids increased. Sex workers are detained, registered, and protocols on an administrative offense are drawn up, while in most cases sex workers were not in public places during the alleged "offense".
The CEDAW Committee in 2019, following the results of the 74th session, notes with concern the stigma, widespread discrimination, including gender-based violence against sex workers by the police; refusals to register complaints of sex workers about cases of violence. CEDAW recommends:
- register, investigate and prosecute cases of gender-based violence and discrimination against sex workers and bring perpetrators to justice;
- put an end to the practice of compulsory HIV testing;
- to carry out information campaigns aimed at combating stereotypical ideas about sex workers and related stigma;
We call for an end to violence against sex workers:
- follow the recommendations of the CEDAW Committee – abolish the punishment for sex work
- to stop punitive law enforcement practices against sex workers
- properly investigate cases of violence against sex workers