Amnesty International Supports Decriminalization!

[Maggie McNeill]

Amnesty International, the world's largest and most respected human rights organization, has called for the absolute decriminalization of all forms of sex work around the world! A press release is here: http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press...ers-internatio

Amnesty has a tremendous amount of clout; this will strongly affect small countries, and even in big countries like the US some politicians may now begin to doubt the wisdom of backing laws that allow the cops to persecute adults for consensual sex. It will also undermine the prohibitionists' arguments; they can no longer pretend that their views are common-sense and mainstream.

The fight isn't even close to over, but this is HUGE news for everyone who cares about human rights and adult sexual freedom! Please spread the word!

[Lena Duvall]

This is very exciting news! Thanks for sharing.

[Bijou Neko]

Good news! I agree, it's definitely a plus to have a respected, mainstream voice against the prohibitionists.

[Alpine]

Defiantly a step in the right direction! A direction that eventually, I hope will remove the “societal” stigmas from all of on both sides. It is time for the world’s oldest profession to become socially accepted.

[ICU 812]

Good to hear!


However: I would have thought that their policy would have been to oppose the sex industry world-wide based on fighting international sex slavery and the anti-trafficking movement.

As Vinny Barbarino used to say, "I am so confused ", lately by multiple double-double standards. On the one hand, we have First Amendment rights, long fought for, yet the leading liberal candidate was shouted off the stage in Portland., by other liberals .

We have long heard about the evils of the sex industry in the context of slavery, yet the leading international advocate for abuse dand exploited people now support prostitution.

We now have the most liberal administration in history, yet in six and a half years there has been not even a hint of opening up the sex industry like they have in Europe and most everywhere else. maybe next year we will elect the first openly socialist president, and everything will change.

[Sysonby]

Maggie,

Thank you for highlighting this. I agree with you that the importance of this is hard to overstate. Amnesty could surely be a huge and relentless ally.

"Recognizing and respecting the agency of sex workers to articulate their own experiences and define the most appropriate solutions to ensure their own welfare and safety" - wow, people have the capacity to make their own choices about their own bodies (!) - one wonders what more fundamental right there could be.

ICU - I think that what Amnesty has come around to realizing is that attempting (I doubt anyone has never succeeded) to ban prostitution or criminalize it has only resulting in helping traffickers and slavers - because those policies seek to make the prostitute the object of shame, stigma and persecution, those who have been enslaved or trafficked are much less likely to "call the police" or whatever equivalent because doing so carries very real social and legal risks (criminal charges, public naming and shaming, not having accusations taken seriously, etc.).

[2wheels2fun]

With apologies to Paul Harvey, here's the rest of the story.

From the Rawstory article, "Amnesty also wants to see the decriminalisation of third parties involved in prostitution, such as pimps and brothel operators, alongside sex workers themselves."

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/in-h...n-of-sex-work/

AI may have taken a step in the right direction, but it's a step too far.

[Tiffani Jameson]

Decriminalization will not stop the bad guys. Only help them hide behind the law. It won't stop anyone from being exploited by people who lure the young and stupid into sex work.

Decriminalize yourself. Stop meeting obvious pimp bait. Unexploit yourself. Stop meeting with men who don't respect your sanity and safety.

While I feel it's a great thing worldwide, I think we have other things that are more important.