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Morgan, Patricia and Szablewska, Natalia
(2022).
Abstract
This conceptual presentation examines unintended negative policy outcomes, highlighting health and human rights inequities, for an invisible group of Asian and Ethnic Minority (A/EM) sex workers. In Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) the rights and health of these sex workers are negatively impacted by Section 19 (s19) of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 (PRA), as it excludes migrant sex workers from the protections of the Act. In addition to impacting A/EM migrant sex workers’ rights and health, s19 has unintentionally become an enabling factor for human trafficking in NZ, which has been confirmed as such by the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 2018) and the US Department of State’s 2021 Trafficking in Person’s Report. The presentation details the Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers’ Collective (NZPC)’s proposed amendments to s19, and the ways in which s19 denies these sex workers the protections offered by the laws surrounding sex work in NZ. Drawing from current NZ-based research and the fieldwork stories as well as authors’ prior research on sex work discrimination in other contexts, we illustrate the different ways individuals on temporary visas become sex workers, the double-stigma they face as A/EM migrants and sex workers, and the discrimination, coercion, blackmail, violence, and exploitation they suffer. We argue that there is a need to review the existing policies and laws as, rather than protecting the safety and health of A/EM migrants, they heighten the risk of human trafficking, work exploitation and denial of access to health care.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
