Thursday, June 2, 2016

The Global Exploitation of Women and Girls

From the New Statesman:
It has been about 18 months since women’s rights activists everywhere were left reeling from Julie Bindel’s exposé of Amnesty International’s determination to decriminalise pimps and punters in the global sex trade. The news was received with shock and disgust from those of us active in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation. There was also - especially from those of us who’ve lived the sex trade - a deep sense of betrayal. The bald reality is that when you have been brutalised in a system which is founded on inequality and shaped by the consistent violation of your human rights, you expect the most recognised human rights group on earth to acknowledge the wrongness of that system.

Yet in its recently leaked "Draft Policy on Sex Work", Amnesty displays its blind ignorance to this understanding. The headline of Resolution 2.3 reads: "International Board – Policy calling for the decriminalisation of sex work".

The document itself is a sight to behold. It refuses to recognise that commercial sexual exploitation is a highly gendered abusive practice, and in numerous places throughout the document, Amnesty considers recommending the decriminalisation of punters, pimps, brothel owners and others who exploit women for financial gain or sexual gratification in the global sex trade. (Read more.)
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