The Case for a Moratorium
1. Stop the Arrests Campaign is calling for a moratorium on arrests, detention and deportation of sex workers in London with immediate effect until the end of the Olympic Games.
2. Governments, charity organisations and campaign groups have argued that large sporting events lead to an increase in trafficking for prostitution. These claims, often repeated by the media, are usually based on misinformation, poor data and a tendency to sensationalise. There is no evidence that large sporting events cause an increase in trafficking for prostitution. [1]
3. These claims can lead to anti-trafficking policies and policing practices that target sex workers. In London, anti-trafficking practices have resulted in raids on brothels, closures and arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation of people working in the sex industry. This creates a climate of fear among workers, leaving them less likely to report crimes against them and more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. [2] This is an inadequate response to sex work and to trafficking.
4. Stop the Arrests Campaign is aware of ‘clean up efforts’ already underway in London, particularly east London, in the run-up to the Olympics. These include multiple raids and closure of premises. We anticipate that until the end of the Olympic games there will be a continued rise in the numbers of raids, arrests and level of harassment of sex workers.
5. Last December in Barking & Dagenham a violent gang carried out a series of robberies on brothels at knife point. Sex workers were deterred from pursuing the attacks after police threatened them with prosecution. Thus many more were attacked and one woman was raped. Once the police agreed to an amnesty from arrest, sex workers were able to come forward. [3]
6. In light of this we are calling on the Mayor of London, London Metropolitan Police and UK Border Agency to suspend arrests, detention and deportation of sex workers using, or during enforcement of, the criminal laws laid out in Appendix 1.
Click here for to see all relevant laws to the case
[1] The Evidence.
[2] x:talk (2010), Human rights, Sex Work and the Challenge of Trafficking.