The UN Calls for Decriminalization

The United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women and girls has once again called for the full decriminalization of consensual adult sex work globally. Their most recent report, released in late November, is the seventh in which they have explored the numerous ways that criminalization deprives sex workers of their human rights. Since 2016, it has advocated for decriminalization in reports on gender discrimination in health, women deprived of liberty, women’s rights in the world of work, and poverty as well as country-specific reports focused on Nigeria and South Africa.

Several other UN agencies are advocating for the decriminalization of consensual adult sex work, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the World Health Organization, the UN Population Fund, and the UN Development Program. Other organizations taking a stance against criminalization, based on evidence and research, include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Notably, the report clarifies that “Decriminalisation would not jeopardise the protective functions of the State in relation to combatting exploitation, as other criminal law provisions would be used in the case of violence, compulsion or exploitation, including anti-trafficking laws. However, antitrafficking measures should not be implemented in a way that infringes sex workers’ rights, as recognised by the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons and the Special Rapporteur on the right to health.”

The evidence is unequivocal and organizations focused on a human rights based approach continue to call for decriminalization. Decriminalization is the only approach to consensual adult sex work that promotes rights and justice for all women.