Human Trafficking and Sex Work

Too often, anti-trafficking laws make it impossible for victims and witnesses to report exploitation without risking prosecution. When lawmakers conflate human trafficking with consensual adult sex work, innocent people are arrested and prosecuted, victims face barriers to services, and exploitation proliferates in the black market.

Learn more at https://DecriminalizeSex.Work/human-t...

Citations:
1. “Human Trafficking and Sex Workers Rights,” Freedom Network USA, April 2015, https://freedomnetworkusa.org/app/upl....
2. Any commercial sexual activity involving a minor, even without the use of force, fraud, or coercion, is considered trafficking as underage individuals are unable to consent under law.
3. “Sex Trafficking,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last modified January 30, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/violencepreventio....
4. Office on Trafficking in Persons, “Budget,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, last modified February 12, 2020, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/about/bu....
5. EthicsDaily.com Staff, “FBI: Human Trafficking Cases Rose in 2018 to Nearly 1,400,” Good Faith Media, October 9, 2019,
https://goodfaithmedia.org/fbi-human-....
6. “The Use of Raids to Fight Trafficking in Persons,” Sex Workers Project, January 9, 2009, 8, https://sexworkersproject.org/downloa....
7. “Raids to Fight Trafficking,” Sex Workers Project, 5.
8. “Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage,” International Labour Office, September 19, 2017, 30,
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pub....
9. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “Trafficking in Persons Report,” U.S. Department of State, June 2020, 514,
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uplo....
10. “Sex Work and Trafficking: A Donor–Activist Dialogue on Rights and Funding; Report from the December 2008 Conference,” Open Society Foundations, December 11, 2008, 14-15, https://www.opensocietyfoundations.or....
11. “Global Estimates of Modern Slavery,” International Labour Office, 27.
12. Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “Trafficking in Persons Report,” 516-17.
13. Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, H.R. 3244, 106th Cong. (2000),
https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-c....
14. Meredith Dank, Jennifer Yahner, and Lilly Yu, “Consequences of Policing Prostitution: An Analysis of Individuals Arrested and Prosecuted for Commercial Sex in New York City,” Urban Institute, April 2017, 41-42, https://www.urban.org/sites/default/f....
15. “Why Sex Work Should Be Decriminalized: Questions and Answers,” Human Rights Watch, August 7, 2019,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/07/w....
16. “Why Sex Work Should Be Decriminalized,” Human Rights Watch.
17. Fraser Crichton, “Decriminalising Sex Work in New Zealand: Its History and Impact,” openDemocracy, August 21, 2015, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyo.... Migrant sex work was not decriminalized in New Zealand and immigrants continue to face exploitation — a policy that must be revisited.
18. “Amnesty International Publishes Policy and Research on Protection of Sex Workers’ Rights,” Amnesty International, May 26, 2016, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/new....