Fences are not comfortable places, yet when it comes to sex work anti-trafficking organisations are clambering for a perch. They like it up there because it keeps them from being sucked into a long-standing political argument, in which one side declares that all prostitution (never sex work) is exploitation and therefore trafficking, while the other maintains that sex work is work. This division also extends to policy proposals. One side pushes a form of criminalisation softened via ‘Nordic’ references. The other argues that sex workers and sex workers’ rights should be protected, including from trafficking, and that criminalisation hurts rather than helps. This isn’t the only polarising debate within anti-trafficking circles, but it is an especially vociferous one. A lot of people are doing their best to stay out of it.
In this heated political environment, the fence feels like a safe space from which to watch the debate without risking partnerships, allies, funding, and supporters. Many fence-sitters are human rights-centred organisations for whom the decriminalisation of sex work would be a natural fit, yet for one reason or another they are not comfortable taking a public position. A few big names have taken a stand. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have made strong cases for why decriminalising the sex industry would protect human rights and create resilience to trafficking for sexual exploitation, and both organisations have been heavily criticised for doing so. Their experiences have reinforced existing tendencies within human rights circles to avoid taking a public stand on commercial sex, as other organisations don’t want the same thing happening to them.
Part of the challenge to changing this dynamic is the degree to which commercial sex dominates the anti-trafficking conversation. The consequence of this was that, for a long time, trafficking into other sectors was severely neglected. That disinterest unintentionally created a sheltered space for new entrants. As more and more anti-trafficking organisations appeared, the work largely split between those focusing on sex trafficking through a prostitution lens and those focusing on non-sex-related trafficking – a way to operate without stepping on toes. Using their programmatic focus as an excuse to keep blinkers on has kept the peace, but sex workers and their ability to fight exploitation and trafficking has suffered for it.
