Amnesty International's gift to sex traffickers

Amnesty International voted Tuesday to recommend a policy calling for the decriminalization of all aspects of adult, consensual sex work, including buying sex and operating a brothel. The group claims the new policy on sex work was based on two years of research from the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and UN Women.

“Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the world who in most instances face constant risk of discrimination, violence, and abuse,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty.

But groups that fight sex trafficking decried the decision, saying decriminalization would make it easier for pimps and buyers to abuse women without any legal consequences.

Amnesty believes laws against brothel-keeping and solicitation “force sex workers to work in ways which compromise their safety.” Criminalizing clients, Amnesty notes, “can lead to sex workers having to take risks to protect their clients from detection by law enforcement.”

While Amnesty International has no power to force nations to act on the proposal, its influence already is being felt in the United States. David Grosso, a council member in Washington, D.C., said he is considering introducing legislation this fall that would decriminalize prostitution.

“Once the Amnesty report came out, it validated a lot of the concerns that I have of how we handle this in the District,” he said.

Amnesty’s policy sparked a firestorm on social media and blogs, forging unlikely partnerships between Hollywood elite, anti-trafficking activists, survivors of sex trafficking, and faith-based organizations. While players on all sides of the debate agree women involved in the sex trade need protection from abuse, many object to Amnesty’s solution.

Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCSE), said voting for decriminalization of brothel-keeping and soliciting “is a gift to pimps, sex traffickers, and sex buyers that enshrines in law a right to buy and sell other human beings.”

Many also take issue with the language Amnesty International uses. British activist Julie Bindel believes the recasting of prostitution as “sex work” started because organizations like Amnesty now represent a view of the world where criminalization is the source of abuse.

“Prostitution is not a sexual identity,” she wrote. “It is a thing that is done to someone.”

Angela Beausang, chair of the National Organization for Women’s Shelters (Roks), agrees. “Don’t say ‘sex work,’ it’s far too awful to be work,” she said.

Bindel and many others, like Rachel Moran, author of Paid For, fear the resolution will only increase human trafficking and further marginalize the people Amnesty International seeks to protect. Moran called Amnesty’s decision, “breathtakingly disgraceful.”

“Amnesty International has just voted to protect rights of pimps & johns worldwide,” she posted on Twitter.

Ian Kitterman, policy specialist for Demand Abolition, an anti-trafficking group, agrees. “Amnesty is saying they value the rights of exploiters over the exploited.”

But Catherine Murphy, policy adviser at Amnesty International, said the group’s critics misunderstand the policy. Responding to critics and claiming the policy was mischaracterized, Amnesty released a short video hoping to clarify its decision. The group insists its proposal is by no means an endorsement of human trafficking, which they say should remain criminalized.

Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols, an anti-sex trafficking advocate in Atlanta, also expressed concern. Echols said whether women enter the trade voluntarily or involuntarily, it cuts their life short and robs them of their physical and mental health.

“The pimping system is essentially a form of slavery,” Echols said. “These women are enriching men and paying the ultimate sacrifice. Shame on Amnesty International for being used in this atrocious system.”