A sex worker in New Zealand won her case against a business owner for sexually harassing her.
The case was settled with the judge ordering the business owner to pay out an undisclosed six-figure sum for “emotional harm and lost earnings.”
“It’s great to see a settlement of this type has been awarded in the context of sex work to a sex worker,” Dame Catherine Healy, national coordinator of the New Zealand Sex Workers Collective, told the BBC.
Sexual harassment is an issue for women in most spaces. From the workplace to the street, harassment and assault are commonplace in many countries. For sex workers, this is even more so, as they are often regarded with disdain due to their profession. Therefore, harassment claims often get ignored or brushed aside if a sex worker complains.
This settlement is an important message about sex workers’ rights and that sex work is valid, dignified work.
New Zealand has decriminalised sex work since 2003. This made it possible for brothels to operate as legitimate businesses and granting sex workers full employment rights, including legal recourse for harm done while at work.
“All workers, regardless of the type of work they do, have the right to freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace. We encourage all business owners and employers to ensure that they understand and respect those rights,” Michael Timmins, director of New Zealand’s Office of Human Rights Proceedings, said in a statement.
Sex work in South Africa
Sex work is still illegal in South Africa, however this has not stopped people working as sex workers or others paying for sex. Although official statistics are hard to determine, Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) estimated there were around 153 000 sex workers working in South Africa as of 2014. This included those working on the street, in brothels, in an ‘adult store’ and online.
As a result of our current laws, sex workers in South Africa have no protection against abuse or harassment.
In South Africa, sex workers are often arrested during raids by police without any proper charge laid against them. In some cases, sex workers are assaulted and even raped by police who arrest them before being released again.
Without legal recourse, sex workers are often abused by their clients, and fear reporting such abuse as it is likely to be dismissed or to put them into further danger with the law.
The Human Rights Watch released a report which considered interviews and evidence from four South African provinces. They documented how criminisation of sex work results in human rights violations and blocks access to healthcare for sex workers.
The HRW, Sonke Gender Justice, SWEAT and many other sex worker’s rights groups have called on the government to reform the laws regarding sex work for years. Despite introducing the National Sex Worker Sector Plan as part of the South African National AIDS Council to Parliament in 2016, which underlines the rights and humanity of sex workers, President Cyril Ramaphosa has not addressed this issue thoroughly since.
Picture: Unsplash
