The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) made a submission to the Multi-Party Women’s Caucus’s (MPWC’s) summit on the decriminalisation of sex work.
Briefing the Committee, the CGE’s Chief Executive Ms Keketso Maema, said the CGE’s position is that adult prostitution, which we refer to as sex work, should not be treated as a criminal activity. This means that no statute should make sex a criminal activity.
The summit follows the release of the South African Law Reform’s (SALRC’s) Report on Sexual Offences: Adult Prostitution, which was published in 2017, saying the recommendations made in the report are unacceptable. The report made recommendations that sex work should continue to be criminalised or partially criminalised.
Ms Maema said the criminalisation of sex work is contrary to international law and unfairly infringes upon the fundamental rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
Various stakeholders made presentations. A sex worker made a plea and said: “Give us full us full decriminalisation, we are earning a living to provide for our families. Yes, there are dangers – and there are dangers in mining as well.”
Sisonke, a sex workers’ movement, said they felt betrayed and disrespected by the report as it recommends laws that continue to harm and stigmatise sex workers. “We feel saddened that in a country where we are praised for having a brilliant Constitution, the report is silencing people’s voices and denying them a right to choose how they want to make a living.”
The Centre for Applied Legal Studies said the decriminalisation and removing of criminal prosecution of sex workers essentially recognises sex work as labour that ought to be protected through workplace health and safety standards.
By Yoliswa Landu
5 March 2018
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