THE government must stop treating prostitution as a criminal offence because this has led to many women being subjected to abuse and human trafficking.
This is the call by the Commission for Gender Equality, which is arguing that decrimilisation of prostitution to open the door for socio-economic assistance for some women.
The commission said it welcomed steps announced by deputy minister of justice and constitutional development to hold consultative meetings around the issue of decrimilisation of sex work and sex workers.
The deputy minister, John Jeffrey, last month reportedly announced that religious organisations, traditional leaders as well as activists advocating for the decriminalisation of sex work would be engaged on the subject.
“This step marks a significant progress towards exploring the possibility of decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa,” said spokesman Javu Baloyi.
Baloyi said the continuing treatment of sex work as a criminal offence was against human rights of sex workers and a study has found that most prostitutes had ventured into the practice purely for financial reasons and were not coerced or exploited as widely believed.
“In the opinion of the commission, sex work is an issue that must be dealt with through economic and social interventions rather than criminal law. Sex workers continue to be marginalised and relegated to second class citizens as a result of the crimilisation of the profession. It is clear that the existing legal regime violates the human rights of sex workers who are entitled to all the human rights as contained in the South African Constitution,” said Baloyi.
He added that the current regulatory regime that criminalise sex work has failed to protect the rights of sex workers and exposed them to various abuses from the public, law enforcement and has prevented them from accessing effective healthcare or facilities.
Baloyi said contrary to concerns by some that decriminalisation would open floodgates of human trafficking, the move would not lead to mushrooming of prostitutes.
“Women would have their own way of entering sex work at their own volition. It would be their choice. They will be able to unionise instead of other people controlling their affairs,” he said.
