We are consistently engaged with sex workers and assist them with issues which impact on their safety, health, and well being.

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1 New Zealand Prostitutes Collective PO Box Manners St Wellington th February 2014 Mr Scott Simpson Chairperson Justice and Electoral Committee Parliament Buildings Wellington Re: Petition of 2011/60 Freedom From Sexual Exploitation. NZPC is a Charitable Trust comprising past and present sex workers with more than 27 years experience in providing services to sex workers throughout New Zealand. We operate five community drop in centres in the main cities and provide outreach to sex workers at their place of work in all sectors of the sex industry. We are consistently engaged with sex workers and assist them with issues which impact on their safety, health, and well being. These issues include raising awareness in respect to sexual and reproductive health, to addressing conditions which may be exploitative, to empowering sex workers to avoid and/or challenge situations which may cause them harm. We have assisted sex workers in seeking support to stand up to inappropriate practices such as sexual harassment, intimidating behaviour, and also to report incidences of violence which have been committed against them. We provide referrals to other agencies including government and non governmental agencies. We collaborate with organisations such as Sexual Health Services and Family Planning Association of

2 New Zealand to provide comprehensive STI and HIV testing, and prevention services at our community bases, as well as some counselling agencies including those with a focus on drugs and alcohol. NZPC has collaborated with a variety of research projects, including examining the effectiveness of the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) 2003 with the Christchurch School of Medicine, Otago University and the Crime and Justice Research Centre Victoria University in 2007/8. We are sometimes requested to inform international government and non governmental agencies of our experience in relation to the laws and policies governing sex work and the impact these have on the safety and health of sex workers. NZPC was most recently sponsored to present to international fora by The Canadian HIV and AIDs Legal Network, and The Women s Department of the City of Vienna for a Europe wide examination of law and policy. We are often asked to contribute opinion pieces as well as academic articles, and have been published in both The Guardian, and The London Policy Press. The NZPC National Coordinator was also invited to participate in the Oxford Union Debate on the decriminalisation of prostitution in 2010, and was a member of the New Zealand Prostitution Law Review Committee from NZPC s Auckland coordinator has been appointed as a representative for sex worker projects as an adviser to the UN AIDs on decriminalisation. This submission will refer to those major themes raised in Freedom from Sexual Exploitation s submission, and the attachment will address the points raised in their addendum in more detail. NZPC has responded to each of their points, and you will see our comments in the right hand column. NZPC has also completed an analysis of the law in Sweden criminalising clients, and this is also attached.

3 NZPC strongly supports the Prostitution Reform Act and its aims We are confident that the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) has been very effective in providing sex workers with an improvement in not only their working conditions affecting their health and safety but has also had a positive impact on other parts of their lives. NZPC strongly opposes the purpose of the petition To amend the PRA to prosecute clients of sex workers, and to outlaw brothel operators and managers as desired by Freedom From Sexual Exploitation (Freedom) would cause major harm to and seriously undermine the occupational safety and health of all sex workers. Sex workers can avoid exploitation by having choices The structure of the sex industry reflects some of the positive changes which have occurred since the implementation of the PRA The majority of sex workers are working indoors either in managed brothels or for themselves in small owner operator brothels, (SOOBs), which are usually but not always home based with one or two sex workers. A smaller number of sex workers are street based, with a significant percentage of street based sex workers being transgender women: whakawahine, and fa afafine. Small Owner Operated Brothels (SOOBS) It is important that sex workers can choose to work either independently for themselves or with other sex workers as equals in SOOBs. Sex workers appreciate being able to directly determine their work conditions. In addition, this sector is very important as it maintains the balance between the rights of individual sex workers and the rights of brothel operators to gain a monopoly.

4 It is important that sex workers have these choices to avoid being exploited. Sex workers working from SOOBs tend to be older, and have the confidence and resources to create a work environment which they can manage themselves. Sometimes experienced workers will mentor the less experienced workers in SOOBs. It is also true that some sex workers would prefer to work in a managed brothel but they are unable to find an operator to hire them either due to age, size, personality, gender, or other factors. We do not believe it is necessary to register SOOBs formally as to do so may cause harm for these sex workers. There have been attempts by anonymous campaigners to oust individual sex workers from their homes with fliers being distributed widely throughout neighbourhoods identifying a particular address. A publicly available list would jeopardise the safety of these workers, who, for the most part see a small number of clients and work from home unobtrusively, mostly in residential areas. NZPC has extensive contact with these sex workers. On occasion we have received complaints about such things as non compliance with the display of safer sex promotional posters, and have found SOOBs easy to contact to address these matters. We are aware that inspectors such as Medical Officers of Health, Labour inspectors, and the Police may enter a SOOB for inspection with either the permission of the occupant or with a warrant issued by the district court. We believe this is appropriate and see no need to create a formal register of the names of these sex workers or their place of work.

5 Definition of SOOBs We are aware there are claims the definition of SOOBs is confusing for some people and that managed brothels may present as SOOBs. We are confident that this confusion doesn t create problems of a significant nature. Council bylaws, district plans, and the variance in definitions pertaining to home occupation may need ongoing consideration and explanation. We do not see a need to change the definition of a SOOB. We believe SOOBs are clearly defined in the Prostitution Reform Act We acknowledge that people sometimes confuse the definition of a SOOB with the right for 4 people to work from a residential house. The definition of a SOOB is clear in the Prostitution Reform Act. It is a person working with up to three other people, who share expenses, and no one person is in charge of another sex worker. If a person is in charge, that person needs an operator s certificate, and it is no longer a SOOB. One person in charge of one sex workers needs an operator s certificate. Councils have the ability to take action against brothels and their operators if they are in breach of district plans and/or home occupation by laws. Under some District Plans, the definition of home occupation is two people only, in others, it is three people, and in a few, it is four people. We believe that, although the local Council bylaws and/or District plans can be confusing, the definition of SOOBs in the PRA 2003 is clear.

6 Managed Brothels We appreciate that sex work is decriminalised and that NZPC peer educators can talk freely to sex workers about its realities, and share accurate information related to safety and health. Prior to decriminalisation many people were misled by the word massage and responded to advertisements placed by massage parlours with the expectation that this was the true nature of work in these venues. Brothel operators can now explain clearly about sex work and display explicit safer sex literature and other relevant information to sex workers and clients. NZPC is able to distribute this information without brothel operators and sex workers pretending they are not involved in sex work as used to happen sometimes when it was illegal. Street Based Sex Work Street based sex work is practiced by a small number of sex workers. NZPC believes the number of street based sex workers has declined significantly in Wellington as sex workers having more options to work indoors. However there are a number of workers in Auckland and Christchurch who do not have the same options. We believe the number of sex workers in these cities reflect a number of social issues. For example, it is harder to find indoor work if you are transgender, or there is stress on the housing market. There are also bylaws in south Auckland which sex workers working from their home if it is located in a residential area. There are also many body corps which explicitly state that sex workers/home based brothels are not permitted as tenants. We are opposed to the outlawing of street based sex work as it fails everywhere around the world. We also have memories of the futility of tying up police time with the arresting of sex workers, processing them through the courts, and their return to sex work on the streets to pay the fine, albeit in more risky areas. We believe the prosecuting of the clients of street based sex workers would not result in the end of sex work but would rather create more harmful conditions for sex workers. Sex workers would be forced into more dangerous areas and would be reluctant to report crime for

7 fear of bringing a spotlight onto their good clients. They would be afraid that police would stake out their place of work, resulting in their clients arrests. In short, this environment fosters exploitation. We have attached a more academic analysis to this submission covering our response to the effects of the laws as they are applied in Sweden which legislates for this approach. We are in favour of assisting sex workers in this sector to have broader options which enable them to work indoors if possible or to seek alternative work if that is desired. Registration and Inspections Brothels are easy to locate as they advertise online and in the papers. Individual sex workers and SOOBs screen their clients over the phone but also reveal their address to people who they do not perceive as a risk. NZPC does not believe it is necessary to change the law to create an extra tier of inspections for brothels. We believe that there are adequate legal provisions available in the PRA 2003 for authorities to inspect and address harmful situations in brothels. While some sex workers are affected by the bad labour practices of some brothel operators we believe these operators can be held to account by existing laws. A number of sex workers have been able to utilise the Disputes Tribunal to resolve matters, others have lodged complaints with the Human Rights Commission, and labour mediation services. The Police and sex workers have in many parts of the country developed relationships which are productive and are able to focus on the prevention of exploitation and violence as opposed to the prosecution which used to happen prior to decriminalisation. Decriminalisation as an Anti Trafficking Tool Decriminalisation works against trafficking as it means sex workers and clients are able to be whistle

8 blowers and report experiences as they see them. Decriminalisation creates an expectation that if something doesn t look right then something can be done about it. The NZPC has fielded phone calls from concerned clients. Clients would not be inclined to speak to us about suspected exploitation if they were at risk of being prosecuted themselves. Police Access to sex workers NZPC is resistant to the police having a legal requirement to monitor sex workers again. Prior to decriminalisation the names of most sex workers were recorded on a police data base. This diligent recording of names means even today, ten years on from the law change, there are ex sex workers who are afraid their job promotion may involve a police check which could reveal their historical sex work and hinder their employment opportunities. Sex workers fear disclosure related to their sex work, not usually because they are themselves uncomfortable, but because they are aware there are people who will regard this unfavourably. Discrimination is a concern and there are harsh consequences. For example, there are some occupations that would question the suitability of former sex workers joining their ranks and there are some countries, such as the USA and Japan, which do not allow ex sex workers to visit. Youth The PRA 2003 has also created awareness in brothels that it is against the law to hire someone who is under 18 years old. Some brothel operators have been convicted for committing this crime. Young people are no longer at risk of being convicted of a deeply stigmatising prostitution offence if they are under age and discovered working in the sex industry. The legal focus has shifted to one of protecting them as opposed to prosecution which used to be the case prior to the PRA 2003.

9 Summary The Prostitution Reform Act 2003 is effective in upholding it s aims. The safety and health of sex workers would be severely undermined if brothel operators, or the purchase of sexual services, were to be criminalised. We strongly oppose this petition, as the proposed changes would facilitate exploitation. Yours sincerely Catherine Healy National Co ordinator NZPC info@nzpc.org.nz