Submission from the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective Auckland on the Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill

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1 4th November 2010 Committee Secretariat Local Government and Environment Parliament Buildings Wellington Submission from the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective Auckland on the Manukau City Council (Regulation of Prostitution in Specified Places) Bill About NZPC Since The New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) was formed in 1987 it has advocated for sex workers rights, health and well-being. NZPC s contract with the Ministry of Health is to provide community education that focuses on preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible infections within the sex industry. NZPC provides support to sex workers through community centres, and outreach programmes which include providing safe sex materials and information, and an extensive referral service. I am a second generation Fijian New Zealander who has lived in Auckland all my life. My cultural connections include the Seventh Day Adventist Church and I have close contacts with indigenous groups throughout the Pacific. This has been a useful vantage point from which to view controversial issues such as how sex workers are judged and stigmatized, especially when these workers are from a variety of ethnicities. It has also made me consider how fundamentalist perspectives, while valid for those who hold them, are often counterproductive and unrealistic. As a Christian I see my life as being about trying to help people not judge them Working for NZPC before and after decriminalization I have worked at the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective in Auckland since 1998, including working alongside government, and non-government agencies to get a better understanding of the issues that sex workers face. Decriminalisation of sex work in 2003 was a major step in addressing health and safety issues. Section 3 of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 states the act s purpose is, to decriminalise prostitution (while not endorsing or morally sanctioning prostitution or its use) and to create a frame work that: a) Safeguards the human rights of sex workers and protect them from exploitation, b) Promotes the welfare and occupational health and safety of sex workers, c) Is conducive to public health, d) prohibits the use in prostitution of persons under 18 years of age, and

2 e) Implements certain other related reforms. Under the old laws people feared arrest by simply carrying safe sex materials (i.e. condoms and lubricants/safe sex literature). Now they can promote good sexual health with clients and speak openly about safe sex without fear that this could be used to bring a prosecution against them. Street prostitution has always been a reality. Making prostitution criminal didn t eliminate it,just made it less safe. Street prostitution has always been active pre law reform and has always been dangerous fundamentally because of the clients, members of the public and police entrapment. Decriminalising sex work simply meant that, instead of the police being another hazard, sex workers could seek their help to report incidents of violence. So let s get real about the intent and likely effect of this bill it s about pushing street workers from their existing work spaces into less safe environments, or underground. It s about allowing the police to resume harassment of sex workers, aided and abetted by the capacity to fine them up to $2000. It s about criminalising sex workers and making them less likely to carry the safe sex materials that are part of the health and safety of the job, the condoms and lube that are part of making sure that they, their clients and their clients other partners, keep safe from sexually transmitted diseases. If you want to look at any country in the world, whatever legislation may be in place, street prostitution still goes on. Local businesses and home owners like to complain about the sex industry but it s simply a service and the people who provide and use that service are from within our community. People may complain about condoms and lube but this could easily be remedied as NZPC and the Ministry of Justice suggested by keeping public toilets open for 24 hours and increasing the number of rubbish bins. But local council refused to allow this. The hazard of used needles could also have been removed had the Ministry of Justice and NZPC s suggestion for a sharps disposal unit been accepted, and ADIO s (Auckland Drug Information Outreach) suggestion to deal with hazardous needles. But the local council refused this too. So when we hear complaints that a joint approach between the police, the former council and NZPC have achieved little to address the perceived negative effects of street prostitution, we are forced to conclude that it s not through our lack of trying but due to a concerted resistance from the local council have revealed just the kind of

3 heavy handedness and abuse of their powers that was such a problem when sex work was criminalised. Another criticism of street prostitution is of disorderly behaviour at all hours of the day. But any casual observer would see more noise and violence outside local bars and eateries than among sex workers and their clients on Hunters Corner or Manurewa. Bar Manager of a bar in Papatoetoe Hunters Corner: There are 18 poker machines here at our bar. We open at 10am-12am 7 days a week. (I noticed a poster taped outside the bar, requesting to put rubbish in the allocated bins. I asked the Manager if this was because of the litter from the street based workers.) Usually it s the kids who leave the rubbish around here, and those street kids. The prostitutes are okay, they mind their own business. I see them from time to time, like the Pakeha girl down this street (points), she s a prostitute, does her thing and minds her own business. The prostitutes are pretty good now, they get off the streets, and you only see them at night. I know some people carry on about them, I don t want to get involved, I m only employed here. Owner of Commercial Building in Hunters Corner: I ve owned my building for 3 years. My neighbour has owned their building for 10 years. Vandalism is an issue, and it s related to people fuelled by alcohol. Mostly kids/youth with disorderly behaviour - they smash our shop front windows, trying to show their mark. If you want to tell Parliament what s going on here, I m telling you its alcohol and the youth. Owner of two Bars in Manurewa: We have 18 poker machines split between our two bars. Depending on the licence, the maximum is 8 poker machines. Some licences like ours, by law, have to put what opening hours we re open. We have a late licence till 3am. The [sex] workers only come out at night. It gets annoying if they approach our punters but majority of the time they re nice people. The street workers keep an eye on our bar, when we re not there; they let us know if any vandalism happens. It s free security, good neighbourhood watch. They have a job to do like the rest of us. Hunters Corner has five licensed bars with poker machines (18-9 poker machines in a venue) and five alcohol outlets. Manurewa has nine licensed bars with poker machines (18-9 poker machines in a venue) and eight alcohol outlets. Some of these premises you can visit where people are drinking, purchasing liquor for take-away or playing on the poker machines from between 9am to 11am until late. Punter of a Manurewa bar: Are you following me? (laughs) I don t give a hoot about those girls, they can do what they want. It s a free world, they don t bother me.

4 Manager of a Manurewa bar: Some people object to prostitutes, some people don t. I only see them working at night. Trying to address the real issue of underage prostitution is something that NZPC is committed to. Our concern is that threatening such people with a $2000 fine is much more likely to push them into even less safe environments, where they are open to greater coercion and exploitation. It will also mean that they, and all sex workers, may be less willing to carry safe sex materials such as condom and lube for fear that if they are stopped, police will use these as evidence they are working illegally something that routinely occurred before the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 was passed Street workers may be in competition, but there is considerable safety in numbers and great value in the peer education provided by other workers. For example, about one third of street workers are aged years, another third are between 30 and 45, and about 20 percent aged so older workers, supported by NZPC, are ideally placed to provide younger workers with the safe sex and safety information they need to survive. It s so easy to get moralistic about street prostitution just ask Mary Magdalene and forget that workers and their clients are part of our society. Did you know that most street workers are aged between 18 and 45; that almost two thirds are Maori, that most workers are women and, of these, two thirds have children. So street workers are not separate from our communities but, like their clients, part of them. More than 90 percent of people do street prostitution to meet household expenses, and about the same percentage like the flexibility of the job: the flexible hours mean workers can raise their families by day, study or undertake training courses, or care for extended family. Word on the street now: Two or more days, every week, for the last twelve years, I have been one of the NZPC workers who drives to do street outreach to areas in central Auckland, Otahuhu, Hunters Corner Papatoetoe, and Manurewa s Southmall. Cynthia is the working name of a 29 year old transgender person laid off from her job because of discrimination. Cynthia and her partner have 3 children, they both work, the high demands of school fees, school uniforms, etc., puts financial stress on them and following Cynthia s dismissal from her job due to discrimination of her gender. Street work suits me fine. I can be home with the children in the day, pick them up from school, and be home for school holidays. My other

5 half is home at night, so the kids are looked after. The kids have had a kai, had a bath and in bed by 7:30pm. I spend one hour with my partner before heading out on the streets around 9pm. Cynthia was provoked by PROS (Papatoetoe Reclaiming Our Streets) members, who charged her with assault. They followed her home, photographed and filmed her without consent. PROS approach was to eliminate prostitution from their area, inform clients that their registration license plate has been recorded and clients of sex workers will be receiving a letter from the group. Workers were followed home, taunted, entrapped, and the Police were alerted by members of PROS to arrest workers one the workers reacted to being provoked. Cynthia was very traumatized by the events. She rang me when she was held in custody at the NZ Police Counties Manukau holding cells on a Sunday morning. When I went to visit Cynthia, she was crying, upset by the events, worried about her children and partner, who had no idea of her whereabouts. Cynthia requested support and asked NZPC to assist with her case. Cynthia had no criminal history, advised to plead guilty to her charges, and appear in court the next day. Cynthia s condoms, lubrication, hormone pills were taken from her, and she was denied her hormone prescription for 2 days. NZPC intervened, stated her medication be returned to her medical reasons, and a lawyer would be sorted at Counties Manukau Court the next day. Cynthia was advised not to make any statements to the Police. The court case was remanded for a short length of time. An affidavit from me was presented in court. While doing outreach for NZPC, I had witnessed violence and provocation orchestrated by PROS and NZ Police towards street based sex workers in Hunters Corner. The person who provoked her was Stephen Grey, then the Chairman of the Papatoetoe Community Board and a Member of PROS. Both parties were responsible for their actions, which could have been prevented. The judge ruled that Cynthia be discharged without conviction. When I first worked at NZPC I had not had any previous contact with transgender communities or sex workers on the street. As I got to know how the industry works, and the people who work within it, I realized their need for support to achieve good mental health outcomes, but was also necessary given that sex work is often dangerous, and agencies like the police have, historically, been antagonistic to sex workers rights. TP is a 17years transgender person, and recently left Southern Cross High School due to bullying because of her gender. TP has no living parents and she s been living with her friends from the streets. When we came across TP, her only option was to apply for the IYB (Independent Youth Benefit). TP has no identification, or a leaving certificate from school to verify her academic history. TP had the odds against her; she

6 needed a clinical psychologist assessment to prove that she was in hardship to qualify for an IYB. TP lost all hope in the system and turned to working on the streets to supplement her survival and wait until she turned 18 years to qualify for benefit assistance. When I talked to sex workers before law change in 2003 it was obvious, from many conversations, that their personal safety and that of their clients was a major concern - within brothels or on the street. Legislation and the threat of prosecution were also every present in their minds. Many workers celebrated the law change, despite the clearly hostile environment preceding it. They saw law change as removing a double standard that meant clients escaped the prosecution that workers had to live with. When prostitution was illegal, me and my sister were working here in Hunters. If something happened to us, like getting raped or abused, you couldn t go to the cops cos what we were doing was illegal. But now, you can make a complaint to cops, and it s like they take you seriously but other times they cruise around and ask the same questions: what s your name, what s your date of birth? I mean they already know that information, how many times you gotta ask me? The cops got better things to do then ask five of us working here on the streets the same question. Hello! It s me - I ve been out here for 10 years! Many of the people who regularly work in these areas are from the transgender community. Most workers are Maori and Polynesian, with ages ranging from the late teens to the -never too- late fifties. W e hand out street packs, with each containing six condoms, three lube sachets, hand towels, wet wipes, and two plastic bags for workers to put used condoms inside. As well as distributing safe sex materials, we promote NZPC s sexual health clinic so workers get regular check-ups. I was quite young when I learnt how to do this from the Star [Hotel], and after that I went down to the Parlours in town, but I like the streets better. You can pick and choose who you do - most of them are all right. It s the drunks I can t touch it s better out here for me, closer to home, and my daughter I ve gone back to school you know, I m up to Level 2 Computers. I ve just got to be a student and leave this other shit behind! Yep, I shooed all the kids away that used to be around here. We need more money from Social Welfare, it s us typical people who aren t getting enough on the benefit. So they tell you to get some training and you do. But once you get the Certificate it s not enough, you have to keep getting more! While we re doing outreach, we check on street sex workers to see if they re fine and working safely with condoms. We talk to them to see how they are feeling and, if

7 there are issues that need attention, like public harassment, we either arrange to visit them at home or for them to visit NZPC. Community Group In Hunters Corner, a community action group, called Papatoetoe Reclaiming Our Streets (PROS) was established to try to eradicate street based prostitution. The approach was very negative. PROS disrupted street based working areas by taking down license plate registrations of clients of sex workers, informing them that their vehicle license number has been recorded and they will be receiving a letter from the group. The letters sent to clients were in pink envelopes sprayed with perfume designed to deter clients returning to Hunters Corner. Some people were innocently targeted and some clients of street based workers approached the Police to make complaints on their invasion of privacy. It got too much unwarranted attention, clients of sex workers and street workers lost hope in this battle. Members of PROS were people who were linked to local government and representatives from Community Boards, members of the Papatoetoe Business Association and interested parties. The unethical practices included its political ties and the public representations of some of the group members who used community funds for PROS projects. A project that turned violent and worked against the detriment of street based workers, clients, members of the public sparked disharmony. a) Papatoetoe Community Board Minutes 28 July , Pg 16/22 Supplement A y%20board%20minutes%2028%20july% pdf b) Papatoetoe Community Board Meeting 25 August , Pg 13/29 y%20board%20agenda%2025%20august% pdf 4.2 Summary of Papatoetoe Community Board grants made to date (this financial year) c) Papatoetoe Community Board Meeting 24 November , Pg 18/ Summary of Papatoetoe Community Board grants made to date (this financial year) y%20board%20agenda%2024%20november% pdf Media CLOSE UP Sweeping the streets of sex workers a) /video?vid= (6:47)

8 b) /video?vid= (9:33) The workers out there in the streets are there for individual reasons. Some see the industry as allowing them to be who they are. Others are strictly there for the money. Others work, in part, for the social contact it provides them with the sisterhood. Since law reform, many workers have literally come out of the shadows of the side streets and narrow lanes. But some homophobia that was directed at people in the transgender communities in the past still remains. Transgender workers have often told me many of them are on the streets because of the discrimination they face applying for mainstream jobs. Some workers were convicted of prostitution offences before decriminalisation, which further prevents them from seeking alternative work. When I am doing outreach, I have seen members of the public ostracize street workers, make rude verbal comments, or throw missiles such as full bottles of beer at them. It is these people who create a dangerous environment. People from the community always abuse us. Groups of people in cars or people who get bored come to the streets and yell at us. They throw bottles at us, and they drive around drinking and throwing out their empty cans and bottles at us. Even food wrappers, like hello we re not animals in the zoo. They leave their mess behind; we get blamed for it when it s not our fault. We re just minding our own business; we can t help but defend ourselves out here. We call the Police when violence gets really bad, and they take us seriously now. Life is hard here - not so much because of the nature of the sex industry but because of a small number of people who feel safe to openly express their hostility towards sex workers. Church groups that quiz and befriend workers may appear less hostile but betray that confidence by openly campaigning to make sex work criminal again. My name is Sugar, I ve been on the streets since I was 13years old and I m 24 years now. I m the original Sugar of Hunters Corner. I m female, Pacific Islander, and come from a good Christian home. I got into prostitution because I needed to survive. I chose this life. When I started I ran away from home, because I didn t like rules, and started running away onto the streets, living the life. Do I have any regrets? Nah, my sisters are out here. I don t like how the cops here in Pap s try to push in on our business. The cops affect our business, making it harder for us to make some earn. I have a son you know, he s in Samoa. I send him money I make from the streets. This is my neighbourhood, I m from here, my sisters are here, we re from Pap s.

9 Implications of the proposed bill The proposed Manukau City Council Control (Regulation of Specified Places) Bill, will have a severe and negative effect on sex workers. It risks recreating the underground behaviour of the sex industry that existed before decriminalisation. We know what effect this bill would have since it would effectively recreate the environment for sex workers that existed before decriminalisation, clog up the justice system, and prevent marginalised people from getting on with their lives. One example of the many harmful consequences would be that were I to continue outreach work, I may be liable to be prosecuted and fined $2,000 as providing outreach to street sex woerks may be classed as an activity that is liely to cause a nuisance or serious offence to ordinary members of the public using the area; or [is] incompatiable with the existing character or use of that area. Sex workers, many of whom do sex work through financial necessity, could face $2,000 fines too. The clients of sex workers will be fined $2,000. Vulnerable young people, homeless people and other members of the public around the area, under suspicion would be fined $2,000. We would once again see sex workers appearing in court and scarce police resources misdirected at arresting workers instead of protecting them from violence on the streets. Much of the misinformation that surrounded the decriminalisation debate has been recycled around public debate of this bill, with many inaccurate assertions made then being repeated. These include that numbers of sex workers have radically increased. There is no evidence of this. So called estimates of an increase in street workers are based on supposition, not fact. With academic research to gauge the actual number of sex workers in New Zealand now underway but not complete, the most reliable figures are NZPC estimates and police numbers. The Christchurch School of Medicine research showed that there were 230 sex workers in the whole Auckland region. The Prostitution Law Review Committee (PLRC) proved that the claims that the numbers of sex workers on the streets had quadrupled were false. In 2003 just after decriminalisation the PLRC estimated that there were 360 street workers in the whole Auckland area. If it had quadrupled as claimed there would have been 1440 in Yet only 230 were found. It is clear that the claim that numbers had drastically increased are false. Not all of these 230 are out every night and are in the same place all at once. NZPC outreach workers broadly agree that most nights there are between five and ten people working in Papatoetoe s Hunters Corner area. Last November, a police report on counts of sex workers at Hunters Corner during a two week period in November 2005 was released. It found that between four and 16 workers on any one night, i.e. an average of between six and seven workers. The report went on to state that Hunters Corner was is a target area for bag snatches, but this is in no way

10 connected to prostitutes or their associates. Police for this area receive less than five calls per week for service that actually relate to prostitutes, their clients or associates. Critics of the present law assert that the number of underage sex workers has increased. Again there is no evidence to suggest this. Decriminalisation legislation required the research referred to above to be undertaken. It also provided stronger penalties to prosecute clients of underage sex workers, and included stronger measures to protect the young people involved. I was caught out on the streets working, the Police asked me how old I was I told them the truth that I was 15 years old. The Police took me to the Police station, and arrested the man who was picking me up. I had to wait for CYFS to come and get me, all I wanted was money for a feed. Moral imperatives Some believe that if the state makes street prostitution illegal it will somehow send a strong moral signal that makes the industry disappear. This has never worked and cannot because prostitution is a social and community reality. Some assert that prostitution is wrong and sex workers are a scourge on society. But sex workers are part of society, as are their clients, dependents and whanau. Jesus Christ cautioned against judging others lest they, themselves be judged. As well as a caution that, should we judge others harshly, we ourselves will be shown little mercy, perhaps Christ was also saying that those who take a high moral position are out of touch and that harsh judgement is itself sinful. Some say sex workers are bad for the community. This ignores the fact that sex workers are part of our communities, they live in our families and neighbourhoods. They can only make a living if there is a demand. Prohibition will not make this demand disappear, risks pushing the industry underground and undoing many of the gains in health promotion efforts made in the last few years. I started working on the ships years ago as a 16 year old back in the day. I had breaks in that time. I m 47 years old now, and a nanny. I came back to work on the streets to support my youngest daughter. I worked in the saw mill up in Whangarei, got laid off. When I came back to Aucks, they didn t recognise my skills. I got on the unemployed benefit, and got turned down on heaps of job interviews, because I have tattoos on my hands. I can t read or write, but I m a hard worker. My mokos have been my secretaries for me; they read and write my application forms. You don t need a CV when you go out and crack it, no questions asked. It s called the University of Life, and half the time I m not giving sex, I m counseling my clients. Men, they have problems at home.

11 A few final final observations. It is clear that local government is ill equipped to deal with these issues given, in this case, it suggests prohibition as a solution when that has demonstrably failed in the past, and the former council failed to make the steps recommended by the Ministry of Justice. It is also misleading to claim, as some of the Bill s advocates have, that the Bill is not contrary to the purpose of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 and the provisions of this Bill, are consistent with the purposes of the Prostitution Reform Act. It is important to consider the proposed Bill s effects on police powers and resources as well as Bill of Rights implications. Were the Bill to become law, we would see a return to criminalisation of sex workers that has no place in a modern, enlightened society. The Bill s provisions around so-called soliciting or loitering would return us to the dark days before decriminalisation, where workers were at the mercy of violent clients because they did not feel safe about seeking police help. Once again, already stretched police resources in this region, would be misdirected. It appears that those supporting this Bill have lost sight of the key contributing elements in this particular street environment. If local bodies are concerned about the number of young people on their streets at night, then councils need to understand that most of these people have nothing to do with the sex industry and are, in fact, citizens with little else to do, or users of the commercial venues in the area. Perhaps directing attention to the social needs of these people would build community pride more successfully than choosing soft targets such as sex workers to go after. Oral submission I look forward to making an oral submission to the select committee and want to use power-point and video presentations as part of my oral submission. This submission is supported by personal submissions from Charlotte Ama, Homeless Team Auckland City Mission, and Danielle Bergin, Manager, Island Child. In most countries, discrimination remains legal against women, men who have sex with men, sex workers, drug users and ethnic minorities. This must change. I call upon all countries to live up to their commitments to enact or enforce legislation outlawing discrimination against people living with HIV and members of vulnerable groups. In countries without laws to protect sex workers, drug users, and men who have sex with men, only a fraction of the population has access to prevention. Conversely, in countries with legal protection and the protection of human rights for these people, many more have access to services. As a result, there are fewer infections, less demand for antiretroviral treatment and fewer deaths. Not only is it unethical not to protect these groups: it makes no sense from a public health perspective. It hurts us all. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, address to the International AIDS Conference, Mexico City, 3 August 2008, cited in UNAIDS Guidance Note on HIV and Sex Work.

12 Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail in Why We Can t Wait, 1963) Annah Pickering Regional Manager NZ Prostitutes Collective Auckland Branch Ph: nzpcauckland@vodafone.co.nz

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