Call to decriminalise prostitution in Ireland
A leading academic today called for prostitution to be decriminalised to protect women forced to work in the sex industry.
Researchers said support structures are also needed to reduce the risk of harm posed to drug users working on the streets of Dublin to fund their habit.
Dr Linda Cusick, from the University of The West of Scotland, said sex workers fear authority, are isolated and vulnerable, with many physically and sexually assaulted, raped and abducted.
“Sex workers are quite reasonably, in many situations, afraid of the police,” Dr Cusick told a conference staged by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD).
“If sex work is recognised as work we can look forward to offering sex workers legal protection against violence and reducing their fear of reporting it to the police when they are attacked.”
Dr Cusick said women in the industry do not have just and favourable conditions of work, the right to adequate standards of living, or freedom from discrimination especially when accessing medical, social and welfare services.
“Sex markets have become entangled with the mutually reinforcing aspects of organised crime and problematic drug use and the sex markets with the least labour protection are the most open to multiple harms,” the academic continued.
“In order to reduce harm, we must accept the personal reasons why individuals engage in sex work and address the environment they operate.”
NACD researcher Dr Teresa Whitaker told the conference – Drug Use, Sex Work and the Risk Environment in Dublin – a recent study revealed a strong need for adequately resourced support structures to reduce the harm posed to drug-using sex workers.
In-depth interviews with 35 drug users, currently or previously engaged in sex work, showed wider social and situational needs such as poverty, housing, health, educational needs and employment prospects are as fundamental to reducing their risk of harm as addressing drug use.
The NACD said continued funding was essential in the current economic climate to support existing services.
It recommended that interventions are developed to target existing drug-using sex workers, programmes are aimed at getting drug users back to work, and hostel and accommodation is provided to facilitate their recovery and rehabilitation.
“A dominant theme to emerge from the field work was that drug-using sex workers are vulnerable people with complex and multiple needs that span health, social and legal issues,” added Dr Whitaker.
