Memorandum submitted by Dr Nicola Mai (PC 70)

(Senior Research Fellow in Migrations and Immigrations

ISET (Institute for the Study of European Transformations)

London Metropolitan University)

 

 

Policing and Crime Bill 2009 - comments on sections related to prostitution and trafficking.

 

Since 2007, the public funded 'Migrants in the UK sex industry' research project has gathered the stories of migration and work of over 70 women, men and transgender people from the EU (including new accession countries), Russia, Ukraine, North and South America, Asia and Australia. We are interviewing migrants working in all commercial-sex businesses, including selling sex as independent escorts and in flats, telephone work, lap-dancing, erotic cinemas and so on.

We have contacted migrants working in the sex industry through their commercial contacts, not through sex work support projects, in order to tap into different groups of people than those usually researched. We addressed them as labour migrants, asking them the questions asked of others who have left their countries to work, rather than assuming they are inherently different or exploited because they are working in the sex industry.

As of 23 January 2009, we have undertaken more than 70 interviews with women, men and transgender people working in the sex industry in London. Although the data collection phase is not complete, we are able to outline some first findings of the research, which we think can contribute to a more informed debate on the relation between migration and the sex industry and on the best measures to improve the lives of the people directly involved: sex workers.

The project will end in July 2009. The research findings will contribute to the improvement of policies, projects and services addressing migrants working in the sex industry and at encouraging better-informed public debates on these issues.

The project is funded by the ESRC (Economic and Social research Council RES-062-23-0137) and is based at ISET, the Institute for the Study of European Transformations of the London Metropolitan University. Dr Nick Mai leads the project.

First findings:

Contrary to the emphasis given in current public debates to cases of trafficking and exploitation, the evidence gathered in the context of the project shows a great variety of trajectories within the sex industry, which were influenced by factors such as immigration status, professional and language skills, gender and sexuality. The following are just a few emerging results in this respect:

· Immigration status is by far the single most important factor restricting interviewees' ability to exercise their rights in their professional and private lives.

· Working in the sex industry is often a way for migrants, especially if undocumented or partially documented, to avoid the unrewarding and sometimes exploitative conditions they meet in the low skilled jobs available to them, such as: waiting in restaurants and bars, cleaning, food packaging, etc.

· By working in the sex industry, many migrants are able to maintain dignified living standards in the UK while dramatically improving the living conditions of their families in the country of origin.

· The stigmatisation of sex work was the main problem interviewees experienced while working in the sex industry, as most felt they could not be open about their work with their partners, families and friends, both in the UK and at home.

· Many underlined that the combination of the stigmatisation of sex work and lack of documentation made them more vulnerable to violence and abuse from customers, which is an exception to relations usually characterised by mutual consent and respect.

· All interviewees thought that their rights could be more asserted and their vulnerability reduced by legalising rather than criminalising sex work and the people involved.

- The few interviewees who had been exploited and coerced in the past underlined the key role played by clients in providing support when they managed to escape. They all underlined how restrictive migration policies and the criminalisation of clients and sex workers would make people more likely to take risks and accept undignified and dangerous conditions.

Implications for the current discussion of the Policing and Crime Bill 2009

 

The evidence gathered in the context of this project shows that the measures regarding prostitution and trafficking foreseen by the Policing and Crime Bill 2009, including the criminalisation of those who pay for sex with a person 'controlled for gain' (Clause 13), orders for sex workers convicted of soliciting (Clause 16), changes to offences of kerb-crawling and soliciting to obtain sexual services (Clause 18) and the closure of premises linked to sexual exploitation (Clause 20 and Schedule 2) will de facto criminalise sex workers as they are not based on shared (between the sex working community and authorities) definitions of what constitutes 'being controlled for gain' and 'exploitation' in the specific context of the sex industry and of the livelihoods of sex workers.

 

In the absence of a shared understanding about what constitutes 'consent' and 'exploitation' between authorities and the sex working community, these provisions will make sex workers more vulnerable to exploitation and less likely to pursue alternative life trajectories outside the sex industry, if they wish so. The material we gathered shows that sex workers will interpret and experience these measures as a general crackdown on the sex industry, that they will be more exposed to criminalisation and therefore exploitation and that they and their clients will be less incline to co-operate with authorities in fighting the limited cases of trafficking and exploitation taking place within the sex industry.

 

February 2009