http://sexworkeurope.org/icrse/index.php/en/home-mainmenu-186/protest/strass-stop-crim-sw
Petition! Stop criminalizing sex workers!
Written by STRASS France
The online newspaper La Dépêche published last October 17 an article
describing the arrest of an escort for soliciting on the Internet.
Jean-Noel Gross, author of the article, stated that the arrest had been
made possible by the application of Article L. 225-10-1 law n °
2003-239 of March 18, 2003, on Interior Security (LSI). However, if one
refers to the implementation of the LSI, dated June 3, 2003, the crime
of soliciting is presented as a mean to ensure public tranquility, by
ridding the streets of all sexual ostentatious manifestations. But the
solicitation of clients on the Internet does not appear at the eyes of
passersby. It is confined to specialized websites, that we do not
consult by accident. We do not see very well in these conditions, how
can be justified its prohibition but to deliberatly prevent escorts to
work.
However, it is not forbidden in France to engage in paid sex:
French
law does not outlaw prostitution. Moreover, the State clearly
recognizes prostitution as work since it is subject to tax. In this
context, the Toulouse case constitutes a violation of our human rights
enshrined in Article 23 of the UN Declaration of 1948: the Right to
work. It does not seem to shock anyone. Even the most sensitive human
rights campaigners remain indifferent. Obviously prostitution is an
activity which for most people, must be prevented, which they can
afford to try to prevent even against our fundamental rights, without
bothering to justify this position.
While all workers face the
economic crisis and governments do their best to avoid a situation of
unemployment and catastrophic poverty, repression of sex work, which is
an interesting financial solution for minorities and working class
women, reachs a significant level in addressing prostitution via the
Internet. In this case, the argument for the defense of human dignity,
to the risk to sacrifice the fundamental freedoms of the person whose
dignity is threatened, and which is the supposedly justification for
the existence of the crime of soliciting, is difficult to sustain.
Indeed, unless one considers that offering sexual services on the
Internet is contrary to human dignity, there is no reason to justify
its ban. Moreover, the dating sites on the Internet are precisely used
by sex workers to protect themselves from the risks associated with
street soliciting as a result of the law (police arrests, physical
assault, theft, humiliation or pimps), and in this, the criminalization
of the use of Internet is in contradiction with the objectives of the
LSI.
STRASS demands:
* the end of the French Government's hypocrisy about prostitution.
* the decriminalization of all sexual acts between consenting adults.
* the repeal of all laws on prostitution.
* the respect for sex workers' fundamental freedoms.
http://www.petitiononline.com/sw2210/petition.html
