IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v9y2020i1p4-d307543.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Justice and Civil Liberties on Sex Work in Contemporary International Human Rights Law

Author

Listed:
  • Belinda Brooks-Gordon

    (School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK)

  • Marjan Wijers

    (Department of Sociology, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK)

  • Alison Jobe

    (Department of Sociology, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3HN, UK)

Abstract

To fulfil obligations in international law State parties have to take the issue of human trafficking seriously. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) provides General Recommendations (GR) to member states on the interpretation of the Women’s Convention. In 2018 the CEDAW Committee started to develop a GR on trafficking in women and girls in a process planned to conclude in 2020. The first stage towards this was through the publication of a Concept Note to serve as a basis for dialogue during the two-year international consultation period. The Concept Note is a vital link in a textual chain because it frames the policy problem and actively constructs its own ‘documentary reality’. This article provides a critical analysis of the CEDAW Concept Note on the grounds that such analysis provides an understanding of its discursive construction of trafficking, migrant labour and sex work, by an institution responsible for international jurisprudence on human rights. Analysis of the Concept Note explores the documentary constructions including narratives that merge adult women with girls, the symbolism of exploitation, the silencing of scientific research, the elision of sex worker voices, and sex work as work. The analysis leads us to conclude that the General Recommendation should define what counts as ‘exploitation’, and ‘forced labour’, and address the growing international recognition of best evidence on the wider impact of sex work laws, in order that legal framing and constructions of sex trafficking are not erroneously used to curtail rights of sex workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Belinda Brooks-Gordon & Marjan Wijers & Alison Jobe, 2020. "Justice and Civil Liberties on Sex Work in Contemporary International Human Rights Law," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:1:p:4-:d:307543
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/1/4/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/1/4/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scambler, Graham & Paoli, Frederique, 2008. "Health work, female sex workers and HIV/AIDS: Global and local dimensions of stigma and deviance as barriers to effective interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1848-1862, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jessica McCann & Gemma Crawford & Jonathan Hallett, 2021. "Sex Worker Health Outcomes in High-Income Countries of Varied Regulatory Environments: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-16, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katie Hail-Jares & Ruth C F Chang & Sugy Choi & Huang Zheng & Na He & Z Jennifer Huang, 2015. "Intimate-Partner and Client-Initiated Violence among Female Street-Based Sex Workers in China: Does a Support Network Help?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Robillard, Chantal, 2010. "The gendered experience of stigmatization in severe and persistent mental illness in Lima, Peru," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2178-2186, December.
    3. Ruth C Chang & Katie Hail-Jares & Huang Zheng & Na He & Jennifer Z H Bouey, 2018. "Mitigating circumstances: A model-based analysis of associations between risk environment and infrequent condom use among Chinese street-based sex workers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, May.
    4. Stoebenau, Kirsten, 2009. "Symbolic capital and health: The case of women's sex work in Antananarivo, Madagascar," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2045-2052, June.
    5. Davey, Calum & Dirawo, Jeffrey & Mushati, Phillis & Magutshwa, Sitholubuhle & Hargreaves, James R. & Cowan, Frances M., 2019. "Mobility and sex work: why, where, when? A typology of female-sex-worker mobility in Zimbabwe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 322-330.
    6. Saunders, Vicky, 2018. "What does your dad do for a living? Children of prisoners and their experiences of stigma," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 21-27.
    7. Mbonye, Martin & Siu, Godfrey & Seeley, Janet, 2022. "Marginal men, respectable masculinity and access to HIV services through intimate relationships with female sex workers in Kampala, Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    8. Shahmanesh, Maryam & Wayal, Sonali & Andrew, Gracy & Patel, Vikram & Cowan, Frances M. & Hart, Graham, 2009. "HIV prevention while the bulldozers roll: Exploring the effect of the demolition of Goa's red-light area," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 604-612, August.
    9. Abel, Gillian M., 2011. "Different stage, different performance: The protective strategy of role play on emotional health in sex work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(7), pages 1177-1184, April.
    10. Goldenberg, Shira M. & Strathdee, Steffanie A. & Gallardo, Manuel & Rhodes, Tim & Wagner, Karla D. & Patterson, Thomas L., 2011. ""Over here, it's just drugs, women and all the madness": The HIV risk environment of clients of female sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(7), pages 1185-1192, April.
    11. Romppainen, Katri & Jähi, Rita & Saloniemi, Antti & Virtanen, Pekka, 2010. "Encounters with unemployment in occupational health care: Nurses' constructions of clients without work," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 605-608, February.
    12. Lindemann, Danielle J., 2013. "Health discourse and within-group stigma in professional BDSM," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 169-175.
    13. Bonnington, Oliver & Rose, Diana, 2014. "Exploring stigmatisation among people diagnosed with either bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder: A critical realist analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 7-17.
    14. Ola, Bolanle A. & Yates, Scott J. & Dyson, Simon M., 2016. "Living with sickle cell disease and depression in Lagos, Nigeria: A mixed methods study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 27-36.
    15. Heidi Hoefinger & Jennifer Musto & P. G. Macioti & Anne E. Fehrenbacher & Nicola Mai & Calum Bennachie & Calogero Giametta, 2019. "Community-Based Responses to Negative Health Impacts of Sexual Humanitarian Anti-Trafficking Policies and the Criminalization of Sex Work and Migration in the US," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-30, December.
    16. Mupambireyi, Zivai & Bernays, Sarah & Bwakura-Dangarembizi, Mutsa & Cowan, Frances M., 2014. "“I don't feel shy because I will be among others who are just like me…”: The role of support groups for children perinatally infected with HIV in Zimbabwe," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 106-113.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:1:p:4-:d:307543. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.