Länderberichte KANADA:

[Marc of Frankfurt]

SPOC.ca Pressekonferenz mit Anwalt Alan Young und den drei Sexarbeiterinnen und Klägerinnen, die ihre Verfassungsbeschwerde in 1. Instanz gewonnen haben.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqfCE40DfQo[/youtube]

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Prozessnachlese


Das Urteil:

Bedford v. Canada, 2010 ONSC 4264 (CanLII)
www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2010/2010 ... c4264.html




Analyse der Expertenaussagen: ‘It is not important for scholars to present information that contradicts their own findings’: anti-prostitution witness Prof. Poulin in Ontario

Wie sich die Wissenschaftler der Prostitutionsgegner selbst disqualifiziert haben:
- Prof. Dr. Richard Poulin, Soziologe Uni Ottawa
- Dr. Melissa Farley, USA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Farley
- Dr. Janice G. Raymond http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janice_Raymond

Wie sich der Pro-Sexwork Wissenschaftler qualifiziert hat:
- Prof. Dr. John Lowman http://mypage.uniserve.ca/~lowman/

Entlarvende Zitate aus dem Urteil von Richterin Susan Himel
rausgesucht von Laura Agustín:
www.lauraagustin.com/it-is-not-importan ... in-ontario





Dan Gardner: Prostitution ruling confronts wall of apathy
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... of-apathy/


Prostitution Ruling Shocks Toronto Papers Into...Something
http://torontoist.com/2010/10/prostitut ... ething.php


Die Prostitutionsgegner haben schon am Tag der Urteilsverkündung erklärt in Berufung zu gehen, ohne überhaupt das Urteil und die Erfolgsaussichten studieren zu müssen.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Mediamachwerk von Mr. Wendy Mesley on CBC Kanada

und die Entgegnung von Sexworker Advocaten


Ein sehr einseitiger Nachrichtenbericht über den Prozess und das Thema Sexbiz.
Das Urteil zugunsten der Sexworker wird als Erfolg für Pimps uminterpretiert.
Sexwork wird dabei hegemonial definiert als organisierte Kriminalität mit Menschenhandel und Zwangsprostitution Minderjähriger (Zuhälterverdienst 280.000 Dollar pro Jahr). Ein Propaganda-Machwerk (8 Minuten).

Canadian Broadcasting Corp. National 10 o'clock news:
http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthan ... ndymesley/



Public Letter of Sex Worker Protest

• To: Wendy Mesley
  In-Depth & Analysis, The National
  Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
  
  Date: Friday October 8 ,2010
  
  From: Andy Sorfleet
  Committee to Unite Prostitutes
  Vancouver, BC
  http://walnet.org/cup
  
  Regarding: "Is Canada becoming a haven for sex traffickers?"
  (Aired Wednesday, October 6, The National, 10 p.m. local time.)
  
  
  Dear Ms. Mesley,
  
  I was appalled by your report on the "question," Is Canada becoming a haven for sex traffickers? There certainly was no question in this sensational piece of propaganda, nor where there any alternative viewpoints. I have rarely seen such an unbalanced news story on the CBC, or one so devoid of journalistic integrity.
  
  You begin with some dark and eerie, lurid footage of sex workers in hooker boots -- who you didn't even get consent from to film and had to blot out their faces -- and pans of legitimate business licences (City of Burnaby for example).
  
  Then, you swiftly completely dismiss the viewpoints and hard work of an Ontario Superior Court judge, a constitutional challenge law team, an esteemed law professor, a sex workers rights orgnization and a person herself charged under Canada's archaic bawdy-house laws. This is to prepare your viewers for your thesis claim that "pimping" (no definition provided) could become legal, making it more difficult for the police to "keep an eye on the pimp's business." This leads us to the hook of your story -- the big, scary Internet and the proliferation of sex ads.
  
  You follow by getting yourself nicely off the hook, by enabling someone else to make the outrageous and unsubstantiated claims which you present as facts. Nothing convinced me -- the viewer -- however that Natasha Fall[e Executive Director www.sextrade101.com ehemalige minderjährige 12jährige Prostituierte und jetztige Prostitutionsgegnerin] was anything more than a character from a bad CBC drama, played by an actor. You failed to create an atmosphere of suspended disbelief. There are some viewers, perhaps, who can easily believe that "these girls" all start working in the sex industry at the age of 14 and even younger. But the stories begin to stretch from there.
  
  This practically anonymous young woman who works for a mysterious and unnamed support group states that all these "independent business women" (as you put it) who are happy about the ruling worked for the same "establishments" she did, apparently with the same escort drivers, and criminal activities etc. Then she becomes more zealous: "These are legal establishments. Children working in massage parlours..." According to your guest, the businesses are all organized crime.
  
  Natasha Fall claims she's met hundreds of women who are controlled by pimps. "Some are partners, but others are traffickers." Later we learn that these traffickers are moving *Canadian* women around from massage parlour to massage parlour across the country, in order to provide a "fresh face" and make even more money.
  
  What a way to defame the business licence inspectors and departments of many or most of the larger municipalities in Canada -- without a shred of evidence!
  
  In my 20 years as a sex worker advocate in both Toronto and Vancouver I have certainly not met hundreds of sex workers controlled by anyone but themselves.
  
  You tell us that even in happy-hooking Amsterdam, legalization of prostitution led to an explosion of human trafficking. Your evidence: half a sentence from a former Amsterdam mayor [Job Cohen], who simply says: "It didn't work out."
  
  Your journalistic talents shone when you used clips from Canadian police TV fictional dramas (scenes of "girls" rescued from shipping containers [HBO production "The Wire"]) for entertaining filler (to help us get through you droning on with your definition of human trafficking) to take us to the meat of your story: how sex for sale has moved off the streets and out of the strip clubs (also licensed by municipalities?) -- and onto the Internet.
  
  I really don't need to go on with the play-by-play. I think you get the idea.
  
  Your attempt to defame veteran and respected alternative news weeklies such as NOW magazine in Toronto and The Georgia Straight in Vancouver was charming. First you compare their businesses with ads on Craigslist. Then "Natasha" flips through a newspaper you just pulled out, and claims "I've met a lot of these women. I've witnessed -- first-hand -- who these women are and what their experiences are." [Impossible.] "These women, at the end of their shift they're going home to men who abuse them."
  
  You didn't pull any punches when you interviewed Alice Klein (editor of NOW). You accuse NOW Of running ads for selling underage girls and other criminal activity. Klein didn't see that coming. I have run ads in NOW magazine and others on your list of alternative papers. I dealt in person with my ad reps. I provided photo identification that was filed with my phone number used in the ad. I payed by credit card even sometimes. You are not anonymous when you take out adult classifieds ads. Surely you know that.
  
  Your accusations are like saying that a newspaper is responsible for classified ads for automobiles which turn out to be someone selling stolen cars. No classified advertising venue can guarantee that all the ads published are by law-abiding citizens. It's not the publishers' responsibility.
  
  Frankly, Ms Mesley I am embarrassed to think that the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. National 10 o'clock news has sunk to this low level. Next time, perhaps you could do just a little bit of research to verify some of the claims in your show's reports. Perhaps you could talk to real sex workers who you don't have to blot the faces out of in your newsreel footage. Perhaps you could talk to people who are known and have some credibility -- if you ever expect to gain any credibility of your own.
  
  During cross-examination in the Ontario case, Dr. Poulin (an expert witness for the Crown) was asked to provide a verifiable source for his claim that the average age of entry into prostitution in Canada is 14. At para 357 of of her decision, Judge Himel comments "... during cross-examination it was revealed that some of Dr. Poulin's citations for his claim that the average of entry into prostitution is 14 years old were misleading or incorrect." Even the Crown acknowledged that there is just one study in Canada reporting 14 as the average age of entry of the sample. The other studies report a higher average age of entry, some much higher.
  
  [In dem Bericht wird der Prostitutionsgegner Benjamin Perrin www.theFuturegroup.org interviewed. Ann.]
  
  Canada is blessed with a wealth of very smart, dedicated and veteran social-science researchers in fields such as criminology. These include Frances Shaver, John Lowman, Celia Benoit and Gus Brannigan to name only a well-known few. Canada also has several sex-worker advocacy groups who are long-established and well-respected, including Maggie's in Toronto (founded by June Callwood), PACE in Vancouver, Stella in Montreal to name only three.
  
  I am certain you will have no trouble locating a wide range of opinions (not just your own) and facts to truly question, and have a discussion that involves a variety of viewpoints about prostitution and legalization here in Canada.
  
  Regards,
  Andy Sorfleet
  
  Committee to Unite Prostitutes
  Vancouver, BC
  http://walnet.org/cup

Monitoring the Antis - Researching further the truth about sex work



I suggest we always cite the criticized anti prostitution fighters as easy as possible with links, so that every intelligent citizen can decide by himself.

So here is the somehow well done propagandistic one-sided Canadian Broadcasting Corp. National 10 o'clock news piece by Ms. Wendy Mesley against decriminalisation of sex business:
http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthan ... ndymesley/

Her main argument is Natasha Falle, Executive Director www.sextrade101.com Toronto, self portrayed as 12 year child prostitute and victim of sex biz. Her homepage is registered anonymous likewise sex workers often do:
http://whois.domaintools.com/sextrade101.com

As video material filler they use stereotyped red like district images and fiction as Andy already lined out in his detailed letter. That was taken from the commercial very successful HBO police drama production "The Wire":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire

Then they dig out an other anti sex work scientist Benjamin Perrin http://www.theFuturegroup.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Perrin

Furthermore they show a Craiglist ad with a photo of an alleged minor. This ad also could have been placed by the anti trafficking league itself. Nobody knows.

Cf. the historical case and scam of William Thomas Stead, the editor of the popular paper "the Pull Mall Gazette". He organized an under cover investigation and sting operation, exposing the sale of Eliza Armstrong by her own parents in 1886. He arranges for the 13 years old girl to be sold for only 1 (one) British Pound. Then he writes the book: "The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon" against "White Slavery" i.e. trafficking in persons. By that publication he helped the enactment of a parliaments bill raising the age of consent to 16 years. After it was found out, that everything was arranged, he was convicted of unlawful abduction and sentenced to only 3 month of hard labour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomas_Stead

The ex major of Amsterdam only quoted with a single sentence that legislation failed is Bob Cohen. He is an advocate of gentrification of the historical red light district.





I do believe we can not win against the antis likewise as sex work can not be eradicated.

Both movements are set up on deeply entrenched human emotions and appetite. One is sex and companionship, the other is motherly care and doing good or maybe crusading.

What we can do, is create understanding of the antagonism and polarity in sexual feelings, sex business, exploitation vs. helper industry. About scare tactics and methods of indoctrination by authorities like religious institutions or political parties.

There always will be evil molesters and exploited minors, in sex biz the same as in social institutions and families.

There always will be sex workers who fail on the long run, since knowledge about sustainable sex working or clever outplacement (exit strategies) is not circulating well enough and market competition or exploitation in the real world is higher than many unprotected peoples self-help capabilities are. Since our exit strategies and networks are quite weak, I can understand, that people fall back on churches and religious belief systems as support of last chance. Founding an helper project is a typical exit strategy for some sex workers.

Therefore we shall demand and work on further research and evidence about the total numbers and relevance of these problems. Demand our own research institutions, sex worker unions, sex biz self regulatory boards, sex worker saving banks, sex worker retirement homes, social security and pension fund, sex worker job quota arrangement within our own helper industry (TAMPEP network), sex worker media teams, whore academies, film festivals and much more to do and to achieve...


[Marc]

.

[sixela]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/arti ... ourt-rules

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Bericht einer Sexarbeiterin


Sex workers courting a better deal

Constitutional challenge seeks to boost safety, afford better legal protection for prostitutes

By Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/workers+cou ... story.html

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Preisgekrönte historische Sexwork Forschung:
(Thanks to Tracy Quan)



Da gab es viel mehr diskrete Bordelle
und wohlhabend lebende Sexworker,
als es der gepflegte, gute Ruf der Gegend
hätte jemals zugaben wollen ...

Folgende Forschung ist ein gutes historisches Argument gegen die oft notorisch vorgebrachte aber m.E. bisher nicht empirisch belegte These vom sog. "trading down" (dem Gegenpol von Gentrifizierung). Siehe auch die anhaltende politische Debatte um Sperrgebiete/Zoning in Deutschland.


Geographies of sexual commerce and the production
of prostitutional space:

Victoria, British Columbia (BC), Kanada
1860–1914

Retired Vancouver Island University (VIU) History professor PATRICK A. DUNAE


Abstract
The essay considers the geography and economic significance of the sex trade in Victoria, British Columbia, a city that has historically associated itself with notions of gentility and images of English country gardens.

The essay problematizes that image. Influenced by the spatial turn in the Humanities and informed by Henri Lefebvre’s ideas on the production of space, the production of prostitutional space is the focus of this piece. The essay discusses how and why space was demarked by local authorities for what Foucault called “illegitimate sexualities.” It delineates geographies of sexual commerce in Victoria and invites questions about sexuality in other Canadian and American cities, as well as other British colonial cities. This piece is a tentative step towards mapping moral geographies in nineteenth century cities and placing them within a broader temporal, societal, spatial, and theoretical framework.


28 pages:
http://www.cliomedia.ca/articles/dunae_geographies.pdf

und 44 pages (mit Bild):
http://www.cliomedia.ca/Dunae-CHA60.pdf

Red lights in Victoria's history
http://www.cliomedia.ca/articles/redzone.htm


History professor wins national award for article on sex trade workers:
Durch Verknüpfung von Polizeiakten und öffentlich zugänglichen historischen Dokumenten hat der Forscher nachträglich die Sexworker und ihre Arbeitsstätten gefunden/enttarnt:
http://www.viu.ca/mainly/page.asp?ID=1951

Ob sich da jetzt Nachfahren beschweren, wenn ihre Familienvilla als Ex-Bordellbetrieb der Großmutter geoutet wird? :-((





Sites of sexual commerce in Victoria, British Columbia, c. 1900


Bordelle (rote Vierecke) gern in der Nähe von Kirchen (grüne Dreiecke).

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Déclaration de l’Institut Simone de Beauvoir:

Une prise de position féministe sur le travail du sexe


http://netfemmes.cdeacf.ca/les_actualit ... icle=16834

oder

http://site.strass-syndicat.org/2010/11 ... l-du-sexe/

[Arum]

Canada's prostitution laws are rife with contradictions


By PEGGY CURRAN, The Gazette November 2, 2010

[..]

"If prostitution really is the world's oldest profession, then it's not going away," said Viviane Namaste, a professor at Concordia University's Simone de Beauvoir Institute.

"We need to find a way to ensure that the women who ply that trade are treated with respect, and can do so safely."

This morning, Namaste and a coalition of academics, feminists, sex trade workers and human rights experts are to gather at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute to support a recent decision by Ontario Superior Court Judge Susan Himel striking down key sections of Canada's Criminal Code regulating prostitution.

"We believe sex workers have the right to live and work safely, in an environment free of violence and discrimination," a statement signed by 40 professors, lawyers and community activists says.


"Current laws force sex workers to work in dangerous conditions and compromise their access to police protection, which in turn renders them even more vulnerable to violence."

[...]

[The Simone de Beauvoir group sees] their job as researchers as gathering evidence and listening to people on the street. In this case, those people happen to be streetwalkers, striving for more control over their work environment and personal safety.

"Given that the exchange of sex for money is not a criminal act in Canada, we support the ability of women to define the conditions in which they work," it says. "This includes the situations of women who work in the sex trade."


http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Can ... story.html

[Arum]

Ontario set to slide into red-light hell if prostitution ruling isn't stayed: Police

By Janice Tibbetts, Postmedia News November 3, 2010

OTTAWA — Red light districts will emerge, prostitutes' lives will be in danger and authorities will be powerless to protect residents of Ontario's most vulnerable neighbourhoods, police and community activists warn in court documents seeking suspension of a ruling that permits sex workers to openly do business, beginning later this month.

The assessment of life in Ontario is contained in six affidavits supporting a federal government application to stay the Sept. 28 decision while the ruling winds its way through appeals, a process that could take years.

"With prostitution being so prolific despite the law's existence, it stands to reason that if it were a free and open market void of criminal sanctions and deterrence, prostitution would greatly increase in Ontario," wrote Staff Sgt. James Cowan, of the Peel Regional Police.

Toronto Police Insp. Howard Page contends that "street prostitution will increase, bawdy houses will proliferate and communities will suffer," if the appeal court does not stay the Sept. 28 ruling of Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel, which struck down a Criminal Code ban on brothels, soliciting and pimping.

"Word would quickly get around that pimps, bawdy house operators and prostitutes can operate with virtual impunity in Ontario."

[...]

In her landmark decision, Himel concluded that criminal prohibitions on running brothels, communicating for the purpose of prostitution and living off the avails of prostitution put the lives of sex workers at risk by forcing them to ply their trade in the shady underground world. She suspended her decision for 30 days, but subsequently extended the stay for another 30 days.

Justice Department lawyer Greg Israelstam cautioned the court in an affidavit that failure to grant a further stay will create a "legal vacuum" in which prostitution could flourish, just as lap dancing "started to be offered more widely" after an Ontario judge dismissed charges against two Toronto lap dancers in 1994. The ruling was overturned a year later in the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Israelstam said that the possible effects of the prostitution decision, while it winds its way through appeals, could be "more significant" because it strikes down Canadian law as unconstitutional, making the ruling binding on judges across Ontario.

Mehr: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ontari ... z14bzYBTok

[Ariane]

Heute las ich in der Süddeutschen Zeitung folgenden Bericht über Morde an Frauen aus der indigenen Bevölkerung Kanadas, die weder von politischer Seite geächtet werden noch polizeilich nachgegangen wird. In diesem Zusammenhang auch die horrende Zahl von Morden in Vancouver an ursächlich durch Armutsprostitution betroffene Sexworker: "Schätzungsweise 40 Prozent der Prostitutierten in Vancouver sind drogensüchtige Indianerinnen, viele von ihnen Picktons Opfer." (gemeint ist der Serienmorder Pickton)

Interessant in diesem Zusammenhang - und auch zu hiesigen, europäischen Verhältnissen, der öffentliche Diskurs über SexarbeiterInnen, ist auch eine Anmerkung des Amnesty International Sprechers Craig Benjamin wert:

"Die Täter suchen sich indianische Frauen aus, denn sie denken, dass die Gewalt an diesen Frauen sozial akzeptiert ist." Typisch sei, dass die Täter hinterher von anderen gedeckt würden. "Sie rechnen damit, dass sie davon kommen", so Craig Benjamin.

Quellehttp://www.sueddeutsche.de/B5V38Z/37388 ... aenen.html

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Die Berufungs-Entscheidung über die Gültigkeit der 3 kassierten Prostitutionsgesetze im Urteil von Richterin Himel (s.o.) wird vertagt auf den 29. April 2011


Der Premierminister macht sich öffentlich über die Domina lustig, die den Prozess gewonnen hat und behauptet ferner:

The sex trade is “bad for society,” the Prime Minister said. “That’s a strong view held by our government and I think by most Canadians.”


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le1822335/

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/ ... ution.html

[Aoife]

          

"The sex trade is “bad for society,” the Prime Minister said. “That’s a strong view held by our government and I think by most Canadians.”

Ein leider nur allzu typischer Vorgang, der beweist, dass die Demokratie an sich Menschenrechte und Minderheitenschutz keineswegs garantiert. Typischerweise werden diese als rhetorische Angriffe auf andere Systeme thematisiert, im eigenen Land jedoch mit dem Hinweis auf eine behauptete Ansicht der Mehrheit mit Füßen getreten.

Liebe Grüße, Aoife

[Arum]

Hier dahingegen ein etwas vernünftiger Pressekommentar, kanadisch:


'Mr. Ignatieff complains the law would punish “the victims, not the criminals.” Baffling. It would certainly punish the criminals, with mandatory minimum sentences for one thing. And as far as we know, there are no victims. The passengers on the Ocean Lady and MV Sun Sea booked passage across the Pacific and got it. The only thing that makes it “human smuggling” instead of “overpaying for a really awful cruise” is the passengers’ lack of proper travel documents.'

Mehr hier: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... z17BXbGphq

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Carleton University hosted a special panel discussion about the decriminalization of prostitution

http://www.charlatan.ca/content/carleto ... tion-panel




http://www.lauraAgustin.com/all-the-bad ... ight-cause

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Die Gemeinschaft der Kanadischen Sexworker-Organisationen haben einen Brief an den Ombudsman verfaßt:

Gegen den Ausschluß von Sexworker-Vertretern von den Kommissionen, die sich mit vermißten Frauen und Gewaltopfern befassen...


Sex workers launch Ombudsman complaint against federal government

“We are done with government indifference to violence against sex workers”


kurz
http://www.firstadvocates.org/press/sex ... government

lang
http://www.firstadvocates.org/request-a ... tims-crime





Diese Studie hatte große Defizite bei der Aufklärung von Serienmördern aufgezeigt (Fall Robert Pickton):
www.sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=86237#86237

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Was kommt nach dem epochalen Urteil von Susan Himmel?
Sexworker fordern Dekriminalisierung und keine Lizensierung!

Regulating Canada's Sex Trade


by Mariana Valverde
Director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies,
University of Toronto; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; author.
First Posted: Feb 28 2011 02:28 AM


Canada may soon find itself without laws on prostitution.

We should look to Australia and New Zealand for local strategies to address the world's oldest profession.

In September 2010, Ontario Superior Court Judge Susan Himel struck down the three main criminal statutes concerning prostitution:
- the “bawdy-house law,” which criminalizes indoor commercial sex;
- the “communication law,” which bans street solicitation; and
- the “procuring law,” which was meant to target pimps but has been used to harass security-oriented staff (such as drivers) and women’s family members.

(Contrary to popular belief, the trafficking provision was not challenged.)

The decision was stayed until the end of April, which means that it has not yet come into effect.

Most likely, the stay will continue even longer, since the Ontario Court of Appeal will not hear the appeal until June. After that, it is almost inevitable that the unsuccessful party will appeal to the Supreme Court, so it may be two years before Canadians get the final word on the prostitution laws.

The slow pace of Supreme Court appeal procedures means that there’s plenty of time to consider policy options.

One option would be to pass through Parliament a new law that would not suffer from the same constitutional defects as the existing ones.





In 1999, Sweden became the first of several countries that have passed new prostitution laws that criminalize the purchase but not the sale of sex. This “Swedish option” has found favour with many feminists and could gain support from the federal Liberal party (as well as the NDP).

The Toronto-based organization Maggie’s www.maggiesToronto.ca the only grassroots group that is led by practicing sex workers, opposes this “Swedish approach.” Members feel that even if only johns are subject to arrest, criminalization is still a bad strategy because it necessarily drives the business underground.

They also point out that the Swedish law criminalizes the purchase of “casual sex” only – probably so that rich men with trophy wives are clearly excepted from this law. Either way, they argue, this is an obviously moralistic provision.

Passing a Swedish-style law would render the appeal of the Toronto decision moot. But given the current fragmented political scene and rumours of an approaching federal election, it seems unlikely that a new criminal law will emerge any time soon.

It is more likely that Canadians will find themselves in the same position that they were in when the Supreme Court struck down the abortion law in the 1988 Morgentaler decision.

At that time, the government made noises about writing a new law to fill the vacuum, but no law could gain enough support. As a result, abortion ended up being regulated by provincial health authorities as a medical procedure.

Similarly, if the federal government cannot modernize prostitution laws and the Supreme Court confirms Justice Himel’s decision, other levels of government will have to regulate a matter that was formerly considered criminal.

This has already happened in Australia and New Zealand, which have legal systems very similar to Canada’s.





Urban Australian states (New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland) have decriminalized many forms of prostitution. There, research suggests that when municipalities use their zoning and other powers to unreasonably restrict brothels and self-employed prostitutes in order to placate fearful residents, the result is a return of the black market. Also, in Brisbane –where brothels were legalized mainly as an attempt to eliminate a notorious source of police corruption – the licensing scheme that was put in place gave far too much power to the police. This had the effect of bringing back the same old corruption, though now in the guise of licensing approvals for legal businesses rather than accepting pay-offs to ignore illegal businesses. But some Sydney municipalities are developing more effective and less punitive strategies.





For their part, New Zealand local governments were authorized by the 2003 Prostitution Reform Act (which decriminalized the sale and the purchase of all sexual services) to take a variety of licensing and zoning measures to regulate the now legal sex trade.

An official – and very thorough – five-year follow-up study, as well as independent academic research, show that when local authorities use sensible measures and accept that ¬– regardless of what one might think of them – sexually oriented businesses are here to stay, working women and the public benefit.

Canadian politicians may be particularly interested to know that 3 local authorities in New Zealand tried to put in place highly restrictive zoning measures, but were stopped by courts.

- One tried to deny old “massage parlours” – now openly labelled as brothels, which is what they were all along– the right to the usual zoning-law that would allow them to continue to exist in their traditional location.
- Another municipality added so many zoning restrictions that sex businesses could not legally operate anywhere except in the most minuscule, and unsafe, portion of urban space.

While courts struck down these restrictive zoning bylaws because they contravened the principles of the Prostitution Reform Act, there were other measures to limit street soliciting that they considered reasonable, and those they did uphold.





Municipalities in Canada have much to learn from our Australian and New Zealand colleagues. Big-city mayors all around Canada should be learning about these developments and preparing options for the future. Many commercial-activity services that have risks – from clubs to places that sell cigarettes – are highly regulated. Indeed, several cities in Canada regulate and license escort services – despite their questionable legal status – and many municipalities regulate “massage parlours.” So regulating brothels would not be as radical a departure as some might think.

Canadians know from the history of liquor prohibition that regulation is a better strategy than the vain attempt to ban something that, though many may find it unsavoury, exists all around the world.

It’s time to take a serious look at policy options for regulating the sex trade.

In doing so, it should be remembered that the women who work in the trade are the best source of ideas on this topic. They know which risks need regulation. And they also know what happens when moralism and prejudice, rather than common sense, are allowed to prevail.

www.themarknews.com/articles/4199-regul ... -sex-trade





Gutachten der Australischen Sexworker über nichtfunktionierende Lizensierung (2011):
www.sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=95125#95125

Evaluation Neuseeland über gelungene Entkriminalisierung (2008):
www.sexworker.at/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=37403#37403





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexwork wird moralisch ausgegrenzt mit der Folge, daß der Staat sich nicht zuständig fühlt für Sicherheit und Schutz von Sexworkern zu sorgen, die selbst ihr riskantes Arbeitsfeld gesucht hätten.

State has no obligation to protect prostitutes, Ottawa to argue at appeal


KIRK MAKIN — JUSTICE REPORTER

Sex-trade workers voluntarily enter a world known for violence, drugs and death, the federal government will argue at a June showdown over the embattled prostitution laws.

In a legal brief filed with the Ontario Court of Appeal, government lawyers argue that the state does not owe prostitutes a promise of safety if they choose a profession that is fraught with danger.

“The law does not oblige individuals to engage in an activity that could risk their security,” it states. “It is the practice of prostitution in any venue, exaggerated by efforts to avoid the law, that is the source of the risk to prostitutes.”

...

The federal brief insists that Judge Himel was wrong to suggest that individuals are entitled to engage in prostitution, and that Parliament “is not obliged to minimize hindrances and maximize safety for those that do so contrary to the law.”

...

Two other organizations that work with hundreds of sex-trade workers – Maggies: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project; and Prostitutes of Ottawa/Gatineau Work Education and Resists (POWER) – argue in legal briefs to the court that they ought to be included since they alone actually represent the people most affected by the laws.

...

“There are few other legal professions, if any, where individuals are forced to choose between their physical well-being and legal status.”

...

Lawyers for POWER maintain that personal autonomy is at stake.

“POWER will argue that the challenged laws interfere with sex workers’ ability to make fundamental choices in respect of their bodies and their employment, the latter being an essential component of a person’s identity, personal dignity, self-worth and emotional well-being,” its brief said.

The group argued that prospective intervenors who support the laws insist on “moralizing” about how prostitution is sinful and amoral.

“POWER’s view is that there is nothing inherently degrading about sex work,” the brief stated. “It is the criminalization and stigmatization of sex work that has diminished the dignity of the trade.”

...


Original mit vielen Leserkommentaren
www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/s ... 92/%20%20/

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexarbeitergruppe verlangt offiziellen Vertretungsstatus

Group makes Charter argument for intervener status in sex-trade case


Maggie's www.maggiesToronto.ca , a support group for prostitutes, argued that it should be granted official intervener status in an upcoming appeal case, one that could result in the legalization of sex work across the province, so it can fully address the claim.
...
7 other groups, including
- Canadian Civil Liberties Association
- B.C. Civil Liberties Association
- Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and
- Prostitutes of Ottawa/Gatineau Work Education and Resists (POWER) www.chezStella.org
have already been approved as interveners in the appeal.
...
Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor of the Ontario Court of Appeal will make a decision on the application Monday.

...

The criminalization of the sex-trade industry violates Canada's guarantee of basic equality rights by discriminating against women by gender and occupation...
...
The Ontario court has set aside five days, beginning June 13, to hear the appeal.

...

www.canada.com/news/Group+makes+Charter ... story.html



Das kommt auf uns sicher auch noch zu, wenn wir unsere Gremienarbeit bei runden Tischen oder Rechtsausschüssen formell stärken wollen.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Sexworker und Sexworkerverein zugelassen zum Berufungsverfahren über Kanadas Prostitutionsgesetze

Federal A-G allowed to appeal Vancouver sex workers ruling


By Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun April 1, 2011

An Ontario judge struck down prostitution laws last year.

The Supreme Court of Canada decided Thursday to allow an appeal involving a legal challenge of the prostitution laws by a group of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside sex trade workers.

The nation's top court ruled it will grant the federal attorney-general's application for leave to appeal a ruling last year by the B.C. Court of Appeal.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bill Ehrcke ruled in December 2008 the Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society and a former prostitute named Sheryl Kiselbach did not have proper standing to take part in a court case.

Ehrcke found that then 58-year-old Kiselbach was not entitled to privateinterest standing because she is no longer a prostitute and didn't challenge the laws when she was charged with prostitution-related offences.

On appeal, the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the lower court ruling, finding Kiselbach and the society did have public interest standing to take part in the legal challenge of the federal prostitution laws.

The case was launched in Vancouver in 2007. The Supreme Court of Canada will likely hear the appeal later this year, although no hearing date has been set.

Last year, an Ontario Superior Court judge struck down Canada's prostitution laws, saying provisions meant to protect women and residential neighbourhoods had endangered the lives of sex trade workers. An Ontario Court of Appeal judge suspended the trial court ruling until an appeal can be heard in June.

Prostitution is legal in Canada, but the federal government has made it illegal to communicate in a public place for the purpose of prostitution, keep a common bawdy house or brothel, and for pimps to make a living from the earnings of prostitutes.


© The Vancouver Sun
www.vancouversun.com/news/Federal+allow ... z1II9lIuAR

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Streit um die Reform der prostitutionsfeindlichen Gesetze:

Sind die Sexworker selbst schuld, wenn sie Probleme im Sexwork z.B. mit Gewalt bekommen. Sie hätten ja nicht der Prostitution nachzugehen brauchen?



Das urspüngliche Pro-Sexwork Urteil (s.o.):

Justice Susan Himel said the laws were contributing to the danger faced by prostitutes and violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by forcing prostitutes to choose between their liberty and their security.



Jetzt behauptet die prostitutionsfeindliche Regierung die Sexworker sind selbst schuld:

But now, the federal government said Himel erred in assuming that Parliament has an obligation to "minimize hindrances and maximize safety" for people in such activities.

"It is the practice of prostitution in any venue, exacerbated [verschärft] by efforts to avoid the law that is the source of the risk of harm to prostitutes," government lawyer Michael Morris wrote. "Prostitution is not a fundamental life choice; it is an economic activity that carries high risks for all those who engage in it."



Der Sexworker Anwalt entgegnet:

"that argument from the government "embraces a 'blaming the victim' perspective."

"To suggest that this claim is built upon the notion that there is an entitlement to engage in prostitution free from state interference trivializes the serious nature of the rights-claim being advanced," lawyer Alan Young wrote. "This is a case in which state action, a legislative enactment, plays a critical role in the perpetuation of violence by imposing a blanket prohibition on conduct which can serve to enhance the safety of sex workers."

... Young stressed that he is not questioning Parliament's authority to regulate or prohibit the sex trade, rather the case is about questioning the "rationality of the means chosen by Parliament to achieve its stated objectives."

"In the pursuit of its legitimate objectives, Parliament has created a legislative regime that, on its face, is irrational and inconsistent, and which in its effects contributes to an increased risk of significant physical harm for those who attempt to comply with its contradictory demands."

...

Wer hat das Recht gegen mise Gesetze zu klagen?

Nur jemand, der von den Gesetzen schon schuldig gesprochen wurde oder auch einer der das bisher verhindern konnte?

The federal government argued she shouldn't have the right to challenge the laws because she's currently not facing any charges.

...

Vollständige Nachricht:
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