GAATW-IS statement on Amnesty International’s policy on sex work
28 May 2016
The International Secretariat of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women welcomes Amnesty International’s ‘Policy on State Obligations to Respect, Protect and Fulfil the Human Rights of Sex Workers’, developed after two years of in-depth research and consultations with sex workers and various other stakeholders.
GAATW was launched over twenty years ago in order to challenge the dominant discourse on trafficking as occurring exclusively in the sex industry and of the women in the sex industry as pitiful victims of exploitation. As feminists, we have stood in solidarity with women in both the formal and informal economy, including the sex industry, and have maintained that even in the most difficult situations, women demonstrate extraordinary power, agency and resilience. Sex workers’ struggle for rights is the same struggle as that of women, migrants and workers around the world.
Migration bans do not protect the rights of women, only push them into taking more risky options
Statement by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women on the occasion of International Women’s Day
Stringent border control has often been used as a measure to stop human trafficking and members of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) have raised their voices against such misguided, ineffective and discriminatory measures.
Today, on International Women’s Day, GAATW is calling for an end to restrictions placed on migration of women domestic workers in some parts of the world! These bans have been justified as a way to prevent trafficking, exploitation and abuse. Not surprisingly, such policies have made women vulnerable to abuse rather than making their migration safe. Instead, states need to empower women to exercise their rights by focusing on non-discrimination, access to education and training, protection of their citizens abroad and creation of more safe and legal migration opportunities.
Landmark legislation on human trafficking adopted 15 years ago, but harmful anti-trafficking laws and practices persist and are set to continue – GAATW says
Embargoed until 03:00 GMT, Wednesday 15 April 2015
15th Anniversary of the UN Trafficking Protocol
The UN Trafficking Protocol is praised as landmark international legislation against human trafficking, however 15 years after its adoption trafficked persons have seen little benefit and in some countries national laws cause more harm than good – says the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) on the launch of the Anti-Trafficking Review, issue 4.
The new issue of the Anti-Trafficking Review looks at the impact of the Trafficking Protocol (in full: Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children) and questions whether the 15th anniversary is a time to celebrate progress in anti-trafficking or address the problems it has caused.
GAATW at the 59th Commission on the Status of Women: Advocating for the labour rights of migrant women
2015 is a critical year for advocacy on women's human rights. We are marking the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), and later in the year we expect to see the adoption of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, replacing the Millennium Development Goals.
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) will attend the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) starting this week at the United Nations in New York. The CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. This year, UN Member States, UN entities and civil society organisations from around the world will gather at the CSW as part of the review of the BPfA.
Governments must protect the rights of South-Asian domestic workers migrating to the Middle East, says GAATW on International Migrants Day.
On International Migrants Day, Jebli Shrestha, GAATW's Programme Officer - Research, speaks out against the restrictive migration polices of countries of origin in South Asia and calls on governments to protect domestic workers' rights.
Migration for work has numerous benefits. Migrants fill labour force gaps in destination countries; countries of origin earn foreign currency; while workers gain personal development together with economic agency. However, migration policies of both destination and countries of origin, especially for domestic workers, are not centred on the rights of migrant workers. Instead they provide inadequate rights protection and deny further development opportunities for workers.
Holding back progress: The barriers to ending trafficking in persons
On Human Rights Day, a global alliance of migrant rights and anti-trafficking organisations names the top three human rights setbacks over the last twenty years
Lack of national laws and implementation of existing laws; the conflation of sex work and trafficking; and growing right-wing and anti-migrant movements have posed the biggest challenges to the realisation of human rights for migrant and trafficked women over the last two decades, says the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) on Human Rights Day.
Asia-Pacific governments must address gaps in global policy framework on gender equality and women’s human rights, say 400 women activists from across the region
More than 400 women activists from the Asia-Pacific region call on governments to meet their obligations to uphold women's human rights this week, ahead of an intergovernmental meeting on gender equality convened by UN ESCAP in Bangkok, Thailand.
The collective statement comes from the Asia Pacific Civil Society Forum on Beijing+20, which from 14-16 November brought together feminist women activists to discuss and put together recommendations for the 20-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA). The BPfA is a global policy framework for the advancement of women's human rights and gender equality, and is currently undergoing review by States in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the framework next year.
Super Bowl? Or Super Hyperbole?
Around this time every year we notice a spike in press coverage, especially in US media, about a projected rise in trafficking for sex in whichever US state is hosting the Super Bowl. It is an idea that is used to frame prostitution abolitionist and/or anti-migrant sentiments in a more humanitarian form. This moral panic starts over a year in advance of the event: the first story we noticed for the 2014 Super Bowl in New Jersey was published back in August 2012.
GAATW’s 2011 report, What’s the Cost of a Rumour? A guide to sorting out the myths and the facts about sporting events and trafficking, critically analysed this manufactured media hype about the role of international sporting events in creating a “demand” for trafficked women and children. Although this always generates a lot of media attention, action by anti-prostitution groups and law enforcement, and funding for anti-trafficking activities by state actors and NGOs, there is no evidence to support the claim. Subsequent research on more recent sporting events has confirmed this finding, for example here, here and here.