This commentary is by Henri Binx, a co-founder and co-director of the Ishtar Collective and a member of Safe Sex Work Vermont. Vermont has an opportunity to strengthen its response to human trafficking by reforming our state’s archaic anti-prostitution laws. Vermont’s prostitution laws cr iminalize “sexual intercourse for hire” and “indiscriminate sexual intercourse without hire,” any sex outside marriage. They contribute to the stigma around sex work and reinforce the idea that it is inherently exploitative, when it is not. Trafficking involves force, fraud or coercion. Consensual adult sex work does not. When sex work is viewed as inherently exploitative, it is much harder to focus on the exploitation that defines trafficking. In July, Safe Sex Work Vermont hosted a policy briefing in Burlington with Freedom Network USA, which describes itself as the largest coalition working on human trafficking in the United States. Freedom Network USA works with trafficking survivors, service providers, researchers and advocates on policy, training and support. The briefing was co-hosted by the Vermont Workers’ Center, Vermont Harm Reduction Advocates, People’s Health and Wellness Clinic, American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, and the Vermont Association for Mental Health and Addiction Recovery. Elected officials, advocates, local anti-trafficking and domestic violence organizations and community members attended. The briefing focused on what the evidence tells us about trafficking, sex work and criminalization. Trafficking is not necessarily caused by sex work. It occurs in all labor sectors, including agriculture, restaurants, hospitality, domestic work, factories and the sex trade. Poverty, economic instability, discrimination and lack of access to basic resources make people vulnerable to trafficking. Criminalization compounds that vulnerability. When people fear arrest or prosecution, they are less likely to report violence or trafficking. Criminalization pushes sex work into more hidden conditions and creates barriers to healthcare, housing and other services. READ MORE A 2018 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health meta-analysis reviewed more than 130 studies published since 1990. The review found evidence suggesting that repressive policing is associated with increased risks of physical and sexual violence, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and sex without condoms. It also found that decriminalization improves sex workers’ ability to negotiate safer sex and access justice and other services. People who are afraid of arrest are less likely to report violence or seek help when they are being exploited. Trafficking survivors can also end up with prostitution-related criminal records, making it harder to find housing, employment and other resources they need to rebuild their lives. Freedom Network USA specifically supports decriminalization as an anti-trafficking policy. The ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the World Health Organization and the Global Network of Sex Work Projects also support the decriminalization of consensual adult sex work. Decriminalization removes criminal penalties for consensual adult sex work while maintaining criminal penalties for trafficking and other conduct involving force, fraud or coercion. Vermont has robust statutes against human trafficking and related crimes. Decriminalization would not weaken those laws. Freedom Network USA argues it would bolster Vermont’s response to trafficking by making it easier for people to seek help and allowing law enforcement to focus on conduct that causes harm. Decriminalization legislation has been introduced in both chambers of the Vermont Legislature over the past several years and has gained momentum in the past. As economic pressures increase and more Vermonters face financial insecurity, it is time to pay attention to policies that can reduce vulnerability to exploitation. Vermonters should ask their elected representatives to support decriminalization and give this legislation the serious consideration it deserves. Read the story on VTDigger here: Fight trafficking by decriminalizing consensual adult sex work. ...read more read less