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TAMPEP Position Paper on Migration and Sex Work. Rethinking the Paradigm of MIgration and Prostitution

Document number
1628
Date
Undated
Title
TAMPEP Position Paper on Migration and Sex Work. Rethinking the Paradigm of MIgration and Prostitution
Author/publisher
Transnational AIDS/STD prevention among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe Project (TAMPEP)
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Guidelines/Recommendations, Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Informal sector, Labour exploitation, Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour; Women's rights; Women; Control and regulation of prostitution, Protection, Punishable forms of prostitution, Corporate social responsibility, Multi-stakeholder partnerships: Prostitution; Sex work; Clients, Abolitionism; New Abolitionism; Prohibitionism; Regulationism,
Summary
The lack of social and economic opportunities in economically deprived countries has remained the primary cause of migration and since the 70s there has been significant increases in the number of women who migrate alone in search of new prospects for their own survival and to sustain their families in their countries of origin. The global trend of poverty amongst women has directly affected the "feminisation of migration". Experience has taught us that an approach that operates solely within the framework of "illegal migration", offers no contribution to humanitarian responses to the situation of migrant and trafficked sex workers. Such approaches have resulted in the increased vulnerability of both migrant and trafficked sex workers. In many Western European countries, female migrant sex workers constitute a significant percentage, in some cases as high as 70%, of the country's sex workers, however, the current legislative frameworks and health and social care services are too narrow and restrictive to respond to this new reality. The undeniable presence of migrant female sex workers, including transgender sex workers, in Western Europe requires a transformation in the thinking around women’s migration, which is inclusive of migrant sex workers and considers them as part of labour migration of women rather than thinking of all migrant sex workers as victims of trafficking and sexual slavery.
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