SAY 'NO' TO THE DEVASTATING EFFECTS OF FULLY DECRIMINALISING PROSTITUTION
Dear CFJ Supporter,
This week we are focusing on the South African Law Reform Commission's (SALRC) Report on Adult Prostitution which was released 2017. This very comprehensive and authoritative report was published after 15 years of investigating the system of prostitution – with the SALRC coming to the unequivocal conclusion that prostitution should not be fully decriminalised!
The legal status of prostitution has far-reaching implications not only for persons in prostitution but for society as well: from families to communities to businesses. South Africans need to understand what the available policy options are – including the pros and cons of each – to make an informed decision about what is best for persons in prostitution and for society in general.
Stand with us for human dignity and against sexual exploitation by signing the Petition against the Full Decriminalisation of Prostitution.
The South African Law Reform Commission's Report on Adult Prostitution
The SALRC is tasked with continuously renewing and improving South African law. This specialist advisory body thoroughly investigates matters approved by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, providing government with well-researched reports which contain sound recommendations for law and policy reforms.
After conducting a broad public consultative process and considering both local and international law and research – including how to apply this knowledge to the unique South African context – the SALRC released its extensive Report on Adult Prostitution.
The Commission’s authoritative findings form a critical component of the prostitution law reform debate. It should only be departed from in the most exceptional of circumstances.
Stand with us and make your voice heard! Join us and say NO to legalised sexual exploitation, brothel-keeping and pimping in South Africa! We can’t do it without YOU!
Stand with us FOR HUMAN DIGNITY and AGAINST EXPLOITATION
The Report explores the need to reform adult prostitution law in the context of the complex socio-economic reality faced by many South Africans. It discusses the legal position, and makes legislative and policy recommendations, in respect of:
1. People who offer sexual services for payment (prostitutes)
The Report affirms the Constitutional Court’s insightful findings regarding the fundamental dignity of the human body, in the matter of S v Jordan. In this landmark decision, South Africa’s highest court confirmed:
The human body is not something to be commodified (the Constitution requires the human body to be respected).
The very nature of prostitution is the commodification of the human body (and thus devalues the respect that the Constitution regards as inherent in the human body).
It’s the very character of prostitution itself that diminishes the dignity of prostitutes.
The implication is: that laws that criminalise acts of prostitution do not violate the human dignity of persons in prostitution – prostitution itself is the real violation of human dignity.
2. People who pay for sexual services (buyers)
The Commission recognises that criminalising buyers is necessary to address the economic and sexual inequality of persons in prostitution: it sends a clear message that buying sexual services, which are provided largely as result of a person in prostitution’s socio-economic vulnerability and marginalisation, is exploitative – and therefore should be illegal.
3. So-called ‘third parties’ (those who profit or benefit from, or facilitate, the prostitution of others).
There is no defending legitimising the exploitation of others. The sex industry cannot be left to self-regulate – or worse, unregulated. Its associated harms – systematic abuse, violence and exploitation – are endemic and its links to other criminal activities, widely documented.
We can’t afford to deny the truth
The truth is that prostitution is in itself a gross violation of human dignity and is inherently exploitative. It exploits the vulnerability of those who are desperate and socio-economically marginalised. It turns women into merchandise and entraps them in servitude to a system built on and perpetuated by gender inequality.
THE ONLY TWO RECOMMENDED OPTIONS
The Commission recommends only two options (and full decriminalisation is not one).
Total criminalisation coupled with diversion (preferred option): Its primary recommendation is that prostitution and all prostitution-related activities remain fully criminalised while providing prostituted persons with options to divert out of (or ‘exit’) prostitution through access to supportive resources and systems that address vulnerability and marginalisation through skilling and education – rather than facing prosecution and imprisonment. The successful diversion includes the expungement of a criminal record as far as prostitution-related activities are concerned.
Partial criminalisation (alternative option): Its secondary recommendation, which recognises that most prostituted persons are victims of sexual exploitation and extreme socio-economic vulnerability, is ‘partial decriminalisation’ (also known as ‘the Nordic’ or the so-called ‘Equality Model’). This entails decriminalising the conduct (i.e. the acts of prostitution) of prostituted persons only, while the acts of buyers and third parties remain criminalised.
The only way to stop the abuse and exploitation experienced by prostituted persons is by eradicating the system of prostitution. This means that full decriminalisation is simply not an option. This is exactly what the South African Law Reform Commission found after thorough and wide-ranging research and public consultation project spanning thirteen years.
The findings and recommendations of the Report on Adult Prostitution are insightful – and the South African government (and public) would be wise to heed them.
We know that the harms inherent to the system of prostitution cannot be done away with without abolishing the system as a whole. Sign the petition to stand for human dignity and against sexual exploitation. Yours in Justice, Ryan and the CFJ team
