Human Trafficking Search
“someone can be a sex worker and a survivor of trafficking,” just like a fruit picker or seamstress. “But when we’re talking about adult, consensual sex work- it doesn’t have anything to do with force or coercion,” Thompson affirms. When adequate safety measures are in place, Bruce adds “sex work can be an affirming and empowering choice” for some individuals.Spectrum News NY1
“The criminalization of sex work is what makes it dangerous." said Mariah Grant, director of research, organizing and advocacy for the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center. "It makes it so that people can’t operate freely, that they can’t go to the police and feel comfortable expressing that they’ve seen abuse happening or experienced it themselves because they’d be fearful of arrest."Decriminalizing sex work would allow for the creation of safety regulations to protect both sex workers and buyers from exploitation. If decriminalized, sex workers could safely report incidents of violence and sexual assault without fear of entering the criminal justice system themselves.
PROPnyc
Daily Beast
On Jan. 25, 1917, sex workers in San Francisco marched to the Central Methodist Church to meet with Rev. Paul Smith, who had organized a campaign to rid and protect the city from vice. This was the first sex worker-led protest in the U.S.Detroit Free Press
"This is a really wonderful thing that other jurisdictions should duplicate because across the country, Black folks ... and also trans and cisgender women all bear the disproportionate burden of criminalization," said RJ Thompson, a sex worker who is managing director of the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center, a national legal services and advocacy group.The Nation
“A lot of black cis women, gender-nonconforming people and trans women just don’t know that it’s possible for a black woman to sit in such a high position.” But Bruce adds that “there’s some challenges because historically, we know that she hasn’t been supportive of trans women in particular, and also not supportive of sex workers. I just feel like for us to see positive change in our communities, we need to see her also change.”The Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center condemns the arrest and detainment of sex workers, including individuals potentially experiencing trafficking, as part of Operation Autumn Hope.
Daily Kos
“The victim narrative and rescue mentality that most Democrats take around sex work is not helpful,” said RJ Thompson, a human rights lawyer, longtime sex worker, and director of the Sex Workers Project. “We do not need to be rescued, we need our human rights protected.”SWRF has made a generous donation of $1.2 million to SWP to significantly increase SWP’s capacity, size, scope, and impact. With this gift, SWP is able to hire a Director of Communications, Director of Development, Director of Research, Organizing, and Advocacy, and an Associate Director for State and Local Campaigns, as well as locally based organizing consultants. While continuing to focus on legislative efforts in New York, SWP will also focus on building a statewide campaign in Oregon to decriminalize and destigmatize sex work, partnering with SWR and other national, statewide, and local human rights organizations through 2020 and beyond.
The Minnesota Daily
Testimonies from New York to Los Angeles tell the same story: officers aren’t above privacy violations, enforced acts of public nudity and inappropriate physical contact. The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center in New York City found that 17% of sex workers had been sexually harassed, abused or even raped by police officers.© 2023 Urban Justice Center | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
