Policing Race, Gender & Sex Work Learn about impacts of sex work criminalization on Black sex workers, and the ways in which advocates pushback against the erasure & racialized, gendered policing of sex work through court challenges, organizing, and community care.

This briefing provides an overview of recent constitutional challenges to the federal sex work laws under the Charter. Second, it provides an outline of the legal basis for asserting bodily autonomy, health, safety and equality rights for sex workers. Our focus for the purpose of this brief is on Charter laws under sections 2(b) & (d), 7 and 15, although violations of sex workers' rights under sections 8 (unreasonable search and seizure), 9 (arbitrary detention), and 12 (cruel and unusual punishment), are certainly ripe areas for further exploration.

On January 30th 2024, Pivot prepared brief written submissions to the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls (“VAWG”) for its Report to the UN Human Rights Council on Prostitution and VAWG.

On May 5th 2023, Pivot, alongside PACE Society, submitted a written brief to House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women re: its study on human trafficking What we know? The harms that flow from police-led anti-trafficking efforts have detrimental impacts incl. increased criminalization for sex workers and migrant communities with intersecting identities, shaped by race, gender, disability, and citizenship status. For instance, sex work prohibitions, exacerbate barriers to status for migrant workers, which puts already criminalized, migrant communities at risk of various abuses and systemic oppression such as heightened surveillance, detention, arrest, and deportation.

A human rights-based, intersectional approach to sex work advocacy is an invitation to rethink the ways in which we approach systemic advocacy that supports the rights of sex workers. This will necessarily involve recentering the lived experiences and voices of sex workers, particularly Black, Indigenous and Asian migrant sex worker communities whose work is traditionally erased from public and organizing around sex workers’ rights. Stay tuned for ways to get involved in our upcoming human rights work!

Simone joined Pivot in November 2022.

The Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights recently released their report following a review process on the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) which are the laws governing sex work in Canada. Over 50 witnesses testified and the government received 72 briefs from interested parties. The report contains some very positive recommendations including repealing two provisions of the PCEPA as well as Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations that prohibit migrants from working in the sex industry. These recommendations are contrasted by some that seek to increase criminalization as it relates to exploitation and human trafficking. Read more by Kerry Porth - Pivot's Sex Work Policy Consultant #SexWorkIsWork #DecriminalizeSexWork

Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) harms sex workers; the people it claims to protect. Pivot and PACE Society wrote to the Standing Committee and will be presenting today calling for a repeal to laws that criminalize sex workers.