JCWI stands in complete solidarity with all workers, and is committed to a world in which everyone can make the choice to work safely and with dignity – and that includes sex workers.

We are unequivocal in our support for everyone who does sex work. We know that migrant sex workers – particularly those who are undocumented, trans and people of colour – are at the sharpest end of multiple forms of violence, including from  perpetrators, the state and borders.

Increasing the criminalisation of sex work puts people at greater risk of police brutality, raids on their workplace, and in the case of migrant sex workers, of being picked up by Immigration Enforcement and facing detention and deportation.

Modern Slavery legislation and border policing are often used as a pretext for violent raids on brothels and other workplaces used by sex workers – but too often, workers aren’t offered protection, and are instead targeted by the Home Office for deportation.

We are calling for changes that would bring about a world in which everyone – including those currently made most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse – is able to assert their rights and has full protection under the law, so they can live and work safely in our communities.

We are calling for work to be decriminalised for all workers, by abolishing the ‘illegal working’ offence. The vast majority of us must work to support ourselves and our families, regardless of immigration status. Making sure that everyone, including undocumented migrants, can work without facing a criminal penalty for doing so is the only way to ensure that people can earn a living safely, instead of empowering exploitative bosses.

Likewise, decriminalising sex work is the only way to make sure that people working in the sex industry can safely provide for themselves and their families, and have more power to stand up to abusive clients, managers, police and landlords.

By both decriminalising sex work and abolishing the ‘illegal working’ offence so that everyone has the right to work, migrant sex workers could better enforce their labour rights without fear of Immigration Enforcement.

That’s why we fully support campaigns for the decriminalisation of sex work – because none of us can be free until everybody is free.