A host of human rights enjoys supporting a reform in prostitution laws have justified a stance in favour of giving sex workers “agency” through rights and protection with laws that take harsher action against pimps.
The coalition of LGBTIQ+ NGOs Gay rights NGOs MGRM and ARC, as well the Aditus Foundation, are taking a nuanced stance on prostitution reform advanced by the Labour government, suggesting that sex work should not be exclusively conflated with sex trafficking.
They also called out the lack of consultation with sex workers in the reform, arguing that criminalising sex buying would force sex workers to work underground, opening them to further opportunities for violence.