Guide’s aim to keep sex workers safe
Police and the Prostitutes’ Collective have teamed up in a world-first partnership to create a guide for sex workers who have experienced sexual assault.
A 41-page pamphlet on care, support networks and how to report sexual assault to police, was released yesterday in Wellington, on the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.
Detective Senior Sergeant Haley Ryan said the idea came about after an incident in the Hutt Valley involving a sex worker being attacked in her home.
Wellington District Commander Sam Hoyle said assault was a very real risk for people working in the sex industry.
“Everybody has the right to be safe and feel safe at work, whatever you do . . . it’s a basic tenet of human rights.”
Police had a role to play in helping those who work in the sex industry to feel supported in coming forward — it could be seen as a “big scary system” from the outside, he said.
Dame Catherine Healy, the Prostitutes’ Collective National Coordinator, said sex workers often worried about whether to report sexual violence and assault.
“It’s always a moment where you have to assess a lot of risks that other people don’t have to necessarily.
“It’s to do with stigma: Will I be judged as a sex worker? Will I be told off for putting myself at risk? All of those stand as a barrier for coming forward.”
Healy said the partnership meant a lot to sex workers and also sent a message internationally that New Zealand supports the human rights of sex workers.
She said it was a “unique” cobranding of the two organisations and it would be a world first.
The pamphlet will be available across the country and online.