UN rights experts deliver misleading assurances regarding prostitution

UN rights experts deliver misleading assurances regarding prostitution

Opinion by Taina Bien-Aimé

Mar 13, 2024

Last year, the United Nations working group on discrimination against women and girls released a paper that not only overlooks the pervasive human rights violations stemming from prostitution and pornography but also supports policies that pose risks to women and girls.

“Prostitution is not labor (as the term “sex work” entices us to believe), but a harmful cultural practice. Its inception parallels that of other forms of gender-based violence, such as female genital mutilation or domestic violence. It is a system that relegates women to second-class status and offers men the opportunity to purchase domination. From Bangladesh to the Netherlands, from South Africa to Colombia, and every country in between, the sex trade generates significant profits for both those who exploit women and the state.

The #MeToo movement has revealed the egregious, lifelong damage sexual harassment and sexual violence inflicts on women. However, if money is exchanged (as in the system of prostitution), our culture paints this abuse as a consenting act with no harm done.”
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