Read on Twitter
Today, the Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Act (HR4326) goes to markup. 4326 requires countries report on end demand for commercial sex, ( @Wagner doesnt care about #trafficking – just commercial sex. How do I know? I read the bill) in the TIP report https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4326?s=1&r=4 (1/16
Markup in Committee is the next step in the leg process post intro. RN it’s in the Foreign Affair Cmte. Today they review/edit, then it'll move to the full House. Bills don’t go to markup unless they’re already negotiated, so its a done deal & the next step is a full vote (2/16)
If you want to see a boring but really helpful video on the Committee process, including markup, I watched this yesterday to be sure: https://www.congress.gov/legislative-process/committee-consideration (3/16)
If instead you watch this: you'd have as much impact on anti-trafficking as the bill.
And if anyone can find that "Your Roommate Plays the Indigo Girls" vid, I'm still looking. I have to explain to someone "being queer in college." (4/16)
And if anyone can find that "Your Roommate Plays the Indigo Girls" vid, I'm still looking. I have to explain to someone "being queer in college." (4/16)
The TIP Report is the annual report from the state department which “ranks” countries on how well they’re doing fighting trafficking. It is highly focused on prosecution, laws & has been increasingly challenged for how politicized it’s gotten. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-humantrafficking-disputes-special/special-report-state-department-watered-down-human-trafficking-report-idUSKCN0Q821Y20150804 (5/16)
This last year, It was so bad that even US-based anti-trafficking orgs who run the gamut on their stance on sex work were critical of giving the US a ranking in the top tier. https://endslaveryandtrafficking.org/atest-challenges-tier-1-ranking-for-u-s-in-2020-tip-report/ (6/16)
But the Report *does* have an impact on countries who are looking to increase criminalization/prosecution to bump numbers and curry favor w the US – often in a way which harms #sexworkers abroad, from @GlobalSexWork: https://www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/files/impact_of_anti-trafficking_laws_pb_nswp_-_2018.pdf (7/16)
And we know the impact that #EndDemand has had abroad– Canada found that after their law passed “there was a 41% reduction in access to health services & a 21% reduction in access to community-led services under PCEPA (2015-18) vs before (2010-13)” https://pacificaidsnetwork.org/2019/12/16/cgshe-report-cdn-law-and-sex-work/ (8/16)
Or an increase in violence, as they found in Ireland, where “56.7% of sex workers surveyed felt that the law had made sex work more dangerous” https://www.swarmcollective.org/blog/2019/9/20/nordic-model-in-northern-ireland-a-total-failure-no-decrease-in-sex-work-but-increases-in-violence-and-stigma (9/16)
But if you care at all about #trafficking – here’s the other part of this bullshit to remember and why you need to be against this bill: Turning the TIP report into a political ranking of who’s most whorephobic waters down any potential good. (10/16)
The narrative of the TIP report has often lifted issues like workers’ rights, poverty, migration. This last one talked about the nuanced understanding of trauma-bonding and the vulnerability of substance users to exploitation and trafficking. (11/16)
The TIP Report *could* be a global look at how precarious work, industries w unique cross-border vulnerabilities to exploitation. But instead, HR4326 makes the TIP Report basically lost potential bc @RepAnnWagner didn't do anything of value to run on (12/16
In particular, the impact of COVID on migration patterns, financial security of precarious workers, the climate crisis's impact on environmentally-forced migration... and you're asking for info on... john stings? Really? Not even trafficking... https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/stuck-greek-hotspot-when-getting-out-more-important-where-go-next/ (13/16)
When instead the report could be highlighting things like how the Department of Labor yesterday added fish from Taiwanese vessels to its list of products made w forced labor. (14/16) https://twitter.com/HTLegalCenter/status/1311348346804736000?s=20
Anyway. HR4326 is going to markup today. Pushing back on this is a way that we can show up for #sexworkers abroad. Will be trying to get more info on the TIP report in the coming months, including ways to submit info, which can be done by anyone. (15/16) https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4326?s=1&r=4
And just for some of the places that I follow to hear about the incredible work happening abroad, I love (16/16) @GlobalSexWork @GAATW_IS @apnsw @SweatTweets @SexWorkHive @MigrantSexWork @ButterflyCSW @AfricaSexWork @Sisonke_ZA @scarletalliance
