Decrim now world news digest for May 2025

New research states work ban is forcing 10% of UK female asylum seekers into sex work

United Kingdom, London

May 7, 2025

Women who have fled war are being forced into sex work in the UK because of the extreme poverty of their living conditions here, while almost half cannot afford sanitary products, according to research.

In a report looking at the impact of the Home Office’s near-total ban on employment for people seeking asylum, the charity Women for Refugee Women has found that 10% of women interviewed have been forced into sex work in order to survive, in many cases to feed their children, while 38% were forced into abusive relationships or situations. Almost half could not afford basics like sanitary products and about 80% could not afford clothes, public transport or phone credit.

It is the first research that specifically looks at the impact of the work ban on women.

Women make up about a fifth of adults seeking asylum in the UK, and at least two-thirds have experienced rape or other gender-based violence in their home countries.

The report, Safety and Survival: How the Work Ban Fuels Violence Against Women Seeking Asylum, interviewed 117 women from 33 different countries about the impact on them of the government’s ban on working, which affects most asylum seekers.

Ministers have resisted calls to allow people seeking asylum to work if their claims have not been processed within six months, for fears this would create a “pull factor” to the UK.

About 98% of interviewees said they wanted to work and contribute to society. Asylum support levels are now £49.18 a week for those in shared housing or £8.86 a week for people in hotels.

Source theguardian.com

New Orleans City Council passes law to protect sex workers from arrest, prosecution at local level

USA, New Orleans

May 8, 2025

The New Orleans City Council approved an ordinance on Thursday (May 8) that will protect sex workers from arrest and prosecution for prostitution when they have reported crimes committed against them while working.

All six members present at the council meeting voted in favor of the proposed ordinance. District C Representative Freddie King wasn’t present, but voted to recommend passage during a council committee hearing last week. The ordinance now goes to Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s desk to be signed into law.

The ordinance codifies into city law an existing New Orleans Police Department policy that discourages officers from arresting sex workers for prostitution if they are victims or witnesses to a crime, with the hope that they would then cooperate with investigations without fear arrest. During last week’s meeting, Councilmember Helena Moreno said the ordinance was drafted with the input of the NOPD and the Orleans Parish Defense Attorney’s office.

The Trans Income Project, a community support group for trans people in Louisiana, led the push for the proposed new law. Natalie Rupp, the group’s executive director, said the change would benefit trans people, many of whom report having worked in the sex industry at some point in their lives, according to surveys.

“This bill will provide a great needed legal cover for trans folk and for sex workers particularly when dealing with the carceral system and the criminal justice system,” Rupp said.

Along with protecting sex workers who have reported crimes, a provision in the ordinance will also place restrictions on how police can investigate sex workers, regardless of whether they have identified themselves as a crime victim or witness. Titled the “Right to Safe Sex,” the provision prevents law enforcement from using the possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution. A survey by Human Rights Watch found that half of interviewed sex workers carry fewer condoms on them than they would prefer in fear of negative interactions with the police, causing public health concerns.

Now that the proposal has made it through the New Orleans City Council, Rupp said that the Trans Income Project plans on pushing other local governments to adopt it.

“This bill is a wonderful step for the city of New Orleans to take, but of course, we are only about to do so much with the pressure of the state,” Rupp said. “It is our hope that we can then take this bill as a piece of model legislation and bring it to other cities in Louisiana and help extend similar levels of protection across the state.”

On the photo Attorney Lauren Hall (left), an attorney and co-founder of Below Sea Level Aid, and Natalie Rupp, the executive director of the Trans Income Project, sit in City Council chambers during a May 8, 2025 council meeting.

Source wwno.org

Is Buying OnlyFans Content Now Illegal in Sweden?

Sweden, Stockholm

May 20, 2025

Swedish authorities have voted to criminalize the purchase of remote sexual services—things like paying someone for pictures and videos through platforms such as OnlyFans or paying someone for a live erotic webcam show.

"Sweden says this model ’decriminalises the seller.’ But when you criminalise the buyer, you destroy the income, safety, and autonomy of the person selling," the European Sex Workers Rights’ Alliance (ESWA) posted on X. "The same thing happens online. This will push workers further into the shadows, not protect them."

Under a proposal adopted by the Swedish Parliament on May 20, working for an online sex business (such as a webcamming platform) or selling sexy pics directly to online customers will still be legal. But patronizing such businesses and individuals will not.

The new scheme rechristens the crime of purchasing sexual services to purchasing a sexual act and expands the prohibition against it to include acts carried out remotely and without physical contact.

In analyzing the new proposal, authorities make a distinction between purchasing pornography generally and purchasing online sexual content or performances in a way that induces someone to undertake or tolerate a sex act or allows the buyer to participate. So the new plan would not strictly ban the sale of pornographic images or videos in Sweden. But it’s unclear where and how exactly lines would be drawn and seems destined to have the most disruptive effect on the direct-to-consumer sales model that tends to benefit individual sex workers rather than porn or tech companies.

The new plan also covers procuring, which is currently illegal if there is physical contact between buyer and provider. This, too, will now include acts carried out remotely—and could render any website or entity that brokers the provision of erotic webcam shows or direct-to-consumer porn sales guilty of the crime of procuring a sex act.

Source reason.com

Sex workers still facing barriers to bank accounts and insurance in Netherlands

Netherlands, Den Haag

May 26, 2025

Sex workers are still struggling to gain access to bank accounts and insurance despite promises from banks to make the process easier.

Insurance firm Nationale Nederlanden (NN) agreed at the start of last year to accept applications for personal liability insurance and contents insurance from sex workers.

But the firm told nu.nl it had agreed fewer than 10 contracts for liability insurance for the sector in the last 16 months and none at all for contents insurance.

Opening business bank accounts and taking out insurance are seen as important steps towards removing the stigma from sex work and making practitioners less vulnerable to exploitation.

But Irina Hornstra, of the sex workers’ alliance Sekswerk Alliantie Destigmatisering (SWAD), said banks were continuing to put barriers in the way by making demands that do not apply to other sectors.

“They ask sex workers for a licence, knowing that they won’t get one. For sex workers it’s a very expensive and risky process.”

Hornstra said sex workers’ reluctance to take out insurance could be linked to the requirement to complete the application process online. “The digital route doesn’t work for sex workers, so they need to make contact in person,” she said.

Some municipalities no longer require sex workers to have a licence to ply their trade from home, but in places where licences are required numbers are limited or conditions are attached, such as an obligation to have a fire exit.

Sex workers also worried they could be evicted if the council tells their landlord that they have requested a licence.

Business bank accounts are still difficult to obtain, despite an agreement in 2023 that banks would ask fewer questions if sex workers were able to show they were keeping administrative records and paying VAT, and were registered with the chamber of commerce (KVK).

“Banks are closing off the entry route to providing a regular service in society,” Hornstra said.

Source dutchnews.nl