Legal brothel no solution to Olympic sex-trafficking say women’s groups in Canada

5 June 2008 in North America, Prostitution, Trafficking, Women's Group

Thousands of sex-trade workers will be trafficked into Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics, and so British Columbia must take action now to halt an increase in sex tourism, a group of international transition-house workers warned.

The group, in Vancouver for a conference, is calling on governments to provide more support for women working the streets – which does not include a fledgling initiative to create a legal brothel in time for the Winter Games.

Suzanne Koepplinger, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, said there is anecdotal evidence from social service agencies in Salt Lake City that many sex-trade workers were imported into Utah for the 2006 Winter Olympics, and that similar observations were made during the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany.

“We really are all at the front end of an issue that we have the opportunity to make a difference in,” she said at a news conference organized by Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter.

Marai Larasi, chief executive of London’s Nia Project, which advocates for the safety of women and children, said British social service agencies are already discussing how to protect sex-trade workers during that city’s 2012 Summer Games.

But she said legalizing prostitution is not being discussed.

In Vancouver, a sex-trade workers’ co-operative led by advocate Susan Davis is developing plans for several arts and business initiatives, including the opening of a legal brothel by 2010.

Davis argued there is proof in a recent report from New Zealand that brothels are safer for women than the streets.

“We need to try something new. It’s been 100 years and it just isn’t working,” she said of Vancouver’s sex trade.

However, before a brothel can become a reality, the co-operative must first convince the federal government to grant it amnesty from Criminal Code provisions governing adult prostitution.

The federal Conservatives haven’t warmed to the idea, but Davis is working with NDP member of Parliament Libby Davies on some possible solutions.

“They are trying to develop something that they believe will create a much safer environment that they will control,” said Davies, who participated in a parliamentary committee studying prostitution laws.

“No one is talking about legalization. No one is talking about setting up some sort of state-sanctioned commercialized sex trade.”

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=74ba8264-c347-4511-9568-46359375f446