By Avashnee Moodley, The Citizen Online

Major gender equality organisations are calling for sex work to be legalised. The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) and Cosatu’s national gender committee have called for legislative changes for sex workers. Prostitution is illegal in South Africa and has been so since 1957.

Several organisations have over the years attacked this legislation as oppressive and are advocating the decriminalisation of sex work.

The SA Law Reform Commission (SALRC) recently initiated legislative reform of the legal system with regard to sex work. CGE commissioner Janine Hicks said it was conclusive that the criminalisation of sex workers was not working.

“It is causing more violations of human rights with police officers being the main culprits. This is through bribery, asking for sexual favours and assault,” she said.

Hicks said they were looking at other countries’ approaches.

“Sweden is one of those countries that’s taken a different approach to the criminalisation of sex workers. It is the first country to criminalise the buyers of sex rather than sex workers.”

[This news article was sourced from The Citizen Online: Call to decriminalise sex work in SA]