New Zealand has become a battle ground, there’s a war being fought and we’re on the front lines. It’s the war over how to manage sex work and it is brutal. On one side is the Nordic model mafia, on the other the New Zealand model cheer team. You should be able to guess which side I’m on from how I refer to the two side. Just in case anyone can’t figure it out, hand me the pompoms and sexy micro skirt so I can try out for head cheerleader. New Zealand was the first country in the world to decriminalise sex work. Next year will be the twentieth anniversary of the passing of the Prostitution Reform Act which introduced decriminalisation. So we’ve had plenty of time for things to settle down and show how decriminalisation will work in practice. I’ve actually written two other entries about how both sides are getting New Zealand’s experience wrong.
One of the claims the Nordic model make is that the PRA has led to a massive increase in human trafficking for sex work here. They say there are 2,000 trafficked workers here, many of them underage. 2,000 is about a quarter of all sex workers in New Zealand, so yes if that is true, it would be a massive problem. So is it true? The New Zealand cheer squad will say no, those 2,000 workers are not trafficked, they’re migrant workers. They came here legally on various types legitimate entry visa, but have turned to sex work for financial reasons. This is entirely true, they have all entered the country legally and they all have turned to sex work to make money, pretty much every sex worker turns to sex work to make money. The Nordic model mafia will counter no no, those visas were obtained under false pretenses, they were brought here for the sole purpose of sex work. Now we get to the part I don’t particularly like admitting. In at least some cases, this is almost certainly true. It is just not credible to claim none of those migrants are not in fact victims of human sex trafficking.
The tricky part is how many are sex trafficking victims? Sadly the answer is we have absolutely no idea. All we know for sure is not all of them have been trafficked for sex work. My gut tells me nowhere near as many as the Nordic model mafia would claim, but also nowhere near as few as I’d be comfortable admitting. Really there is no way to do better than that. You might notice, I’ve skipped the second part of the Nordic model mafia’s claim, that many of them are underage.
Underage work is not a problem with Kiwi workers. There are very stiff penalties on hiring underage workers here. A couple of brothel owners went down for it early on and the rest got the message. Why they went down is a great example of another benefit of decriminalisaton. They went down because other sex workers turned them in. But there are even harsher penalties here for human trafficking, for any kind of trafficking, and the penalties for sex trafficking are harsher still. So if a brothel owner is willing to risk the penalties for sex trafficking they are probably not going to be put off by the penalties for hiring underage workers. So yes, some of those migrant workers almost certainly are underage. Again, no way to say how many.
Why are the numbers so vague and why are migrant worker such a huge problem here? It comes down to Section 19 of the Prostitution Reform Act. This section was inserted at the last moment, very much against the wishes of the reformers. But the act was on a knife edge. One MP said she would vote no if Section 19 wasn’t included. The act passed by just one vote. Section 19 is brutal. Distilled down it says if you are in New Zealand on ANY kind of temporary visa and you’re caught engaged in sex work. your visa is instantly revoked and you’re deported. It restrict sex work here to citizens and permanent residents.
This leaves all those migrant workers utterly and completely at the mercy of the pimps and brothel owners. They step out of line, they turned in and chucked out of the country. The go to the authorities about abuse, same thing happens. And the irony here is Section 19 was justified on the grounds it would prevent sex trafficking. Turns out, it’s actually what enables it. And why is it there? It was the Nordic model mafia’s pound of flesh for getting the law passed, you know the people who now say we a sex trafficking problem. Section 19 is also why we have no idea how many are trafficked for sex or underage. They are simply terrified to say anything to anyone, even those who could help them. The brothel owners make sure they stay that way.
Of course you might ask, given being caught engaged in sex work for a migrant means deportation, why would any of them take up sex work? From what we can tell, a lot of these migrants are here on student visas. We have a lot of overseas students in New Zealand. But studying here isn’t cheap. If they lose their job, they either leave or take take desperate steps. Put bluntly, they turn to sex work out of desperation. Add Section 19 to someone forced into sex work by desperation, you have the perfect storm for abuse and exploitation. In one of those previous rants of mine I explained how after the PRA was passed, Kiwi workers voted with their feet and abandoned brothel work crushing the previous dominance of brothels in New Zealand. Most owners bowed out, but a few didn’t, the very worst of the worst from the old ‘brothel system.’ They exploited Section 19 to give them a work force they could control even more tightly than their previous Kiwi workers.
The solution is blindingly obvious, repeal Section 19 and give migrant worker the same protection Kiwi workers have. NZPC has been pushing for this ever since the PRA was passed. But there is just not the will to do it among our politicians. The PRA was a hugely controversial piece of legislation, it came so close to failing. Sex work still has one hell of a lot of stigma here even after twenty years. None of our political parties are willing to reopen that can of worms. So those migrants continue to be exploited and abused, those few rotten owners will keep exploiting Section 19 and precious little can be done about it.
If a Kiwi worker dobs one of those rotten owners in, all those migrants get deported. A lose lose situation really. Can’t inform the authorities without inflicting massive hurt on those who you’re trying to help. Can’t help them without informing the authorities. We do what we can, try to get them out of the brothels, find them other employment. Its almost funny in a way. The Nordic model mafia say we in the New Zealand model cheer team do nothing to help exploited and abused workers exit the industry. They’re particularly scathing of the NZPC, evil incarnate almost apparently. But that’s exactly what our side does. The New Zealand model cheer team actually go get their hands dirty to help the exploited the Nordic model mafia claim to care so much about. And I’ve never seen the Nordic model mafia find time in their busy schedule of moralising to lift a finger to help any one exit the industry.
Dollar Girl Diaries 