Prostitution is currently illegal in Ukraine, however sex workers are calling for the government to follow Amnesty International’s lead and decriminalize the industry, reports Kyiv Post.
Natalia Isayeva, a former prostitute, now runs the charity Legalife-Ukraine, which helps sex workers protect their rights. She argues that most people turn to prostitution as a way to make ends meet, citing the war ravaged economy.
Image Credit: Sascha Kohlmann (Flickr)
Although Isayeva has left sex work behind her, she says that were anything to happen to her family or she was in financial strife, she would consider going back to her old life.
“It’s not a business, it’s not commerce, it’s just a matter of survival. We have to stop penalizing it,” she says.
If her words sound familiar this is because they are. Debates on the topic have been rife in recent weeks, with both celebration and outrage resulting in Amnesty International’s vote taken on August 11th. Delegates from around the world gathered in Dublin to have their say on whether to “develop a policy that supports the full decriminalization of all aspects of consensual sex work.”
The vote supported decriminalization.
Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said:
“Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the world, who in most instances face the constant risk of discrimination, violence and abuse […] Our global movement has paved the way for adopting a policy for the protection of the human rights of sex workers that will help shape Amnesty International’s future work on this important issue.”
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Executive director of another NGO protecting sex workers rights, Olena Tsukerman, says that the number of people paying for sex has been increasing recently in Ukraine.
According to unofficial statistics, there were 90,000 sex workers in Ukraine two years ago, now the number is 100,000 or more. She says this is due to the country’s economic situation.
“It’s rare for migrants (from the war-torn Donbas) to easily find a job in a city in which they’ve come to live temporarily, and this makes it more likely that they’ll get involved in sex work […] These people didn’t plan to do it – it wasn’t their first choice.”
Unfortunately, she says, most people who get involved are not aware of the dangers or have knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases.
“It takes a lot of effort for us to inform these people, so that they can make this decision consciously,” Tsukerman says. “We want them to understand that sex work isn’t legal in this country, that they’re vulnerable to violence and abuse, and getting infected with diseases, as many clients don’t want to use condoms, while more than 90 percent of sex workers do.”
Both Isayeva and Tsukerman say that although disease and potential attack from customers is a daily concern, with prostitution against the law, sex workers also have to fear police – if caught they will may issued with a fine, and if attacked, police respond with the attitude, “Go away – you’re a prostitute, it’s your own fault.”
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