An Edinburgh charity is calling on the Scottish Government to urgently help sex workers who find themselves with no option but to keep seeing clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Edinburgh-based sex worker rights group SCOT-PEP has described how workers are being left without essential services and unable to access financial safety nets, with some even facing destitution.
In a joint statement with Glasgow group Umbrella Lane the charity said: “Many are having to continue to work, despite the risks to their health, as the alternative is catastrophic poverty.
“And despite the crisis, raids and arrests targeting sex workers continue, with people criminalised for working on the street or for sharing a flat with a friend for safety.”
While the Scottish Government has provided support for self-employed people, furloughed employees and small business owners, the charities say that sex workers, who have some of the most precarious working conditions of all, have been overlooked by the bailouts.
Cat, a sex worker and spokeswoman for SCOT-PEP, said: “It is horrific beyond belief that even amidst this crisis, sex workers are still facing criminalisation. We are calling on the Scottish Government to ensure that no sex worker will be arrested during this crisis – sex workers deserve safety and rights, not arrest.”
Umbrella Lane spokeswoman Kathryn said sex workers were facing an ‘unprecedented crisis’, adding: “COVID-19 has meant intense poverty for an already-precarious group.
“Sex workers are desperate to protect their health and everybody’s health by staying at home, but to do that they need money – they need to be safe from poverty, hunger and eviction. We are calling on the Scottish Government to intervene to help avert catastrophe.”
What are they asking for?
The statement, issued today (Wednesday April 12) has set out a list of requests including money for hardship funds and an end to police raids and arrests.
The charities said they are asking that:
- The Scottish Government make a substantial grant to sex worker emergency hardship funds, such as the one being run by Umbrella Lane, so that money can be disbursed to sex workers as soon as possible.
The Scottish Government ensures access to essential sexual and reproductive health services. Umbrella Lane and Scotpep are asking that a free, at-home testing and contraception service be rolled out in Scotland along the lines of that in place in England and Wales through (testing program) SH:24.
- The Scottish Government set up a fast-track access route to Universal Credit for sex workers while ensuring sex workers’ anonymity within the system – for instance, allowing support organisations to flag certain applications as needing priority because they come from a person within a vulnerable group, which can include involvement in sex work.
- The Scottish Government implement an immediate moratorium on raids and arrests, including an end to the criminalisation of soliciting and brothel-keeping – which is a law most often used against sex workers working together for safety.
You can find out more about the work of SCOT-PEP here: http://www.scot-pep.org.uk/
