by Jill Brenneman

Fighting forced human trafficking is an issue of paramount importance. There should be zero tolerance for coercion of any kind and harsh measures against those who traffic and hire coerced individuals for any reason, sex industry, migrant field workers, sweatshops,

However, the United States Government took a simplistic, moralistic approach that was more to do with shock and awe than actually rescuing anyone in the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act and worse the 2003, Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. Organizations worldwide doing outreach with both sex workers and hiv are required to sign an anti prostitution pledge in order to maintain funding.

Many organizations worldwide simply could not serve those they are doing outreach to under that pledge because their outreach clients are unable or unwilling to leave the sex industry. Thus the funding for the simplest things such as condoms, coffee on a cold night, centers where they can take a shower, or sleep, have been shut down as a result of this misguided legislation.

The following video shows the effects TVPRA has had globally. I’ve seen this first hand myself in Chile.

http://www.sexworkersproject.org/working-group/TakingThePledgeVideo.html

I was just in Chile meeting with outreach orgs that do street outreach with sex workers in Santiago Chile with SWOP East on our organization’s forthcoming project to collaborate with two Chilean outreach orgs sending condoms and perhaps eventually other resources. Maybe even sending someone to teach computer skills to sex workers or English, which both orgs there asked if we could. Perhaps next year.

The anti prostitution pledge and TVPRA came up in discussion. The assumption being that because we were from the US we would be supporting TVPRA and President Bush. Which everyone was very happy when it was explained that SWOP-EAST, SWOP-USA and other sex worker rights orgs oppose TVPRA and dislike our president. My SWOP East Chilean colleague, Beatriz Mercado, thankfully was able to explain what I was struggling with as my spanish is still limited. That we don’t support TVPRA.

The limited help sex workers did get which was sixteen condoms a month and health services have dried up since TVPRA. Funding from the US and Netherlands ended with TVPRA in 2004 when orgs had to take the pledge.

I hear of feminists touring these wonderful successful programs around the world as a result of TVPRA. It is amazing. I meet with outreach orgs outside the US and and never hear a single success story from TVPRA. Just lives at risk, lives lost to disease. A direct quote from a street outreach worker is that sex workers in Santiago de Chile get nothing from anyone. Is this the great success of TVPRA? Are these people expendable because they won’t simply take the pledge and abstain from sex work? As if it were that easy. Which is also the feeling outside the US. That the US arrogantly comes up with some ridiculous policy of abstinence from sex work or being either trafficked, or pro prostitution and either way having to be rescued by the great United States, TVPRA and the Bush/abolitionist feminist alliance.

SWOP East is guilty as charged. We are going to send resources, whatever we can get without any funding of our own to outreach projects in Santiago. We aren’t promoting abstinence, aren’t demanding any pledges, aren’t saying we are rescuing anyone. If sending and hopefully occasionally joining orgs there doing street outreach distributing condoms, coffee on cold winter nights and respect for human beings makes SWOP East, myself, Beatriz, Amanda and others involved evil. I guess we have to live with being Anti US, Anti feminist. Somehow I don’t see it that way.

I also don’t see the great successes of TVPRA that some other feminists claim to see. Perhaps Donna Hughes and pioneers of TVPRA are doing the politician thing and touring only those areas and agencies pre-arranged for them to see “success”. Great, it’s wonderful that they are succeeding in rescuing 2 percent. What about the other 98 percent of sex workers worldwide? Are they expendable? Not to me, not SWOP East.

I am very glad that I don’t have to face these outreach workers trying to sell TVPRA and the Bush Administration/abolitionist alliance propaganda because my experience is it would be an abysmally horrible experience to try to convince someone that we are the great United States that knows what is best for all the world, there to rescue them with hollow words with no basis in the reality of their lives.