The Association of Hungarian Sex Workers (SZEXE) successfully lobbied for UN support of sex workers’ rights during the first part of 2013. SZEXE submitted a sophisticated and constructive shadow report (Report on Violence and Discrimination Against Female Sex Workers by State and Non-State Actors in Hungary) to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on the occasion of that UN body’s review of the Hungarian government’s treatment of women. The January 2013 SZEXE report sought to fill in the information gap left by the government’s submission, which failed to address human rights abuses that sex workers face, or to even mention female sex workers, who are among the most vulnerable and marginalized women in Hungary.
In response to the information from SZEXE, in its concluding observations the Committee called on the Hungarian government to “Adopt measures aimed at preventing discrimination against sex workers and ensure that legislation on their rights to safe working conditions is guaranteed at national and local levels.”
The CEDAW response represented a significant validation of the concerns raised by SZEXE. The NGO shadow report charged that widespread official and social discrimination and a lack of equal access to police protection place sex workers at increased risk for violence and other forms of abuse.The report revealed that the Hungarian government had failed to take action to secure safe working conditions for sex workers or to ensure their access to quality health services. Researchers pointed out that although sex work has been legal in Hungary since 1999, government authorities have failed to define legal working areas for sex workers and, as a result, sex workers are pushed underground and exposed to a range of health and safety risks.
The work of SZEXE implicated the government of Hungary in violating key articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, including: the elimination of discrimination based on prejudice and stereotyping (Article 5); the suppression of trafficking of women and exploitation of prostitution (Article 6); the right to health and safety in working conditions (Article 11); and the elimination of discrimination in access to healthcare services (Article 12).
The report included concrete policy and law enforcement recommendations to the government of Hungary on how to improve its protection of sex workers’ rights and compliance with the Convention.
In an oral statement (Oral statement on behalf of the Association of Hungarian Sex Workers) before CEDAW, a representative of the Association of Hungarian Sex Workers reiterated to the Committee the report’s most damning findings, that the government of Hungary has failed to provide sex workers with equal access to protection of the law in matters of discrimination or violence and has failed to guarantee their right to safety at work. The NGO intervention highlighted also the serious problem of police harassment and violence against sex workers in Hungary. SZEXE reported that almost half of 246 sex workers the association surveyed in 2011 said they had been verbally or physically assaulted or blackmailed by the police.
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