Austria: Discriminations against Sex Workers

Barriers to Self- Organization (Article 8)

Fulfillment of Article 8 is a key condition in securing the right to work. However, in Austria there exist neither sex worker trade unions, nor community-based sex worker organizations, and existing trade unions ignore sex worker issues. Rather, in Austria social workers of local community social work organizations inform policy makers about sex worker issues, as any sex worker speaking out in public would face stigmatization (see above). Further, as Austrian authorities do not perceive sex workers as part of civil society, they do not listen to them. This by itself indicates the lacking promotion of Article 8.
Also this author is not a trade union, the focus being on defending the human rights of sex workers. Nevertheless, Article 8 would also protect the author against discrimination. The following account reports experiences of this author, which indicate that Austria does not fully respect Article 8 rights. From 2010 till present, this author wished to open a bank account for purposes of charity, but all banks refused, as they disapproved of the name “Sex-Worker Forum”, which they associated with immorality. Neither was it helpful to explain to them that the forum is a human rights defender, as now banks feared negative repercussions for their business with public bodies.
This case gives also rise to the concern that there are no regulations that would hinder a financial institution to exclude anybody at any time from financial services for whatever reasons. It suffices that a bank manager disapproves of the sexual conduct of a woman, closes her account and warn other banks about her alleged immorality. As a consequence, the woman may face financial exclusion and she would also lose a decent job, because “without a bank account, it is virtually impossible to access employment […] as one of the pre-conditions for signing an employment contract for the future employee is having a bank account number”. ^{NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT}

4. Right to Social Support (Articles 9, 10, 11)

Women in sex work suffer from restricted Access to social security (Article 9) and insufficient maternity benefits (§ 2 Article 10). For, although women in sex work pay social insurance, insurance coverage often is insufficient, especially in the case of pregnancy: Many sex workers cannot afford to take maternity leave. Moreover, in view of their income from sex work they are not eligible to receive social assistance, even if the income is small. Moreover, sex workers in general are not insured for unemployment, even if they are in brothels or in other forms of de facto employment. They are not protected against arbitrary dismissal from a brothel and are not entitled to receive severance pay.
Children, who are victims of sexual exploitation, do not receive adequate support and protection (§ 3 Article 10). Rather, provinces set a minimum age for prostitution and “child prostitutes” face administrative penalties. These regulations have been criticized repeatedly by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, but Austria did not react. ^{NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT}
Another issue of sex work is the feminization of poverty (§ 1 Article 11 together with Article 3). As explained in 3.4, single mothers are a high risk group for poverty. In order to better care for their children, they may enter sex work. However, this income does not suffice to improve their standard of living, yet from now on the stigma on prostitution hinders that they find another job.

5. Right to Health (article 12)

   1. Key Issues

The right to health under § 1 Article 12 protects against non-consensual medical treatment (or similar interference), it guarantees sexual autonomy (the right to control one’ own health and body), and it entails the positive obligation of governments to provide an effective system of health protection. It protects also the rights to privacy and protection against torture and degrading treatment (General Comment 14/2012 of this Committee at §§ 3 and 8): “These and other rights and freedoms address integral components of the right to health.”
In Austria, the legal obligations of sex workers to register as prostitutes and to undergo regular gynecological inspections and HIV tests infringes upon these Article 12 rights in several aspects:

1. 
   In Austria, police routinely forces women suspected of illegal prostitution to vaginal inspections by health officers against the will of the concerned women. This is a violation of Article 12 that amounts to degrading treatment, which is absolutely and irrevocably prohibited by international law.
   
2. 
   Further, in violation of the Article 12 obligation to maintain minimal professional standards, the implementation of the health checks is deficient, as there are regularly reports about degrading treatment of sex workers by health officers, who are over-tasked by the number of women, whom they have to inspect daily.
   
3. 
   Referring to § 2c Article 12, there is no evidence for public health benefit from mandatory health checks and HIV tests. Rather, such interventions contravene both the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights of UNAIDS and the HIV & AIDS Recommendation R200 of ILO. ^{NOTEREF _Ref341178537 \h \* MERGEFORMAT} Basically, they are counterproductive for STI and HIV prevention: Registered sex workers are pressured by clients to jeopardize their health by offering sex without a condom, and illegal prostitutes are driven underground and are not reached by public health programs.
   
4. 
   The very existence of such laws discriminates against women (Article 3) in the enjoyment of the right to health (Article 12). For, although these laws are formulated in gender neutral terms, de facto they restrict the rights of women, as most sex workers are women, while there are no similar obligations for men, who are clients of sex workers. Further, these laws focus on the protection of the health of men, who are clients of sex workers, rather than on the health of women in sex work.
   
5. 
   Additional discrimination against women is caused by law enforcement: If the unconventional sexual life of a woman lets police suspect illegal prostitution, she is targeted by police investigations. This resulted in reports about police harassment, violations of private homes and degrading treatment, in particular in the context of unlawful undercover investigations. Thus, in violation of Articles 3 and 12, Austria does not respect the sexual autonomy of women. Clients do not suffer from such intrusions.
   

It follows that obligatory registrations of prostitutes, mandatory vaginal inspections and compulsory HIV tests are not instruments to reach the highest attainable standard of health in the meaning of Article 12. Rather they expose sex workers to the risk of degrading treatment and other human rights violations, they are counterproductive for HIV prevention, and they discriminate against women (Article 3).

2.